While the T-14 Armata might be Russia’s latest and greatest tank, it still is not
ready for service.
In order to bolster the capabilities of their more conventional tank fleet while the Armata
is being prepared, Russia continues to modernize its current “top-tier” tanks, such as
the T-90.
Recently forty T-90Ms, the latest variant of the T-90, were reported to be ready for
delivery in the near future to combat units.
Similar to the M1A2 SEP v3, this is an upgrade kit that builds upon and improves the capabilities
of the tank.
The T-90 has its roots in a late Soviet program aimed at consolidating the T-64, T-72, and
T-80 main battle tanks (MBTs) into a single modern tank that can serve as a more sustainable
long-term platform for future upgrades.
The tank that would become the T-90 was conceived as a deep modernization of the T-72, dubbed
the T-72BU.
This tank was promptly rebranded as the T-90—a marketing decision taken to emphasize the
depth of its upgrades—and introduced into service in 1992.
The baseline T-90 model weighs forty-eight tons and is powered by V-84MS engines, boasting
a top speed of sixty kilometers per hour and operational range of around 550 kilometers.
The T-90 shares a passing similarity with the prior T-72 models from which it is derived,
but its familiar chassis belies a slew of design upgrades that propel it into a performance
tier of its own.
The T-90’s protection system consists of three layers.
First, there is the welded composite armor protecting the turret area.
Then there is Russia’s Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armor (ERA).
These ERA blocks, also known as bricks, give the tank its distinctive squared appearance.
They are spaced and installed in such a way as to mitigate the penetrating power of certain
armor-piercing munitions.
Finally, there is the Shtora-1 countermeasures suite, consisting of early warning mechanisms,
jamming tools, and automatically-discharged smoke grenades to confuse enemy targeting
systems.
While it shares the chassis of the T-72, the T-90’s weapons suite is derived in large
part from the T-80.
The T-90’s arsenal is headlined by the 2A46M 125mm smoothbore tank gun, a distant and heavily
modified relative of the Soviet Sprut heavy gun.
The tank’s main gun accepts a wide range of ammunition types, including high-explosive
anti-tank (HEAT-FS) and high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) rounds, as well as 9M119M Refleks
anti-tank guided missiles.
Reflex’s missiles boast an effective range of up to 5 km, with partial automatic guidance
features and the ability to target light, low-flying aircraft like helicopters.
The T-90’s arsenal is rounded out with a 12.7mm remote-controlled anti-aircraft machine
gun, as well as a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun.
Many of these specifications changed substantially in the following decades with the tank’s
numerous variants, prompted in no small part by a steady stream of foreign demand.
The modified T-90S became one of Russia’s most successful defense export products, and
arguably remains the most commercially successful export tank of its time.
The T-90 likewise underwent several major iterations within Russia’s Armed Forces.
The T-90A revision offered a more powerful V-92 Diesel engine, among other small tweaks
to the tank’s onboard electronics suite.
The subsequent T-90M brought a more substantial list of improvements, including Russia’s
new Relikt ERA, the more accurate 2A46M-4 gun, the “Kalina” fire control system,
and the latest V-92S2F engine.
There are around 450T-90 tanks serving in Russia’s Ground Forces.
Though only a small part of these are T-90M units, Moscow plans to upgrade its entire
T-90 stock to the T-90M standard through the mid 2020s.