On March 23, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev announced the superiority of Russian T-90M Proryv tanks over Western competitors – M1 Abrams and Leopard. The former president called Russian vehicles the best tanks in the world and said that already in 2023 Russian factories will produce 1,500 tanks. What are the main advantages of the T-90M “Breakthrough” and its effectiveness on the battlefield, understood RTVI.
what is this tank
The T-90M Proryv is the main battle tank of the Russian army. Work on the tank’s design began in 2004, when the T-90AM version was developed, later modified into the more modern T-90M. The tank was first presented at the Army-2018 forum, and the first versions of the tank entered service in 2020. Serial production of the vehicle began in 2021, and responsibility for production fell to Uralvagonzavod, which produces almost all Russian tanks.
“Breakthrough” is a deeply modernized version of the platform of the T-90 tank (various modifications of the latter have been produced since 1992). And the T-90, in turn, is a deep modernization of the Soviet T-72B. However, most modern tanks – Russian and Western – are modernizations of vehicles developed in the 70-80s during the Cold War. The main difference between the “Breakthrough” – both functional and external – is a new turret with a “Kalina” fire control system with an integrated tactical-level combat information and control system (CICS), a commander’s panoramic sight and a new model of the 2A46M-5 gun. In the side projection, the tank turret is somewhat reminiscent of the Abrams turret, but of a lower height.
In addition to the basic T-90M, there is also an export version of the T-90MS equipped with a protection complex with fewer features than the domestic version.
As retired Colonel and military observer Viktor Litovkin noted in an interview with RTVI, the T-90M Proryv has the most modern systems and components in the country. “In many ways, this takes previous models of Russian tank building to a new level,” he explained.
The combat weight of the T-90M “Proryv” is 48 tons. For comparison, the Abrams M1A2 has 61.2 tons, the Abrams M1A2 SEP V3, which is supplied to Ukraine, has 66.8 tons. The new Russian tank is protected by combined anti-projectile armor, supplemented by a charge in the form of plates parallel to the plane and high-hardness steel inserts. In addition to this, third-generation Relic dynamic protection modules are used (adopted in 2006 instead of the Kontakt-5 complex, which has been in use since 1986). Replacing “Kontakt-5” with “Relic” made it possible to carry out repairs faster, increase the coverage of the frontal projection of the tower (up to 60-68% from 40-45%) and the level of protection against cumulative and sub-caliber ammunition. Among other things, the tank is able to use an aerosol smoke screen to protect against anti-tank missile systems (ATGM).
The essence of the principle of operation of dynamic protection (DZ) is that when a projectile hits, the DZ elements fixed above the armor of the tank explode in response. The explosive action of the DZ is directed away from the tank, which reduces the impact on the armor of a projectile that hits the vehicle. In addition to remote sensing, there is also active protection (AZ). AZ detects approaching projectiles – ATGM missiles, RPG grenades – and releases electromagnetic and kinetic interference. Interference can either deflect a homing projectile or destroy or weaken the effect of a normal projectile. The AZ is partially installed only on the T-90AM modification and is fully used in the T-14 Armata tank.
Breakthroughs use a V-92S2F four-stroke V-shaped diesel engine manufactured by Uralvagonzavod Corporation. The same engine is on the T-72B3 tanks. Engine power is 1300 hp, specific power – 27 hp. per ton (the German Leopard 2A6 has 23 hp per ton, the Russian T-72BZM and the American Abrams have 24 hp per ton).
The Breakthrough crew consists of three people, which is different from Western tanks, the crew of which additionally needs one more person to load the main gun. Russian tanks have an autoloader, while Abrams and Leopards have their main gun manually reloaded. As military observer Viktor Litovkin noted, the autoloader allows you to reload the gun on the go and when moving over rough terrain. “Imagine that the tank is moving at full speed, the magazine is thrown from side to side, and the man has to take a 40-kilogram projectile and send it into the breech of the gun. Being in a room cramped, you can hit your forehead against anything, so the rate of fire from a Russian tank is higher, as is the accuracy of fire, ”the expert said in an interview with RTVI.
The maximum speed of a Russian tank on the highway reaches 70 km / h, on rough terrain – 50 km / h. The range on the highway reaches 550 km, which can be considered one of the main advantages of the Russian tank – the high fuel consumption of the same American Abrams reduces the range on the highway to 426 km. On the other hand, the Abrams gas turbine engine makes it very quiet and resistant to cold. When it comes to speed, the Abrams lags the Breakthrough, but not by much – 66.8 km/h on the highway and 48 km/h on rough terrain. The minimum cold start temperature of the T-90M “Breakthrough” engine without preheating is -20°C. In the tank, for the first time, they tested the installation of an automatic gearshift system with the ability to switch to manual mode.
The armament of the T-90M “Breakthrough” tank
The Proryv is armed with a Russian 125 mm 2A46M-5 gun, 48 calibers long. The Abrams and the Leopards are armed with the same Rheinmetall Rh gun, the caliber of which is 120 mm. “Of course, the difference is not too big, but the 125-mm caliber allows you to fire guided anti-tank rockets, including laser-guided ones, from the main gun. Not a single Western tank can do this,” Litovkin explained. Proryva guns can use the new 3VBM23 (Lead-2) armor-piercing sub-caliber projectiles, which perforated 300 mm from a homogeneous barrier at an angle of 60 degrees from the normal at a distance of 2000 meters. According to information from open sources, the core of the Lead-2 projectile completed from the so-called Material-B – an alloy of depleted uranium with tungsten; The firing range reaches 3 km, the destruction range of an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) – 5 km; On the roof of the tower is a 7.62 mm anti-aircraft gun “UDP T05BV-1” with remote control. A 7.62mm Kalashnikov machine gun is paired with the main gun; Gun ammunition – 40 shells, 22 of them in the autoloader; The tank is equipped with a turret with a Kalina fire control system (FCS). “Kalina” includes a tactical-level combat information and control system, which combines all the equipment of the connection into a single information system with display on the map. This allows crews to quickly share information about the enemy’s location, marking it in the Geographic Information System displayed on the monitors. “Linking” the tank to the electronic terrain allows the use of satellite navigation. Kalina also includes the commander’s panoramic sight “Falcon Eye” with an integrated ballistic computer, a more advanced gunner’s sight “Sosna-U” with a laser range finder and a thermal imaging channel, an automatic target tracking device, a stabilizer and a friend/foe identification system.
How will the T-90M “Proryv” affect the balance of forces in the conflict in Ukraine
According to military observer Viktor Litovkin, in reality, tanks almost never fight against each other, but only with the complex simultaneous use of other forces and means in service. In this regard, the supply of more modern individual tanks has almost no effect on the course of the battle, the expert noted in an interview with RTVI. “The tank must be covered by aircraft, because any tank is a blind and dumb creature with limited visibility on the battlefield. Let’s say a man is sitting with a primitive anti-tank grenade launcher with a cumulative duplex grenade in the bushes, it can fill any tank, because they simply will not notice it, therefore the tank definitely needs air cover – by helicopters, planes and drones, ”said Litovkin. The expert added that in addition to air cover, the tank should also be accompanied by ground forces: infantry fighting vehicles, motorized guns and tank support combat vehicles, “which would inform the tank crew of what is happening on the battlefield”.
Due to the small impact of innovations in the construction of individual tanks on the overall course of the battle, the Russian military-industrial complex may not face a demand for a full modernization of the T-90 to T-90M Proryv. “It’s like wondering if the Russian military-industrial complex can replace the Kalashnikov (AK-74) assault rifle with a more modern AK-12. There are almost 15 million ordinary AKs in warehouses, and replacing them with more modern versions is impractical and expensive,” Litovkin said. The advantage of even the most modern tank cannot decide the fate of the battle, so it makes no sense to change old tanks for those that are 10-20% better, the expert summed up.
