Source: defense-studies.blogspot.сom
A military parade dedicated to 72 anniversary of Indonesian Army took place in Cilegon, Indonesia on October 5, 2017. During the parade a new prototype Kaplan MT (Medium Tank) tank was demonstrated. It was developed by the Turkish FNSS Savunma Sistemleri and Indonesian state-owned enterprise PT Pindad for the Modern Medium Weight Tank (MMWT) program, as it weighs 35 tonnes.
The development began in accordance with the agreement signed by the companies back in 2014. The tank is mainly intended for use by the Indonesian Army. Design was initialized in early 2016, with FNSS assuming the bulk of the development. The tower is mounted on the new generation Kaplan full-tracked chassis developed by FNSS, which is similar to the chassis previously used in a new IFV FNSS Kaplan 30.
The first prototype was built by FNSS and demonstrated with a mock-up turret at the IDEF-2017 defence industry fair in Istanbul in early May 2017. The second FNSS prototype without the turret was transported from Turkey to Indonesia by plane on September 23. The CMI-3105HP Cockerill 3000 tower with a 105mm cannon, both made by Belgian CMI Defence, was mounted on the chassi at PT Pindad facility in Bandung. This was the prototype that was shown in Cilegon on October 5.
According to the 2014 agreement with CMI Defence, PT Pindad will manufacture Cockerill 3000 towers in two variants: CS90LP with a 90mm cannon (for the Badak 6×6 armored vehicles) and CMI-3105HP with a 105mm cannon (for Kaplan MTs and Pandur II 8×8 armored vehicles). Despite this the prototype had a Belgian-imported tower installed. It is safe to assume that the chassi will also be manufactured by FNSS.
Source: defense-studies.blogspot.сom
Source: defense-studies.blogspot.сom
According to FNSS spokespersons, Kaplan MTs as they are right now are not yet ready for production, and may be changed significantly subsequent to the results of general tests. A prototype is planned to be developed for a destruction test.
The tank is traditionally equipped. The running gear has six wheels per side and torsion-bar-type suspension. The body frame is made from steel armor. It also features composite armor and mine protection. The transmission is automatic. There is no information about the engine, although we can estimate a 700 hp one. The maximum speed on roadway is 70 kph (~43 mph), and fuel distance is 450 km (~280 ml). The tank also features a secondary diesel propulsor.
Kaplan MT is 7m long, 3.2m wide, and 2.7m tall (~23 x 10 x 7 ft).
Source: defense-studies.blogspot.сom
Source: defense-studies.blogspot.сom
The tank is crewed by three people. The CMI-3105HP CMI Defense developed tower features a 7.62mm caliber machine gun and 12-shot 105mm cannon with 30 shots inside the machine. The cannon is compatible with NATO 105 tank shells.
The doubled aiming system for the commander and for the spotter is digital, with thermal and regular 360 cameras. The tank also features smoke grenade launchers, a WMD defense system, an air conditioning and a fire safety system.
According to PT Pindad, the Army needs 300 tank units, with the supposed first order for 100 tank units.
seems more a light tank than an MBT. The hull appears to be derived from APCs and the gun, armor and mobility seem to be in line with a rapid deployment vehicle.
It looks like a Dogs Breakfast to me and with components from many sources it will be a nightmare to keep on the road, especially in a conflict where only one of the numerous suppliers national politicians could freeze spare part sales.
:D
Yep typical of many third world nations.
Agreed.
Give it to the Houthis to test. They can destroy an Abrams with a cigarette lighter :)
Yep it helps when the Saudi crews do a runner at the first sign of trouble, ciggie lighter is all you need really haha.
Any old RPG from the 80s should be able to destroy this. There is a reason the superpowers rely on MBTs and not 35 ton lightweights…
ye, but the point of this kind of vehicles is that you can get a lot of them to a given distant location at the shortest notice, provided you have enough havey cargo planes.
If your intel says you got guerrillas with technical at a certain place you could deploy a company of these and expect them to make short work of them. In a few words, timing constraints are the key here. Of course they make a good screen for mech units too.
They should also be suitable for recon tasks once the main armored force is deployed. Defensively you can hold some in reserve for plugging eventual holes punched through your frontline, although you can’t expect them to hold much against enemies with MBTs and helis.
Maybe Indonesia needs it for counter-insurgency. But most countries would rather get a high-low mix of armored APCs and MBTs.
very likely. COIN forces efficacy seems to be proportional to their mobility before all other parameters. idk how Indonesian army is shaped but they will need also to improve on the flexibility of their c3 if they expect COIN warfare
for example SAA for airborne action in al umar oil field.
And how would they airdrop these 35 ton tanks if they had them?
check on youtube. you will find video. this is usual situation behind forntline attacks. and also in amohibian assaults has it place. all strong armies have also theese medium tanks.
If Indonesia is going to use the tank for counterinsurgency, likely imo, it is even more likely that Belgium will not be allowed to export the guns to Indonesia as most EU and Nato laws forbid the sale of weapon systems to countries that can or will be used against its own citizens.
I think it is supposed to be a lighter vehical relying on other forms of defenses not armor.
Interesting, can it swim? Amphib capability is vital for Indonesia with its thousands of islands – a shame to see their navy has gone to the boring low vis grey color scheme, their cammo used to look awesome. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1f9a3aa39d740805875cfb812f3c385bae5fc91eb12cee770a22f0ec2d20aed3.jpg
They possibly look built more for the amphibious deployment and they will upgrade it and change it’s design somewhat. They are learning to loan the Tanks now so you see all sorts of configurations the Leopard C2A7 is on loan to Canada and Germany is Testing the upgraded version, C2A7 had huge success in the Tank biathlons already and considered the best Tank in NATO. Canada uses both the C2A4,C2A6 models. The A4 is solid medium tank bit lighter and quicker with a smaller crew and still packs a punch.
Its to replace this I think, this is the Australian one but I understand Indonesia has a few of these, M113 with Scorpion 76mm cannons. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fb3e7871ceb59743babeb5078484f5b51733616fc640fe83e0f3f473e1b1aff8.jpg
Take that over a Stryker :)
Given the problems Turkey has developing its own tank system and given that likely soon Turkey will be embargoed by Nato partners from buying weapons and parts, the future for this system, disregarding the rest, is bleak.
Maybe Indonesia should consider taking over development themselves and cooperate with Japan or Korea.
We have bad ass neighbor. Always pushing to join usa block.