Reactive armor, composite armor materials, advanced gunners’ thermal sights, smoke grenades, and the ability to jam incoming anti-tank missiles are all reported attributes built into the Russian T-90M tank.
However, despite its many stated attributes, the T-90M tanks have been obliterated in Ukraine to a surprising degree. The overall destruction of tanks and armored vehicles in Ukraine has captured global attention due to the success of anti-armor weapons and effective Ukrainian tactics.
Yet, the failure of the T-90, in particular, seems especially significant given the amount of upgrades built into the platform in recent years.
Some of the innovations woven into the T-90 sound similar to upgrades the US Army has made to its Abrams tank.
For example, specs on the T-90 say the tank’s 125mm Smoothbore main gun can fire High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) rounds and HE-FRAG or fragmentation projectiles to improve anti-personnel lethality.
To a certain extent, this parallels the assortment of ammunition fired by the Abrams, which includes Multi-Purpose Anti-Tank rounds (MPAT), HEAT rounds, and so-called “Canister” rounds, which release a series of fragmented small projectiles to destroy groups of enemy fighters.
T-90M Upgrades
The T-90 entered service in 1993, and the extent to which it has been successfully maintained and upgraded may be somewhat of a question mark.
Multiple reports reveal the tank has advanced countermeasures such as a “TShu-1-7-Shtora-1” optronic system to disrupt laser targeting on incoming ATGMs and an electro-optical jammer.
Perhaps of most significance, the T-90M is engineered with advanced thermal sights, as high-fidelity, long-range targeting sensors can offer an impactful margin of difference.
For instance, the US Army’s v3 Abrams variant is engineered with a FLIR. This forward-looking infrared sensor can reportedly transmit high-resolution targeting images at stand-off distances.
“The T-90 is equipped with the TShU-1-7 Shtora-1 optronic countermeasures system which is designed to disrupt the laser target designation and rangefinders of incoming ATGM.
The T-90 is also equipped with a laser warning package that warns the tank crew when it is being lased.
Shtora-1 is an electro-optical jammer that jams the enemy’s semiautomatic command to line-of-sight anti-tank guided missiles, laser rangefinders, and target designators.
Shtora-1 is actually a soft kill, or countermeasures system. It is most effective when used in tandem with a hard kill system such as the Arena,” the FAS Military Analysis Network essay states.
T-90M Weapons
The FAS paper also says the T-90’s smoothbore cannon can fire time-fuzed projectiles, which could mirror current applications of proximity fuzes or air-burst rounds. The FAS paper also says the T-90 can fire a laser-guided missile called the Refleks, able to target both armored objects and even low-flying helicopters as a “counter-air” weapon.
The missile (Refleks), which can penetrate 700 mm of RHAe out to 4,000 meters, gives the T-90 the ability to engage other vehicles and helicopters before they can engage the T-90.
The computerized fire control system and laser rangefinder, coupled with the new Agave gunner’s thermal sight, permit the T-90 to engage targets while on the move and at night,” the FAS paper says.
T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Russian T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Russian T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
T-90M. Image Credit: Vitaly M. Kuzmin.
However, the destruction of Russian tanks by anti-tank missiles fired from elevated positions “top-down” onto vehicles in Ukraine suggests that Russian tanks do not have a 360-degree active protection system.
An interesting video published by Newsweek shows exactly that, as the footage captures a Russian T-90 exploding in a fire in Ukraine after being hit from above.
The FAS essay also says the T-90 has received advanced thermal sights; however, the real unknown likely relates to the extent to which the T-90 has been maintained and upgraded, as advances in computing, electronics, targeting systems, active protection, and on-board command and control technologies have made today’s Abrams tank a completely different platform than it was 10 years ago.
The extent to which Russia has successfully pursued comparable upgrades to rival the current Abrams remains an open question.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University
