T-90M main battle tanks arrive for Russian troops in Ukraine special operation zone

T-90M main battle tank (L)
©Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

A batch of advanced T-90M ‘Proryv’ (‘Breakthrough’) main battle tanks has arrived for an armored unit of the Central Military District in the Ukraine special military operation zone, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.

"A batch of advanced upgraded T-90M ‘Proryv’ tanks has arrived for an armored unit of the Central Military District. The tank crews are honing their gunnery and vehicle control skills.

Instructors are training the personnel taking into account present-day combat experience. After mastering their interoperability, the tank crews will start accomplishing missions within the Otvazhniye (Courageous) battlegroup," the ministry said in a commentary to its video showing the personnel’s combat training.

As the ministry specified, the tank crews are practicing gunnery from the tank’s standard armament from sheltered positions and open sites by direct fire, with the gunfire being adjusted by unmanned aerial vehicles. The tank crews are also exercising to ride new vehicles across terrain obstacles.

The T-90M ‘Proryv’ main battle tank was developed by the Urals Design Bureau of Transport Machine-Building (part of the Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer).

As its developers highlight, the ‘Proryv’ is the most advanced armored vehicle in the family of T-90 tanks and most of all fit for operations on a present-day battlefield thanks to its all-round protection, a modern round-the-clock highly automated fire control system and enhanced survivability technology.

According to the data of Uralvagonzavod, the T-90M has undergone multilayered modernization and can be rightly called a new combat vehicle. It has received a principally new turret differing from a serial-produced combat module and a more powerful 1,130 hp engine.

The ‘Proryv’ is outfitted with a 125mm tank cannon that can fire new powerful munitions and also missiles capable of eliminating enemy tanks at a range of up to 5 km. The new multichannel sight enables the tank to employ its armaments at any time of day or night.

In addition, the option of exchanging data with other combat vehicles in real time has been one of the upgraded tank’s major advantages. The T-90M’s armor has anti-slip coating similar to that installed on the breakthrough T-14 ‘Armata’ main battle tank.