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T-90
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The T-90 is a Russian third generation 3 man crew main battle tank (MBT) developed in the post Soviet era and first entered service in 1993. It is a combination of T-72B and T-80U and is the main tank for the Russian Ground Forces and Navy Infantry today.
This 48 tonnes of steel powered by V-92 four stoke, 12 cylinder diesel engine (engine depends on the T-90 variants) can run a maximum 60 km/h on the road and 45 km/h on rough terrains. Protection is a three-tiered protection system. The first is the composite armor on the turret made of alternating layers of aluminum, plastics and a controlled deformation section. Next is the Kontakt-5 ERA (explosive reactive armor). It is an explosive charge core sandwiched in between two armor plates. This protection best works against missiles, rockets that carry high explosive anti-tank warheads (HEAT) and the feared Sabot round. A Sabot round is a kind of ammunition that separate after leaving the smoothbore barrel and the remaining thin fin stabilized rod made of depleted uranium will continue flying in high speed until it hit and penetrate the turret. After penetrating, the kinetic force of the dense Sabot dart will dump its energy into a small point and create a stream of lava-like molten metal that pours inside the tank. This instantaneously increases the temperature inside the cabin then killing the tank crew. The Kontakt-5 ERA’s job is depleting the Sabot round by exploding outward and destroying the incoming ammunition. The last is Shtora-1 countermeasures suite. This also includes 2 electro-optical/IR dazzlers on the front of the turret (making it like 2 red eyes), four laser warning receivers, two 3D6 smoke grenade discharging system and a computerized control system. The Shtora-1 works like an orchestra, when targeted by semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) the infrared jammer quickly jams it. Smoke grenades are automatically launched when the system detect that it has been painted by laser guided ammunition. The T-90 is also fitted with nuclear, biological and chemical protection equipment, KMT mine sweeper and an automatic fire suppression system.
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| T-90 on rough terrain |
The main armament of the T-90 is the auto-loaded 2A46M 125mm smoothbore tank gun. The variety of ammunition that can be loaded with it are armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT-FS), high-explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) ammunition and the anti-tank laser guided missile 9M119M Refleks. The Refleks missile has an effective range of 100 meters to 6 kilometers and takes 17.5 seconds to reach maximum range and can penetrate 37 inches of armor. It can also be used against low-flying targets like the helicopter. The tank fire-control system includes the PNK-4S/SR AGATHA day and night sighting system using the Catherine-FC thermal camera for the commander's station, 1G46 day sighting system for the gunner and TVN-5 day and night sight for the driver. Secondary armaments are 12.7mm Kord remotely controlled anti-aircraft heavy machine gun and 7.62mm PKMT coaxial machine gun.
The T-90 main battle tank is a hybrid combination of T-72B, T-80U and technology. It is lighter than her western counterparts and with the diesel engine, cheaper. This low cost low maintenance machine has been produced more than 3,200 times and saw combat in the 1999 invasion of Dagestan and the Syrian Civil War. It is currently in service with the Russian military and 8 other countries.
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