"I do not rule out that the soldiers of the future will be supported in action by the tanks used by their great-grandfathers," he said.
He added that more players have managed to foray into the tank modernization market in the past, in a move that Kramnik said can be attributed to an array of political and economic factors, including high prices for the production of new state-of-the-art tanks.
📷 bmashina: Israeli Magach 6 tank, a variant of the modernization of the American tank M60… https://t.co/wegGsSzfpZ
— kinchan0023【MJBクラマス】 (@kinchan0023) 7 января 2016 г.
As an example, he referred to the modernization of the US M60 Patton tank produced by Raytheon, one of America's largest military contractors.
A key element of the modernization, dubbed The M60A3 Service Life Extension Program, is designed to increase the combat power of the tank through the installation of a 120-mm smoothbore M256 gun, which is due to replace the old 105-mm rifled M68 gun.
Magach 7 pic.twitter.com/bO5zHbxyY4
— obed_ruthanto (@obed_ruthanto) 23 апреля 2015 г.
Additionally, the modernized M-60 will be equipped with a powerful new diesel engine, an advanced fire control system and more sophisticated armor. In this regard, it is worth noting that even updated version of the M60 will be unable to compete with Germany's Leopard 2 tank and Russia's T-90, according to Kramnik.
With Jordan due to be the first to obtain the modernized M60 tanks, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are, meanwhile, already using this tank's updated versions, including the Magach 6 and the Magach 7. As for the extensively upgraded M60 models used by the IDF, these include Sabra and the Merkava tanks, Kramnik said.
Touching upon the modernization of the Russian-made tanks, he mentioned the BMPT-72 developed by Russia's UralVagonZavod Corporation and built on the on the chassis of a T-72 battle tank.
Kramnik recalled that the multipurpose tank support combat vehicle BMPT-72 is fitted with a state-of-the-art guided weapons system and is capable of destroying infantry vehicles, enemy tanks and other armored objects, as well as helicopters.
As for foreign-made modernized versions of the T-72 tank, worth mentioning is the Croatian-made M-84D, which was built on the chassis of the Yugoslav-made M-84, a licensed copy of the Soviet T-72M tank.
Sviđa mi se videozapis http://t.co/YLEiRip4pM Slovenian army battle tanks M-84 (T-72) in action (Tank M84 Slovenska vojska) s usluge
— Martin Ivić (@Martin_Ivic) 24 мая 2013 г.
Equipped with advanced armor, a more powerful engine and an improved fire control system, the M-84D is believed to be one of the best updated versions of the T-72, even though the M-84D was never mass produced.
