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Bangladesh Army

The PF-98 fires two kinds of 120mm rounds: a high explosive (HE) bunker buster and a tandem HEAT warhead for hitting armor at ranges between 25 and 1,800 meters (1.8 kilometers). This is well beyond other weapons of the same type.

The RPG-7, for example, as a comparison has a range of less than 200 meters. The Carl Gustaf, can cover 400m at best.

I am happy that the Army is getting good with this armament package. The fire control system uses an optical sight with night vision, a laser rangefinder, and an LED display.

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poster shows EME personnel are carrying out upgrade on the Chinese supplied Type 69-II medium tanks by installing a new turret equipped with 105mm L7 rifled gun. The picture below also shows maintenance of a Type 56 quad-14.5mm AAMG belonging to ADA. CREDIT-BDMIL
 
View attachment 527398

poster shows EME personnel are carrying out upgrade on the Chinese supplied Type 69-II medium tanks by installing a new turret equipped with 105mm L7 rifled gun. The picture below also shows maintenance of a Type 56 quad-14.5mm AAMG belonging to ADA. CREDIT-BDMIL
Only the gun upgraded. Turret gets some ERA basket welded on
 
View attachment 527398

poster shows EME personnel are carrying out upgrade on the Chinese supplied Type 69-II medium tanks by installing a new turret equipped with 105mm L7 rifled gun. The picture below also shows maintenance of a Type 56 quad-14.5mm AAMG belonging to ADA. CREDIT-BDMIL
So what is the upgrade? type 69s came with 105mms aswell as 100mm guns.

Its simply useless to replace upon obsolete canon with another on an old tank..... unless you do a comprehensive upgrade like ukranian bulat & Pakistani AZ.
 
Bangladesh Army issued tender for four dynamic tank simulators for their Type 59 tanks.

http://dgdp.gov.bd/dgdp/AP_TEN/s_doc/2924.pdf
good move, no use of tanks when the crews aren't trained 100%

So what is the upgrade? type 69s came with 105mms aswell as 100mm guns.

Its simply useless to replace upon obsolete canon with another on an old tank..... unless you do a comprehensive upgrade like ukranian bulat & Pakistani AZ.
the numbers (t69) are pretty low, they only had a firecontrol system upgrade, some ERA stacks and the higher caliber gun... these happened like 8 years back or so....
the main focus is on the t59 upgrade.... a regiment of light tanks and two regiments of modern MBTs
 
good move, no use of tanks when the crews aren't trained 100%


the numbers (t69) are pretty low, they only had a firecontrol system upgrade, some ERA stacks and the higher caliber gun... these happened like 8 years back or so....
the main focus is on the t59 upgrade.... a regiment of light tanks and two regiments of modern MBTs

Our tank force (and generally, armor scenario) other than the few recent vintage MBT 2000's is in a pretty sordid state of affairs. Even the Myanmarese have a better armor collection, notwithstanding better tactics and training.

West of us - they have four types/grades of MBT's - T72's, T80's, T90's and even their homebuilt 3+ GEN Arjun II tank (similar to various Leopard versions, the latest being similar to the Leopard 2), but that heavy tank is probably unusable in 3/4 of Bangladesh terrain (even in winter dry season, forget the monsoons altogether), which though is scarce consolation in any case. This is not tank country, just like in South Vietnam, like the Americans realized much to their chagrin in the late 60's.

With only a first GEN infantry/cruiser tank (now being upgraded, Type 59) and maybe a 2+ GEN (Chinese MBT 2000's), we are a sitting duck for being invaded and long term holding of territory by any neighbor. Bodies and training only go so far, we need some hardware and it has been long overdue.

Problem is - our best and brightest don't go into the Army (unlike Pakistan for example), and the brain trust in that organization as a result has suffered - with predictable results in armament doctrine, armor manufacturing, planning and training areas in all disciplines.

I hear the Pakistanis are thinking hard about Twardy (Poland), Oplot (Ukraine) and even Testing VT-4's. Don't know how far along they are. IMHO the Arjun MK. II 'Queen' tanks (and for that matter export versions of ZTZ-99) are not good for Eastern Indian Subcontinent scenario, even in niche consideration areas such as rail transport. Too damn heavy at 75+ tons.

These weapons are fodder for cheap manually-launched counter-offensives such as RPG's which Bangladesh should also concentrate on in extremely large numbers. $8 million tanks and $20 million combat helis against huge numbers of (few) thousand dollar RPGs and ANZA's - no contest. That remains the consolation for now. The few elite units will have weapons like the PF-98's, but those are too expensive to deploy in numbers.
 
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So what is the upgrade? type 69s came with 105mms aswell as 100mm guns.

Its simply useless to replace upon obsolete canon with another on an old tank..... unless you do a comprehensive upgrade like ukranian bulat & Pakistani AZ.

I don't know about AZ, but the Bulat upgrade is rather pointless.

You slap some 'Нiж' reactive armor on an old T-64, and the revised active defence system which claims to be better than the Russian version, you have to pardon me for thinking it to be too much unproven Ukrainian hype.

Plus this contraption weighs 45 tonnes (44 long tons), which is too heavy for its sophistication level. I am sorry - doesn't cut it for me.

Even a first generation Leopard with a British L4 or a newer Rheinmetall gun (L44) has far more upgrade promise - if you want a front-runner heavy MBT.

Maybe we should look toward getting surplus Leopard two's to upgrade, like Indonesia did. Better design to boot.
 
Our tank force (and generally, armor scenario) other than the few recent vintage MBT 2000's is in a pretty sordid state of affairs. Even the Myanmarese have a better armor collection, notwithstanding better tactics and training.

West of us - they have four types/grades of MBT's - T72's, T80's, T90's and even their homebuilt 3+ GEN Arjun II tank (similar to various Leopard versions, the latest being similar to the Leopard 2), but that heavy tank is probably unusable in 3/4 of Bangladesh terrain (even in winter dry season, forget the monsoons altogether), which though is scarce consolation in any case. This is not tank country, just like in South Vietnam, like the Americans realized much to their chagrin in the late 60's.

With only a first GEN infantry/cruiser tank (now being upgraded, Type 59) and maybe a 2+ GEN (Chinese MBT 2000's), we are a sitting duck for being invaded and long term holding of territory by any neighbor. Bodies and training only go so far, we need some hardware and it has been long overdue.

Problem is - our best and brightest don't go into the Army (unlike Pakistan for example), and the brain trust in that organization as a result has suffered - with predictable results in armament doctrine, armor manufacturing, planning and training areas in all disciplines.

I hear the Pakistanis are thinking hard about Twardy (Poland), Oplot (Ukraine) and even Testing VT-4's. Don't know how far along they are. IMHO the Arjun MK. II 'Queen' tanks (and for that matter export versions of ZTZ-99) are not good for Eastern Indian Subcontinent scenario, even in niche consideration areas such as rail transport. Too damn heavy at 75+ tons.

These weapons are fodder for cheap manually-launched counter-offensives such as RPG's which Bangladesh should also concentrate on in extremely large numbers. $8 million tanks and $20 million combat helis against huge numbers of (few) thousand dollar RPGs and ANZA's - no contest. That remains the consolation for now. The few elite units will have weapons like the PF-98's, but those are too expensive to deploy in numbers.
in no way we could hope to match india in armor, many reasons that have been discussed multiple of times, what can be done is building up an effective anti tank force comprising of missiles, tanks etc. i personally do think the current armor composition is effective enough for a short term holdout. we're getting more anti tank missiles from russia
 
in no way we could hope to match india in armor, many reasons that have been discussed multiple of times, what can be done is building up an effective anti tank force comprising of missiles, tanks etc. i personally do think the current armor composition is effective enough for a short term holdout. we're getting more anti tank missiles from russia

Point well taken. No one (least myself) is suggesting we match Indian armor piece to piece. It is improbable.

What I suggested is that qualitatively we need to improve so interlopers have second thoughts about an 'easy' walk in and take-over. To have an effective anti-tank force we need to have more than RPG's and PF-98's. Just as an example, we don't have tank destroyers with with greater strategic mobility, such as the B1 Centauro.

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