Rare Russian Tank Destroyed in Ukraine – Was Meant for Someone Else? – Technology Org

The T-90 is by any means a relatively new tank. It is a third-generation main battle tank, based on the T-72. The T-90M “Proryv” version is described as the most advanced Russian main battle tank in active service. Of course, this title would be given to the T-14 Armata, but it doesn’t seem to be coming to the battlefield any time soon. But what is the T-90S recently damaged south of Marinka?

Rare Russian Tank Destroyed in Ukraine – Was Meant for Someone Else? – Technology Org

T-90S is an export version of Russia’s most advanced active main battle tank. Image credit: Dmitry Terekhov via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The T-90 was meant to be a unified replacement for the mess of Soviet tanks that Russia found itself using in the 1990’s. Obviously, as you may see, Russia is still operating a bunch of T-72s, T-80s, T-64s and even older tanks. However, the T-90, based on the T-72 chassis, was meant to replace them all.

The standard T-90 entered service in 1992. It is a 46-tonne tank with a 125 mm smoothbore gun, 3 man crew, and advanced steel-composite armour with dynamic protection tiles. Definitely a step up from what the T-72 is, but still just a third-generation main battle tank.

The main event is the T-90M “Proryv”, which entered service in 2016. It is the latest, most modern active main battle tank in the Russian service. It has even more armour (does weigh around 2 tonnes more though), better sights and electronics. “M” stands for “modernised” afterall. The defenders of Ukraine destroyed a lot of T-90Ms already, but every single one of them is a triumph over the Russian defence industry.

Now a news aggregator Noelreports on Twitter posted that a rare Russian T-90S with a TMT-K mine trawl up front was damaged by a Javelin anti-tank missile south of Marinka:

The T-90S is quite a rare sight in Ukraine, because it was never meant to come here. Russia produced the T-90S exclusively for export markets. This version is much older than the T-90M. India received a batch of 42 T-90 tanks back in 2001 and they were designated T-90S to separate them from the tanks meant for Russian service. The T-90S was also exported to Algeria, Armenia, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Uganda and Azerbaijan.

Interestingly, the T-90S was meant to be even cheaper than the T-90. At first, these export tanks got older cast turrets. Instead of the IR dazzlers, meant to fool IR-seeking ammunition, the T-90S got more of the Kontakt-5 reactive armour tiles. Whenever Russia accepted the T-90S into its own service, they were designated the T-90A.

Fielding the T-90S doesn’t mean much. It doesn’t mean that Russia is running out of main battle tanks. Just that they are throwing everything and the defenders of Ukraine get to destroy even a bit more rare machines like this. Also, in regards to exporting the T-90S, it will be interesting to see how the war in Ukraine will affect Russia’s presence in the global arms markets.

Sources: NOELreports Twitter, Wikipedia

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By Julio MarchiPosted on