Russian: Unveils T72B4 tank

(Russia) The mainstay of the Russian army is the T72 tank, which came into service in 1973, yes the Soviets did follow on with the T80 the T90 (basically a T72 with a new turret)  and the new T14 Armata. But  due to the vast number of T72s built , the loss of faith of the T80 after Chechnya the arrival of the T90 during a time of military cuts, and the very high cost of the T14, Moscow went down the path of upgrading the T72 in 2017 to the T72B3 standard.

On paper a most impressive armoured vehicle:

• New engine,
• new gunners’ sight, (fitted with thermal imager.)
• new fire control system,
• Improved autoloader,
• New ballistic computer

Previous Kontakt-5 second-generation Explosive reactive armour replaced by newer Relikt explosive reactive armour (ERA) offering superior protection against shaped charges, tandem warheads, armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds, anti-tank guided missiles, as well as low-velocity and high-velocity missiles.

T72B3 pictures by Vitaly Kuzmin

Unfortunately for Moscow when they invaded the Ukraine in Feb 2022 they found out the hard way that what was written about their so called impressive T72B3 tanks wasn’t worth the paper it was written on, and that the T72B3 still contained the same flaws that has plagued each and every Russian tank since the T64. (which the T72,T80 and T90 are all derived from) specifically how the tanks all position the ammunition for the main gun around the autoloader in the centre of the tank. 

Which has a habit of detonating when the tank armour is penetrated resulting in the turret turning into a 12 ton frisbee.

So after suffering horrific losses in its T72B3 fleet these past 9 months, Moscow went back to the drawing board and appears to have tried to have put right the flaws which has seen it lose so many Tanks specifically the T72B3. Well the other day, they sent into the Ukraine around 200 T90M tanks and a similar number of the upgraded T72B4 tanks.

(To be fair, Moscow was in the process of fitting a new universal turret for its T72 and T80 tank fleets which is very similar to the Turret fitted to the T90M. no doubt the cost was the main factor why they hadn’t done so, but the horrendous losses they have suffered in the Ukraine , appears to have kicked them into action, but saying that the pictures of the tanks moving into the Ukraine by train , shows the tanks using the older turrets )

 So its early days but it appears that the Tanks have received an armour upgrade , getting rid of the cage armour at the rear of the engine housing and turret and replacing it with ERA, they also appear to have added ERA on the top of the turret, as I mentioned , its early days and with the Russians keeping stum on what they have done, it will require one to be captured by the Ukraine for the full facts to come out.