Bhishma TWMP
Contents
Description
The T-90S Bhishma TWMP (भीष्म, a character in Indian epic Mahabharata; Object 188S) is an exported T-90 built in Russia and also license-produced in India by the Heavy Vehicles Factory. India purchased 310 T-90S in 2001 as complete assembled or knock-down kits as part of their military modernization program, and a further 330 tanks would be produced locally by the HVF as well since 2006. Most of the features of a standard T-90A (Object 188A1) are identical on the T-90S, as the Russian Army later adopted the latter as the new MBT in 2005. In this case, a domestically developed mine plough by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is installed on the tank as an alternative to Russian mine ploughs.
Introduced in Update "Sons of Attila" as a squadron vehicle, the T-90S is in fact the tank that set the foundation of the T-90A in Russian service. Not only do they share similar protection and identical mobility, it also has a mine plough for ground digging which can sometimes serve as extra protection against oncoming shells. Due to export limits, the ammunition options are fewer than the T-90A and limited to 3BM42 as its only kinetic shell against tanks of its tier. However, in most cases, the mix of ATGM, HE-FS, and APFSDS are more than enough to handle different targets in different scenarios.
General info
Survivability and armour
The overall design of the T-90S is very similar, if not totally identical, to the T-90A in Russian service. A very iconic feature of the T-90 series are their Shtora-1 soft-kill APS (IR jammer) located on the front of turret next to the gun; due to the lack of requirement for such equipment in India, the applique armour blocks have been extended from the turret front all the way to the mantlet. Kontakt-5 is the standard-issue ERA for Russian-built tanks and is present on the T-90S as well, making it rather durable for its tier thanks to its kinetic protection alongside its base composite armour. Another iconic feature for the Indian T-90S is the domestic mine plough on the LFP; while the LFP is a well-known weak spot for MBTs, the sheer size of this mine plough can sometimes serve as slight additional protection against enemy shells as it can interrupt the trajectory. Most of the weak spots are identical to T-90A as well, namely the driver's optics and gun mantlet, while can be penetrated by most kinetic shells at its tier and cause fatal damage to the crew/components inside.
The T-90S also shares identical crew and compartment layout to the T-90A or T-72 series as well. The "tri tankista" (three tankers) configuration can be said to be a dual-edged sword - while the replacement of the loader to an autoloader can ensure constant reload rate, this also means a penetrated shot from sides or mantlet can very likely knock-out the turret crew and resulting a tank knock-out. The AZ-184 autoloader can sometimes become a rocket-for-two if detonated which is very likely when being hit directly, the tank will either cook-off or disintegrate from existence completely, the only thing left is the turret that blown off up to hundreds of meters away.
Armour type:
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | ___ mm | ___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom |
___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Turret | ___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet |
___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm | ___ - ___ mm |
| Cupola | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm | ___ mm |
Notes:
Mobility
Thanks to the new V-92S2 engine at 1,000 hp output, the T-90S has better power-to-weight ratio at 21.5 for its weight; while this is a major improvement compared to most British tanks, players will still have to be aware of the long-lasting transmission design on Russian tanks: the infamous 7F1R configuration planetary transmission with very high 1st gear ratio (14.35 in both directions), which means over-extending to the frontline can be fatal when the tank can't retreat to cover in time due to the -4.2 km/h reverse speed.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 67 | 5 | 46.5 | 1,550 | 1,908 | 33.33 | 41.03 |
| Realistic | 60 | 5 | 884 | 1,000 | 19.01 | 21.51 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
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Armaments
Main armament
Sharing the same 2A46M-5 from T-90A and later series Russian tanks, all performances from previous Russian/Soviet MBTs are inherited to T-90S. Although 125 mm could sound fearsome, due to export limits on depleted-uranium ammunitions, the best kinetic shell for T-90S is 3BM42 for the time being; although it is still sufficient to defeat earlier NATO tanks, when facing more advanced MBTs, players might want to seek for the tandem ATGM to defeat such targets. Sometimes the HE-FS (Time-fused) can blow jets or rotorcrafts into piece with ease when landed near them, do be careful for the time fuse itself since the programmed fuse will detonate before hitting ground target.
| 125 mm 2A46M-5 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Autoloader |
| Arcade | 43 | -4°/+14° | ±180° | Two-plane | 22.8 | 31.6 | 38.4 | 42.5 | 45.2 | 7.10 |
| Realistic | 14.3 | 16.8 | 20.4 | 22.6 | 24.0 | |||||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| 3BK18M | HEATFS | 550 | 550 | 550 | 550 | 550 | 550 |
| 3OF26 EDKV | HE-TF | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 42 |
| 3BM42 | APFSDS | 457 | 454 | 445 | 431 | 419 | 406 |
| 9M119M1 | ATGM (tandem) | 850 | 850 | 850 | 850 | 850 | 850 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| 3BK18M | HEATFS | 905 | 19 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 2.79 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |||
| 3OF26 EDKV | HE-TF | 850 | 23 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 5.24 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| 3BM42 | APFSDS | 1,700 | 4.85 | - | - | - | 78° | 80° | 81° | |||
| Missile details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Range (m) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | ||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| 9M119M1 | ATGM (tandem) | 445 | 6,000 | 17.2 | 0.4 | 0.01 | 5.72 | 80° | 82° | 90° | ||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
| 12.7 mm 6P49 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 300 (150) | 700 | -3°/+66° | -40°/+55° |
| 7.62 mm PKT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 2,000 (250) | 700 | - | - |
Usage in battles
To describe T-90S, for the tanks of lower rank, it is like an Indian Elephant which charges into the masses of enemy infantry; for the users of T-90S, they can still take it by its name - Bhishma, a warrior in epic. If players can adopt Soviet tactics while playing British tech-tree in this case (but most of all, be cautious), they can achieve respectable results against enemies.
One thing players will have to understand is - this is a Russian design. Unlike NATO designs, Russian tanks usually opted for lower profile and "sufficient" ergonomics for the crew. Players will soon notice the very familiar crew and component layout of Russian tanks: the "tri tankista" (three tankers) and a carousel AZ-184 autoloader with 22 shells in it, this will be where it departs from NATO design. Most NATO tanks have more spacious interior to migrate shrapnel damages to the crew, but in T-90S case, if the tank is penetrated from the front by any means, chances are the crew would see their kingdom come due to the rather cramped interior layout. If enemies take the flank and hit the tank, there might be minimal chance of either of the turret crew survived the hit. In the worst case possible, if the shot lands exactly on the autoloader, the last thing players can see is the turret flies at least tens of meters away from where the hull once was - which is known as a complete-kill with jack-in-the-box detonation. Be sure to never, ever give enemies any chance to aim for the weak spots when facing them up front. Another flaw to T-90S is parts of its firepower - not only it inherited the relatively inferior 7.1 second fixed reload time and rather slow turret traverse speed, due to arms control treaties, it also limited the kinetic shell options of T-90S to only 3BM42 Mango which is insufficient at higher ranks when facing "fellow" Russian tanks or PLAGF tanks, this could be a challenge for players who don't have sufficient reaction to aim for any advantageous weak spot to disable enemies.
But there are still some good news for T-90S: first, the overall protection can be said as overkill at its current BR thanks to the Kontakt-5 ERA packages with sufficient high composite armour behind to stop lower-rank shells; next, it does have a 2nd generation TVD for target acquisition (some tanks at its rank still uses 1st generation with lower resolution), after all, who find and shot the target first likely wins the fight; thirdly, its flawed but sufficient mobility to navigate around the battlefield. The problems mentioned on the previous paragraph can be mostly migrated by careful planning and good situational awareness against enemies. The overall mobility of T-90S does make actively assaulting enemies a good idea, the front protection also ensures most shots landed on UFP or turret will prove fruitless to stop T-90S from advancing, hit the enemies first if possible. Although the inferior APFSDS can be a problem if facing more-protected MBTs, thanks to the tandem ATGM onboard, it can still achieve victories even when moving albeit it takes considerably more time to hit targets than kinetic shells; as long as players can disable enemy targets at once, the clean-up would be a piece of cake (1 on 1). Dealing with ground is one matter, but handling rotorcrafts or fixed-wings is another story; while having HE-FS (time fused) is a major improvement from most NATO tanks or Warsaw-Pact tanks, players will have pick the most careless target as the time fused shell has lesser flexibility than PLAGF's DTB12-125 with VT fuse; those which hover at the same location will be a good pick. Be sure not to rangefind ground targets with HE-FS as this will also program the fuse to detonate before it lands on the target.
Overall, T-90S offers a departure from NATO playstyle while maintaining the firepower and protection of Russian tanks; but being more careful on T-90S is always a good option to extend its service life as long as possible - it is not as forgivable as its NATO counterparts afterall.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Better power-to-weight ratio than British MBTs thanks to the weight
- Access to 2nd generation TVD channel
- Rather well protected up front with some side applique armour
- CONTACT-5 ERA provides excellent frontal and turret protection
- Extended turret applique armour than T-90A that offers more protection
- Sufficient firepower to take out ground and aerial targets with respective ammunitions i.e. APFSDS, ATGM or HE-FS (Time-fused)
- Lower profile than Challenger series
Cons:
- Less than ideal mobility
- Abysmal and infamous reverse speed at -4.2 km/h, extremely fatal during a retreat
- Lesser engine power than NATO/post-1999 PLAGF MBTs
- Inferior ergonomics for the tank crews
- Cramped interior space and high likelihood for a crew knock-out when penetrated
- Infamous AZ-184 autoloader that is prone to detonation once being hit directly
- Lacks Shtora-1 soft-kill APS for jamming missiles
- Shares identical weak spots to T-72/90 series i.e. driver visor, LFP, mantlet
- Shares identical, insufficient gun laying speed to T-72B/T-90 series especially at vertical traverse
- Lacks more advanced APFSDS due to export limits
The T-90 TWMP Bhishma is a Indian variant of the Russian T-90. There is no record of this variant being used in any war or conflict.
Media
- Skins
- Images
See also
- Related development
External links
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|---|---|
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|---|---|
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