NI: Moscow has made significant efforts to modernize its aging tanks

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The Russian military currently owns a small number of T-72 tanks upgraded to the T-72B3M version, also known as the T-72B4. The first batch of such tanks entered the troops of the Western Military District in 2017, but rearmament continues. Columnist Peter Suchiu wrote about this in his article for the American edition of The National Interest.


The author noted that last week the 30st military base of the Russian Armed Forces in Tajikistan received 72 T-3B201M units. Now Russian personnel are being trained to operate improved tanks with a number of improved combat characteristics. The Soviet main battle tank (MBT) T-72 entered production in 1971 to replace the T-54/T-55 armored armada in the second half of the Cold War. In total, more than 25 thousand T-72s were produced, including for export.

Moscow has made significant efforts to modernize its aging tanks, despite the fact that it has developed more modern armored combat platforms, including the T-14 Armata. T-72B3M is the latest modification of the ubiquitous T-72, and it has a similar layout: the driver is located in the bow of the hull, the fighting compartment in the center (commander and gunner in the turret) and the power unit in the stern

- the author specifies.

The T-72B3M is equipped with an improved fire control system (FCS) and a new thermal imaging sight. The mobility and combat characteristics of the tank have been greatly improved to compete with the most advanced tanks in the world. The tank has communication facilities for secure (encrypted) communication and data transfer.

In addition, the tanks are equipped with snorkels (a device for running the engine under water) to overcome deep fords and a built-in dump for self-digging. They are capable of hitting targets from a standstill and on the move, day and night, at ranges up to 5 meters with a firing accuracy close to 100%. The automatic target designator improves the accuracy of firing at moving targets and significantly reduces the preparation time for firing.

The T-72B3M is equipped with an improved 125-mm 2A46M5 smoothbore gun, an automatic loader and a wide range of ammunition, including armor-piercing sub-caliber, high-explosive fragmentation and high-explosive fragmentation anti-tank shells, as well as 9M119 Reflex anti-tank guided missiles. Moreover, the updated tank received an effective protection system that increases its effectiveness both in combined arms combat and in various combat conditions, the author summed up.
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  1. zloybond Offline zloybond
    zloybond (steppenwolf) 15 January 2022 15: 44
    0
    that's what I liked about Abrams - the ability to communicate with the tank crew via an external telephone. Those. the infantry has the opportunity to adjust their actions with the crew while being behind the armor, without fear of being intercepted on the air by radio. Both in the city and in the field, a good bonus in combat conditions. Too bad we haven't seen it yet.
    1. Pandiurin Offline Pandiurin
      Pandiurin (Pandiurin) 16 January 2022 00: 36
      +1
      Quote: zloybond
      that's what I liked about Abrams - the ability to communicate with the tank crew via an external telephone. Those. the infantry has the opportunity to adjust their actions with the crew while being behind the armor, without fear of being intercepted on the air by radio. Both in the city and in the field, a good bonus in combat conditions. Too bad we haven't seen it yet.

      The tube on the armor is bad in combat conditions. So someone wants to talk to the crew, and then clean it off the tracks.

      With that, refueling, replenishment of ammunition is probably useful.
      But in such a situation, you can chat through the open hatch.
      1. zloybond Offline zloybond
        zloybond (steppenwolf) 16 January 2022 10: 30
        0
        minus it is of course patriotic, I love it when such "patriots" appear. But in battle, do not get into the hatch - whoever has not tried it is better not to try. In a battle for armor, jump under fire immediately .... And shift the direction of fire to coordinate an operationally useful device unambiguously. In combat for sure. If the crew commander and the mechanic are not bad, they will not trample even in the turmoil, and when support comes for the armor, it is all the more needed. Well, it's certainly none of our business. In our country, walkie-talkies appeared on all machines only during the war - and so everything is with flags and signs, well, yell into the hatch. We catch up all the time.
        1. Pandiurin Offline Pandiurin
          Pandiurin (Pandiurin) 16 January 2022 14: 37
          +2
          Quote: zloybond
          minus it is of course patriotic, I love it when such "patriots" appear. But in battle, do not get into the hatch - whoever has not tried it is better not to try. In a battle for armor, jump under fire immediately .... And shift the direction of fire to coordinate an operationally useful device unambiguously. In combat for sure. If the crew commander and the mechanic are not bad, they will not trample even in the turmoil, and when support comes for the armor, it is all the more needed. Well, it's certainly none of our business. In our country, walkie-talkies appeared on all machines only during the war - and so everything is with flags and signs, well, yell into the hatch. We catch up all the time.

          I didn't downvote you.
          A corded phone is a vestige, especially after the advent of active armor. Close to the tank in combat conditions is wrong, Darwin's theory tells us about this.

          Even a goat in a pasture is tied to a peg with a long rope. And so it turns out the tank is tied to a lace one and a half meters until it finishes the conversation. If this is tank support, then for constant communication of coordination, an infantryman should run next to the tank with a tube pressed to his ear, and this will obviously not be an ordinary one. It looks like a comedy.

          I agree with you about the need for communication.

          Probably the tank crew should have a set of radios with encryption to communicate with this particular tank. And if a situation arose that the unit with which they interact is not able to establish contact with them, then issue the unit commander with such an ersatz walkie-talkie or encryption codes for communication with this particular tank. Then it will be possible to coordinate at a distance of up to several kilometers on the go.

          This will be easier and cheaper than maintaining the external handset on each tank at all times. We seem to have working conditions from +50 to -40, rain, snow, mud.
    2. mark1 Offline mark1
      mark1 27 January 2022 13: 34
      0
      This "option" is already 90 years old, or even all 100. But yes, for some reason, we don’t have a telephone socket on the armor.