- Ukraine has captured hundreds Russian tanks that it intends to use against Russian forces.
- Russia’s T-90M is likely to be examined, as one of the T-90Ms was reportedly recovered by Ukrainian troops.
- It could provide critical information to the West about Russia’s most advanced armored vehicle.
Ukraine has captured a T-90M MBT — Moscow should be worried:Recent weeks have seen the Ukrainian military Captured dozens of Russian tanks — with some sources suggesting theThese numbers could rise to 200At least 380 tanks have been captured in the conflict since February.
Untold numbers of tanks were captured. T-72And even a few T-80Main battle tanks (MBTs), many of which will be used by the Ukrainians, will be refurbished.
However, at least one tank that was recently captured won’t be simply sent back to the battlefield — it could even end up being shipped outside of Ukraine for study.
It is an a T-90M “Proryv”(Russian: “Breakthrough”) and although it couldn’t help Russia’s military breakthrough in the seven-month-long campaign it could provide critical details to Western observers about the Kremlin’s most advanced armored vehicle.
It appeared to have been After it lost its track, it was abandoned.
What do we know?
REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi
The T-90M Proryv can be used as the Latest modernization variantThe MBT that was first put into service by the Russian Army in 1994. The T-90 tank was greatly improved in terms protection, mobility, firepower, and protection.
The Proryv variantIt is equipped with a smoothbore gun of 125mm 2A46M-4 that can fire standard ammunition and anti-tank guided ballistic missiles (ATGM). Refleks NATO Code AT-11 Sniper B rounds. Secondary armament includes a remote-operated weapon station armed a NSVT 12.7mm heavy and a 7.62mm PTKM axial machine gun.
The Proryv’s configuration is identical to the T-90 models. It has a driver compartment at its front and a turret in the middle of the hull. A power plant is located at the rear. The Proryv is powered by a 1000mm 12-cylinder engine that can reach speeds of 60 kph when on roads and 50 offroad.
The MBT comes with the Relikt ERA armor (Explosive Reactive Armor) that’s fitted at each end of the turret.
In September 2017, the first test of the T-90M was conducted during Zapad-2017, a military exercise.
We don’t know what we don’t know
AP Photo/Dmitri Liebetsky
The tank may have valuable information that we don’t know about it. Moscow considers the capture of T-90M a mistake, while NATO sees it as a coup. The Economist reported the following:The ability to seize such a weapon may provide valuable information about the enemy’s military technology.
It also pointed out that American efforts during the Cold War to inspect the T-72 failed to succeed on multiple occasions. Finally, in 1987, a rogue Romanian arms trader sold the T-72 to American agents, purportedly as scrap metal. Later, the KGB made public the details of this deal.
It took the US 14 years to inspect the T-72M, which was then obsoleted by newer models. The T-90M was, however, more impressive.This is Russia’s top tankIt has onlySince April 2020.
The T-90M tank was the first to be produced Delivered the first parcelsTo the 2nd Guards M.I. Kalinin Taman Motor Rifle Division of the 1st Guards Tank Army was in the Western Military District during the spring of 2001.
Few T-90Ms were deployed to Ukraine. Some analysts speculate that the remaining 100 MBTs are being kept in reserve for an escalation with NATO at Russia’s western borders. NATO may be able discover critical details about the tank Moscow might have kept secret.
Peter Suciu, a Michigan-based writer and senior editor, was elected in 1945. ContributedOver 3,000 pieces were published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines over his 20-year journalism career. He frequently writes about military hardware and cybersecurity. Peter is also an author.Contributing writer for Forbes. You can follow him Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
