Weapons

The Russian Army Gets a New Tank: Cheap, Sophisticated, and Deadly

2018 is the year the Russian Army will add a new main battle tank (MBT) to its arsenal. The vehicle will eventually replace the aging T-90 and T-90A. At least one tank battalion (31 vehicles) will be reequipped with the new T-90Ms (Proryv-3s) within a period of few months. The lessons of the war in Syria have been learned and that invaluable experience has been put to good use.

This vehicle is different from the T-90MS version, which is produced for export, and they should not confused. The T-90M and the T-72B3M, a new machine that was tested during the Zapad 2017 Russian-Belarusian strategic military exercise, will have complementary functions and operate as mainstays of the Russian tank force. They could be used for different types of missions.

The T-90M is armed with both a 125mm 2A46M-4 smoothbore cannon, which is capable of firing standard artillery shells, as well as Refleks AT-11 Sniper-B anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) with a range of 4-5 km. Those can hit helicopters flying at low altitude. They can hold 40 rounds of ammunition. The carousel-type autoloader can carry 22 rounds. A removable turret bustle can store eight additional rounds. The Proryv-3 can fire while moving.