In the dev’s recent response to the hull armour of the M1 Abrams, they stated that the source Боевые машины Уралвагонзавода. Танк Т-72 (Combat vehicles of Uralvagonzavod. Tank T-72) which was used in M1A2 hull armour bug reports should be dismissed because:
This book cannot be considered a reliable source… [it] contains errors for the characteristics of Soviet tanks in comparison to other open source data available.
Here is the full document: Upload Files | Free File Upload and Transfer Up To 10 GB
Now let’s look at this document closely and I will show why I find the devs’ statement very funny…
Who is the publisher of this document?
Who are the authors of this document?
Spoiler
S.V. Ustyantsev is a historian, but D.G. Kolmakov is a design engineer at Uralvagonzavod! But don’t take my word for it, take the word of Nikolay Malykh who was the CEO of Uralvagonzavod who also wrote the foreword for this document.
Who is on the editorial board?
Spoiler
A quick Google search found that the editor-in-chief of this document is none other than the Chief Engineer of Uralvagonzavod!
Other members of the editorial board retained various positions in the company including as engineers.
Now unless the devs are really going to say that the manufacturer is an unreliable source for their own vehicles; furthermore, that the people who designed their vehicles have no idea what they’re talking about, we can see that the devs initial statement is a cop-out.
Now, I’m a reasonable person. I will retract my criticisms if the devs provide ample evidence as to why they believe this document should be dismissed.
Now why is this document so important? As a part of discussing the T-72, this document also compares it to its Western competitors such as the M1A2 SEP v1…
Spoiler
Translated from Russian: "We pay special attention to the comparison with the most numerous competitor, the American tank ‘Abrams’ in its most advanced modification M1A2 SEP [v1], which appeared in mass production already in the 21st century.
Furthermore, this document states "all types of [APFSDS] are unable to penetrate the frontal armour of the latest T-90S, Leopard, Leclerc or Abrams tanks at standard combat distances”.
Spoiler
This document even goes on to give estimates for the protection of these tanks!
Spoiler
The first set of numbers refers to the KE protection and CE protection of the turret. The second set of numbers refers to the KE protection and CE protection of the hull.
It even gives estimates for other NATO tanks that are either comparable to the Western information used to model armour in-game or would see an armour improvement where Western information has been lacking.
Spoiler
It goes without saying that NATO sources should always take precedence over Russian sources. However, this appears to be a blatant attempt by the devs to dismiss any case for NATO tanks getting their rightful armour.