What is the state of Russian armor?

[Lancer]

There was a news story of a Russian column of T72 tanks. These are ancient, yes? I know they have more modern stuff, anyone know what it is and how many?

[Lord Avalon]

State of Russian armor? Just peachy, I would think.

[Zkribbler]

I know they're now the proud possessors of 4 brand new U.S. armored personnel carriers.

[DanS]

Probably in a state of extreme rust.

[Kidlicious]

Re: What is the state of Russian armor?

Still not capable of invading the USA!

[Lancer]

Found this... http://russianarmor.info/

[Lancer]

This bit from that site is rather revealing.

http://russianarmor.info/

Nizhny Tagil New Main Battle Tank

Is this what it looks like?
A new MBT was developed by V. Potkin's design team in Nizhny Tagil, at the Uralvagonzavod Plant where all the latest Russian tanks except the T-80 were manufactured.

This vehicle is intended to become the new Russian MBT and was planned to enter service in 1994, but due to lack of financing it is still on the testing grounds (according to some reports it has cleared the testing phase around March 1999). As a result, the Russian Army is stuck with the obsolete designs of T-64/T-72/T-80/T-90 line for much longer than it wishes.

The MBT doesn't yet have any lofty name and hides behind some obscure "ob'ekt" designation. In March 2000 the Defense Minister Igor Sergeev, while visiting Nizhny Tagil, said that Russia now "has a new T-95 tank" referring to the MBT being discussed here. It is unclear if this means that the vehicle is finally fielded (as only a fielded vehicle may get T-95 designation), or he just used the term that is sufficiently known in the West to avoid getting into details.

I could find very little about this vehicle, because it is all classified data. Here is the precious little I could gather, thanks mostly to Col. Viktor Mourakhovsky.

Crew protection on the tank will be emphasized to a far greater degree than ever before in Russian tank designs. The level of crew protection should ensure its survival when the tank is hit by any anti-tank munitions from any aspect or angle, thanks to the crew placement in a unitary armored pod inside the hull.
A unique drivetrain suspension system is being tested on this tank that to a certain extent extinguishes the hull vibrations and stabilizes its position.
The tank still remains in Class 50 (i.e. it weighs 50 tons) and it shall have an even smaller silhouette than the modern Russian MBTs.
The gun will be a 152mm smoothbore tank gun/ATGM launcher. The development of this system started as far back as end of the fifties for the heavy tanks (originally a rifled gun, probably M-69). The project was revived in the eighties and the gun was significantly redesigned. Even with ordinary powders a very high initial velocity of an APFSDS projectile is achieved. I could not, unfortunately, learn how the caliber increase is going to influence ammunition allowance and rate of fire.
This gun shall be located in an unmanned gun pod on top of the hull with no crew access to it. This is likely to increase survivability and lower the silhouette even further.
The fire control system will be multi-channel (optical + thermal + IR + laser + radar).
The carousel autoloader goes away.
According to plans the crew will consist of a 3 man combat structure and one mechanic (not unlike the air force crew structure), who will be responsible for vehicle maintenance and will reside in a battalion service and repair company.
I hope that the veil of secrecy will lift a bit and I will learn more details about this MBT.

[Solver]

While they were mainly using T72s in Georgia, they're definitely not the most advanced of Russian armor. Their top of the line tank is the T-90, which is modern enough, and they have nearly a thousand of those not counting the T-90s that are upgraded older armor.

[Lancer]

Seems thay have alot fewer than that.

http://russianarmor.info/

Service in Russian Army
Due to financial woes the T-90 MBT is only present in the Russian Ground Forces in very modest numbers. Until 1996 one tank regiment of 21st MRD (94 vehicles) as well as one tank battalion of 5th TD (31 vehicles) were equipped with T-90. After 1996 the procurement stopped for several years, with the estimated total number of T-90s in service below 150. 2004 saw the revival of state orders, with 14 upgraded T-90A MBTs ordered in 2004, 17 in 2005, equipping one tank battalion in 2nd Tamanskaja MRD (according to an interview to the daily of the Russian Military "Red Star" by Ground Forces Chief Col.-Gen. A.Maslov this battalion became operational in May 2006); a full battalion of 31 vehicles is planned for in the budget for 2006, and one more battalion each year after that until 2011. The cost of each T-90 for the Russian budget is estimated to be around 35mln RUR (USD1.3mln).

[Elok]

Y'know, there's a munitions company based in Prague that makes state-of-the-art body armor under contract for their government. They used to have these wonderful PR spots on state television targeting the families of soldiers: "Don't worry; your Czech is in the mail!"

[Solver]

I'm not sure how accurate that page is but it seems off to me, and the site apparently hasn't been updated in a while. I'm getting my stuff from rusarmy.com, mainly.

[Combat Ingrid]

[PLATO]

The T-90S is the latest development in the T-series of Russian tanks and represents an increase in firepower, mobility and protection. It is manufactured by Uralvagonzavod in Nizhnyi Tagil, Russia.

The T-90S entered service with the Russian Army in 1992. In February 2001, the Indian Army signed a contract for 310 T-90S tanks. 124 were completed in Russia and the rest are being delivered in 'knocked down / semi-knocked down' form for final assembly in India.

"The T-90S Russian tank represents an increase in firepower, mobility and protection."The first of these was delivered in January 2004. The locally assembled tanks are christened 'Bhishma'. The tanks are fitted with the Shtora self-protection system and Catherine thermal imagers from Thales of France and Peleng of Belarus.

In January 2005, it was announced that a further 91 T-90S tanks would be procured for the Russian Army, although this number was later reduced. Deliveries are underway.

By November 2007, it has been estimated that the Russian Army has around 200 T-90 tanks. In August 2007, Thales was awarded a contract to supply 100 of these with the Catherine FC thermal imager.

In March 2006, Algeria signed a contract for the supply of 180 T-90S tanks from Uralvagonzavod, to be delivered by 2011.

In November 2006, India ordered a further 300 T-90 tanks, to be licence-built by Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF), Avadi. Deliveries are to begin in 2008.

ARMAMENT

The T-90S armament includes one 125mm 2A46M smoothbore gun, stabilised in two axes and fitted with a thermal sleeve. The gun tube can be replaced without dismantling inside the turret. The gun can fire a variety of ammunition including APDS (Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot), HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank), HE-FRAG (High Explosive Fragmentation) as well as shrapnel projectiles with time fuzes.

The T-90S gun can also fire the 9M119 Refleks (NATO designation AT-11 Sniper) anti-tank guided missile system. The range of the missile is 100m to 4,000m and takes 11.7 sec to reach maximum range. The system is intended to engage tanks fitted with ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) as well as low-flying air targets such as helicopters, at a range of up to 5km. The missile system fires either the 9M119 or 9M119M missiles which have semi-automatic laser beamriding guidance and a hollow charge warhead. Missile weight is 23.4kg. The guns automatic loader will feed both ordnance and missiles.

Also fitted is a coaxial 7.62mm PKT machine gun and a 12.7mm air defence machine gun. A 5.45mm AKS-74 assault rifle is carried on a storage rack.

SELF-PROTECTION

The T-90 tank is protected by both conventional armour-plating and explosive reactive armour (ERA).

The T-90 is fitted with the Shtora-1 defensive aids suite which is produced by Electronintorg of Russia. This system includes infrared jammer, laser warning system with four laser warning receivers, grenade discharging system which produces an aerosol screen and a computerised control system.

It is also fitted with NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) protection equipment.

FIRE CONTROL AND OBSERVATION

The T-90S has the 1A4GT integrated fire control system (IFCS) which is automatic but with manual override for the commander. The IFCS contains the gunner's 1A43 day fire control system, gunner's TO1-KO1 thermal imaging sight which has a target identification range of 1.2km to 1.5km and commander's PNK-S sight.

"The T-90S has the 1A4GT integrated fire control system (IFCS) which is automatic but with manual override."The gunner's 1A43 day FCS comprises: 1G46 day sight/rangefinder with missile guidance channel, 2E42-4 armament stabiliser, 1V528 ballistic computer and DVE-BS wind gauge.

The commander's PNK-4S sight includes a TKN-4S (Agat-S) day/night sight which has identification ranges of 800m (day) and 700m (night).

The driver is equipped with a TVN-5 infrared night viewer.

PROPULSION

The T-90S has a liquid-cooled V-84MS 618kW (840 hp) four-stroke V-12 piston engine. This engine can be fuelled by T-2 or TS-1 kerosene and A-72 benzine, in addition to diesel. The tank can carry up to 1,600 litres of fuel in the main fuel tanks and fuel drums. The fuel tanks are reinforced with armour plating.

The tank is provided with a snorkel for deep fording and can ford 5m of water with equipment which can be deployed in 20 minutes.

The mechanical transmission includes primary reduction gear, two planetary final gearboxes and two planetary final drives. The running gear features torsion bar suspension with hydraulic shock absorbers at one, two and six road wheel stations and tracks with rubber-metallic pin hinges

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/t90/

[Kirnwaffen]

Global security puts T-90s of all models at 300 or less in service. Several hundred have been produced, but many are for export. It sounds like the strategy is to keep the production line open until the T-95 is ready.

[Asher]

What is the best MBT?