Ukrainian Energy 2000 R&D company specializing in making equipment for military training has created new software for their simulator of the T-72EA main battle tank — a T-72M1 variant modernized by Excalibur Army in the Czech Republic.
The update is supposed to solve multiple issues relating to adaptation to the rules of modern war, a Ukrainian tank expert and project manager at Energy 2000 Mykola Salamakha explained to ArmyInform.
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Creation of new software was prompted by the need to prepare tank operators for battles in urban environments, he said.
In the open space, tanks usually fight at distances of direct hit but the situation is completely different during combat in a settlement.
"Taking into account the 2A46 tank gun elevation angle of +14,5° and the fact that targets in an urban environment are usually at a distance 100 or 500 [meters away], this is how we set the task for the programmers," Salamakha notes.
The ArmyInform reporter also had a try on the simulator, firing a shot at enemy forces hiding in abandoned residential buildings. In one of the scenarios, it was an enemy ATGM squad.
Besides expanding the options of environmental setting, the developers paid attention to the practice of the crew's actions when passing through a minefield deployed by the adversary.
Prior to the update, passage borders were highlighted with markers; now there is no such function in the new version, and the conditions are as close to real ones as possible. The tank driver only sees the track created by an anti-mine roller or an explosive demining charge. The objective is to follow the path precisely, any deviation left or right from the course of the vehicle in front of you is recorded as an error because it might lead to catching a mine.
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In addition, the developers prepared a solution for training to pass the so-called "dragon's teeth" fortifications: they added 3D models of concrete obstacles which can be demolished with a tank shot. This way the tank operators learn how to overcome an obstacle by destroying it from 200 meters with HE-FRAG rounds.
Ukrainian soldiers give positive reviews of the simulators: "I fought in Bakhmut so I know what combat in a city is, but here's one thing I have to say: it's a pity that we didn't have such a training system. We'd have less casualties then," says Oleh, tank operator.
Earlier Defense Express asked Mykola Salamakha, what type of armored equipment Ukraine lacks to progress on the battlefield.
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