Name a few current main battle tanks of the Russian forces. If you know anything about armoured vehicles or military tech in general, you will definitely mention the T-72. Other good mentions would be the T-80, T-90, even the T-64, or the non-existing T-14 Armata. However, almost no one would even think of putting the T-54 on that list.
T-54, as seen by the Ukrainian surveillance drone, which observed the destruction of this tank. (Screenshot)
The defenders of Ukraine have noticed a huge increase in the number of T-54 tanks attacking their positions in Southern and Eastern Ukraine. In particular, numerous T-54s have been spotted and destroyed close to the Robotyne village in the Zaporizhzhya region. The name of this town has become quite famous because of the numerous failed Russian armoured assaults there, which did not bring any results for the Russian forces in Ukraine.
The T-54 is a very old tank even for the Russian standards. And it looks old, even filmed with a poor quality camera of an FPV drone:
NSU special unit Omega destroyed yet another Russian T-54 tank, which are now more and more being used to attack in Robotyne, occupied Zaporizhzhia region. pic.twitter.com/d7FNRNUCtB
— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) February 22, 2024
How old is the T-54? Very – the first prototypes of this tank were built in 1945. In fact, it is a direct successor to the legendary WW2 tank the T-34. The T-54 tank has a 100 mm rifled barrel gun – something that’s been long forgotten in the Russian Army. And yet they keep using them and there is only one reason why.
Russia and the world has a lot of T-54 and T-55 tanks. The truth of the matter is that the T-54/55 series is the most-produced tank in history with some production estimates pointing to numbers maybe even over 100,000 tanks. The Soviets alone produced around 35,000 T-54 tanks (later Poland made them too).
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia inherited at least 3,000 T-54 and T-55 tanks. Maybe even much more. Many of them were later scrapped, some were relegated to long-term storage, but some, apparently, remained in operational condition. And because these tanks were so abundant everywhere in the world, Russia may ask its international friends to sell them back for cheap.
The T-54 is a terrible tank now. Its armour is thin and weak according to today’s standards. Especially hatches, which are going to be the primary targets of the Ukrainian FPV drones. However, it cannot be forgotten that the appearance of the T-54 on the frontlines in Ukraine is primarily showing that Russia has very deep tank reserves.
Yes, the T-54 is antique, but it is still deadly. At the very least, they will help Russian forces to keep the pressure on the defence lines of Ukraine until better machinery arrives.
Also, the T-54 basically costs nothing, because of how old it is. Its ammo is also worthless – if Russia has many 100 mm tank shells, they are old and need to be disposed of. Firing them towards Ukrainian positions in a way saves money that would otherwise be used to destroy or store that ancient ammo.
Written by Povilas M.
Sources: NOELreports Twitter, Wikipedia