Uraltransmash 1K17 Szhatie

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Uraltransmash 1K17 Szhatie

Have you ever heard of a Laser Tank, sounds like science fiction right? but it’s not, meet the Uraltransmash 1K17 Szhatie from 1991.

History
The Uraltransmash 1K17 Szhatie wasn’t Uraltransmash’s first laser tank development began in the late 70s, early 80s. The first laser tank was called the SLK 1K11 Stilet it featured a simpler design with a smaller laser instead of a turret. The next tank built was a tank called the Sanguine, based on the ZSU-23-4 Shilka SPAAG platform it also featured a laser turret instead of the SPAAG guns. The 1K17 was finally assembled in late 1990, beginning its trials in 1991.

The Uraltransmash 1K17 Szhatie is powered by a V-84A diesel battle tank engine/generator, on board the 1K17 Szhatie is a bank of batteries to power the power hungry laser. The laser is fired in short bursts or pulses. (How many pulses before generator has to charge the battery we’re unsure) A gas tank of Xenon gas is also needed on board to make the lasers function. When moving the lasers are covered by armoured panels, when stationary there is a limited amount of vertical adjustability to the laser emitter allowing the vehicle to attack aerial targets.

The tank also has some countermeasures such as a 12.7mm heavy machine gun and 6 x smoke dischargers too. Armor on this vehicle is somewhat of a mystery too, although the use of additional tracks on the body work does provide some additional protection. The 1K17 Szhatie finished it testing in 1992, after expensive costs prevented further production. The 1K17s latest successor the KDHR-1H Dal is still currently in service with the Russian military.

Operational History
The Uraltransmash 1K17 Szhatie operational history is somewhat unknown. When the vehicles went for testing, the laser knocked out a helicopters optical system and disabled an aircraft entirely, whether the tests were a success of a failure we might never know. , unfortunately the 1K17 Szhatie never saw an operational career, as far as we know.

Specifications
General characteristics

  • Class: SPLC (Self-propelled laser complex)
  • Crew: 2 + ??
  • Production: 2 (2 prototypes built, 1 scraped)
  • Length: 6.03 m (19 ft 9 in)
  • Width: 3.56 m (11 ft 8 in)
  • Height: 3.30 m (10 ft 10 in)
  • Weight: ?? kg (?? lb)
  • Powerplant: V-84A diesel battle tank engine generator + on-board battery system for laser firing
  • Power: 626 kW (840 hp)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 60 km/h (37.2 mph)

Armament
Laser: 1 x high-powered laser complex (comprising of 15 separate lenses)

Laser Armament Info: The laser consists of 13 x 30kg (66.1 lb) artificially grown rubies in laser tubes covered with silver, acting like mirrors. The lasers run on xenon gas that spirals around the rubies and is ignited by the crystal lamps. The range of the laser is a maximum of 5 – 6 miles (8 – 9.5 km). The laser is fired in short bursts or pulses.

Guns: 1 × 12.7 mm heavy machine gun (NSVT)

Defensive armaments: 6 x smoke discharges

In game
The Uraltransmash 1K17 Szhatie would be a fun addition to war thunder, How the weapon actually works is somewhat of a mystery. The shots of the laser are described as short bursts or pulses, each pulse could be classed as a shot, interfering with electronics, optics, missile systems, aerial vehicles etc. When firing a pulse it could act like a short EMP pulse disabling or slowing systems for a few seconds (3-5 seconds) helping your team mate to score a Kill, gaining you an assist kill. A pulse on an aircraft could affecting its circuits or optics causing it to crash or you to get an assist kill.

The 1K17 Szhatie does have a secondary weapon for defence too, a 12.7 NSVT heavy machine gun, so after the firing of the pulse you could use your gun to try and takeout the now imobolised target. Fitting the 1K17 Szhatie in a rank in war thunder is a little tricky, being a Russian SPAA/Medium tank mix is interesting, it would work better against modern vehicles with more electrical tech than the early ones being possibly Rank 6 or higher.

Photos





Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYOHY5NJVJo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CByLUsBG58&t=448s

Sources

1K17 Szhatie - Tank Encyclopedia
1K17 Szhatie - Wikipedia

Thanks for reading :)

4 Likes
2

Uhh… sure lol. Why the hell not, +1

3

+1 I will never say no to a gimmick addition by principle. That being said, I fully expect this guy to be the least played thing in the game.

1 Like
4

Maybe a dreams come true event? +1 anyways

5

very unique +1 from me

6

This should’ve been the dreams come true vehicle.
It can be useful against drones, fire and forget missiles, anything with an optic. Yeah I would say this vehicle has a place in the game. +1

7

If we had stun system in-game, this one would be the queen, imagine spamming it on enemies and making their vehicles completely useless, it’s like a torture machine.

9

I usually don’t oppose to historical videos but i would really question how this is implemented

10

We should also get suggestions for the other two laser tanks
IMG_7998
IMG_7999

5 Likes
11

As cool in concept. In reality too little practical knowledge and information is why i gotta say to any “laser” weapon in WT

12

In general, in tank against tank situation, the 1K17 would be just same as a stun gun, not lethal. In a tank against air, would be more useful if the vehicle depends on eletronics to fly.

1 Like
13

I’m sorry but -1
This thing is cool, but a stun mechanic has never been fun or liked in any game in the entire history of gaming. This would just be straight cancer to fight as it can’t kill you but would just be annoying for the sake of it.

Just go ask WoT players what they feel about getting stunned from artillery if this would be a good addition. It wouldn’t have the same problem of you being unable to fight back, but getting stunned is just too annoying and the usefullness for the team which has this vehicle would just be negligable. It would be a troll machine for psychological warfare by annoying the enemy, nothing else.

It could maybe be added as some form of SPAA as if the lasers are powerful enough they should be able to cut through lightly armoured targets like helis, aircraft and drones, but it would be next to useless against anything with more than a few mm of steel as armour, and no radar or IRST would only make that role harder.

2 Likes
14

The prototype was designed to disable enemy optics which i can imagine it doing very well. If you point a powerful ebay laser directly into a camera, you will start seeing spots in the footage because you are practically burning the lens. Such a large array of lasers will absolutely permanently disable any optical equipment, including thermal, night vision- and regular cameras, as well as human eyes. It would be kinda funny if this thing was able to incapacitate a gunner if you are aiming directly at it.

It would probably help disabling aircraft and FNF munitions, but i doubt it would be able to outright destroy any aircraft. Not sure if this vehicle would have any effect in War Thunder outside a niche support role.

1 Like
15

+1 To say I’d love to see it is an understatement, but it’d be difficult and time consuming to implement, needing new game mechanics, and maybe even more frustrating to balance…

I imagine it’d be a horrible time for the crew of any tank lit up by this thing. If those lasers hit a viewport wouldn’t they instantly blind anybody unfortunate enough to be looking through it? And the beam would scatter inside the tank. Looks like a bit of a brick and would probably be very vulnerable to CAS, but any pilot who did fly in front of it would be toast…

If somebody who knows a thing or two about lasers figured out how this would have affected a real tank, especially its crew (we already know any optical devices are going to get fried), there’d at least be a basis for some in-game mechanics that aren’t too far removed from what already exists. If realistic, maybe it would injure or totally blind the crew near any viewports it hit, knocking them out if the latter? If we could figure out how dangerous the scattering inside the tank would be, maybe it’d do some damage to crew further away from the viewport? Maybe some RNG to balance the effects, sometimes it blinds somebody completely, sometimes they might have been looking away from the viewport that got hit… RNG could give that effect. Could even have a mechanic where the crew are “aware” of the danger after the first shot, so the next one is less likely to cause as much injury… but it’d be getting a bit complicated (for one vehicle at least) at that point. (If you wanted a stun mechanic, maybe the “aware” crew, since they’re avoiding all the viewports, aren’t completely stunned but are less effective?)

Guessing the lasers would be very fragile, too? One shot though the turret and it’s out of action, maybe those lenses could be shattered with machine gunfire or any explosives (wonder if they were, or even could have been, bulletproof or toughened?)

I’ve spent too much time thinking about something we’ll never get, but if you dare to dream… it’s not unimaginable that it could be introduced without either causing total chaos or just being a rolling meme (I mean, I’d still buy it).