CHELYABINSK. April 11 (Interfax-AVN) - ChTZ-Uraltrak, the engine producer within the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, has designed a new higher-power engine for the T-72 tank. The engine is offered for the tanks of the make operated abroad.
"The engine we have designed is offered for the upgraded T- 72," Alexander Kozhevin, ChTZ-Uraltrak director, told Interfax- Military News Agency Friday.
He said that the market for the upgrade of the T-72 was very large. According to various estimates, 8,000 to 12,000 T-72s are currently operational outside Russia. The first batch might go to India who is currently holding a tender for the upgrade of its T- 72 fleet.
The upgraded T-72 with the new engine was demonstrated in March at the IDEX 2003 arms show in Abu Dhabi, the UAE.
"The vehicle has put up good performance, it was what we call sportive - more maneuverable, which all the participants in the show could see," Kozhevin said.
He said that although tank engines were also being upgraded into higher power by France, Poland, Germany, Ukraine, and Israel, the Russian project was the best.
"There are various versions, but we have managed to make the engine on the same basis and within the same dimensions and weight as the original one. Thus, the new 1,000-hp engine can replace the old 840-hp one without reshuffle in the transmission compartment," Kozhevin emphasized.
He also said that the foreign designs had larger dimensions, which would require a modification of the transmission compartment raising the cost of the upgrade. In addition, the Russian design has higher power-to-weight and power-to-volume ratios, he added.