What "front-line renovation" is required for the T-55 and BTR-60 / BTR-70 tanks

In this publication, we continue a series of articles on possible options for the "renovation" of Soviet-made armored vehicles located in the warehouses of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. After the old T-62M tanks, then the T-55 went to the NVO zone, and the domestic gunsmiths thought of putting a ship's gun turret on the MT-LB, it was time to finally discard the stereotypes and fight with what is available.

Battalions ask for fire

Requirements for armaments are made by life itself, as well as death, which arrives in the special operation zone in the form of large-caliber NATO-style shells, mines, various missiles and attack drones. Just yesterday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to attack Crimea with the help of 22 UAVs and ballistic missiles from the Grom-2 OTRK. This means that the Russian military must be provided with a powerful layered air defense system, if possible, protected from fragments of enemy artillery, be mobile and be able to hit enemy positions pointwise, with maximum efficiency, without wasting shells that have suddenly become scarce.



To do this, the RF Armed Forces need a sufficient number of MLRS "Tornado-S", "Coalition", "Chrysanthemum-S", "Derivations" and other "Armata", but so far there are not as many of them as we would like. Let's hope that the domestic military-industrial complex will be able to quickly fire up and begin to supply such weapons to the front in large batches with ammunition for them in commercial quantities. For now, we'll talk about how you can get the most out of your existing old armored vehicles with minimal modifications.

"Renovation" T-55

When the first echelons with T-62M tanks headed for the front, many began to joke about the fact that the turn would soon come to the T-55. When the T-55 went to the NVO zone, it was not at all a laughing matter. The most rational explanation that the author of the lines could find is that the obsolete T-55, thanks to its 100 mm rifled cannon, should be used as a sniper, clearly aiming at enemy armored vehicles and their fortified positions. Sounds nice.

True, how the survivability of the crew of an old tank not equipped with dynamic protection should be ensured in this case is delicately not explained. Not only everyone can shoot a canopy from a trench from a rifled gun of the T-55 turret and hit the target, it's not a howitzer. To use the “naked” and “bald” old tank precisely as a tank in assault operations is criminal in relation to its crew, if there are more modern and protected T-72s of various modifications or the T-90M Breakthrough.

In other words, the very concept of using such outdated armored vehicles raises big questions. However, with minimal refinement, even the T-55 will be able to begin to bring real benefits in a positional war in the Donbass. To do this, we recall the recent the publication of about how the military of different countries carried out "front-line tuning" of cash equipment, installing non-standard weapons on it, which can serve as an example for inspiration.


For example, immediately after the end of the Six-Day War, the Israelis began to convert obsolete American Sherman tanks into self-propelled large-caliber mortars, called Makmat. They took Soltam Systems M-160 66-mm mortars, which are a licensed copy of the Finnish M-58, and began to install them on Shermans, from which they removed the turret and upper part of the hull, welding around an open casemate of steel armor plates. In total, about 150 self-propelled mortars were produced in this way. Such a simple and at the same time elegant technical solution gave the IDF one and a half hundred mobile firing points capable of participating both in defense and in the offensive, throwing the enemy with 40-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation mines at a distance of up to 9,6 km. The striking power of the Makmat was higher than that of the American 155 mm "three axes".

It is not surprising that neighbors in the Middle East, in Iraq, appreciated the idea and converted a number of their T-55 tanks into self-propelled mortars, installing a 160-mm Soviet-made M-160 mortar in place of the removed turret. Instead of shells from a 100-mm gun, the calculation could throw mines weighing 41 kilograms at a maximum angle of 80 degrees at a distance of up to 8 km.

Let's ask ourselves a question, maybe in the conditions of a positional war in the Donbass, a 160-mm mortar mounted on the T-55 platform will be a little more useful than an old tank that needs to hit with direct fire, pretending to be a sniper?

A large-caliber mortar can strike from protected positions, directly from trenches or parapets, without fear of getting an enemy ATGM into the tower, and then quickly change position, avoiding a retaliatory counter-battery strike. Yes, now the M-160 is not produced, but in the warehouses of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, as of 2016, there were one and a half hundred of them. They can and should be put into action, at the same time resuming the production of ammunition for them. As you can see, now only "krupnyak" is playing.

"Renovation" BTR-60 / BTR-70

As for the old Soviet armored personnel carriers, then to previously said you can add just a few touches. It is no longer possible to use them directly as armored personnel carriers in active assault operations; this requires more modern and protected armored vehicles. However, even outdated technology can be of great use if properly tuned.


At first, in the image and likeness of the Ukrainian BTR-3M1 and BTR-3M2 in Russian armored personnel carriers, landing places can be removed by placing 82 mm or 120 mm mortars with ammunition in the hull. A simple and very interesting solution that allows you to get a highly mobile firing point, where the crew is covered with light armor, which is most suitable for the realities of positional warfare.


Secondly, old armored personnel carriers can be easily converted into improvised company-level air defense systems. To do this, it is enough to install a quick-firing ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft gun in the tower, which will be able to fight enemy drones, reconnaissance and strike drones, and other low-flying low-speed targets. It is also possible to pair the Zushka with the Igla-S anti-aircraft missile module, which will increase the effectiveness of the modified BTR-PVO. If necessary, from the quick-firing ZU-23-2, its crew will be able to support the unit with fire, “combing” the grove with greenery where the enemy is hiding.

The increase in the number of mobile air defense systems at the front raises no doubts, given that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have relied on the active use of drones. Yesterday's attack on the Crimea is a clear confirmation of this.