Russia has fewer than 3,000 main battle tanks: report
The country's army is reported to have nearly 2,700 of the tanks. Also, 39 new tank battalions are said to have been formed during the past few years
Eyal Boguslavsky
| 21/09/2020
A Russian T-80U tank. Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:T-80U_main_battle_tank.jpg
Citing an open-source intelligence report by military experts, the Russian Lenta website reported that Russia's Army has a total of 2,685 main battle tanks in its active inventory. About 1,200 of them, or 45 percent, are new or upgraded tanks produced in 2000 or later that have been deployed in combat units, the report says.
In addition, Lenta reported that “39 new tank battalions were formed during the past few years, and 32 of them were deployed in the western and southern directions,” and “the total number of deployed tanks has almost doubled." The website also noted that the Russian defense industry has raised the rate of modernization of older vehicles. “If in 1998-2010 about 150 T-72B and T-80U tanks were upgraded to the T-72BA and T-80UE-1 levels, then in 2011-2020 supplies to the troops amounted to more than 600 T-72B3 tanks, more than 300 T-72B3M tanks and more than 60 T-80BVM tanks,” Lenta quoted the intelligence report as saying.
Meanwhile, the Defence Blog website said that Alexander Potapov, CEO of defense company Uralvagonzavod, part of the state tech corporation Rostec, announced that the first batch of the latest T-14 "Armata" tanks will be delivered to Russian troops shortly. The Armata is of great interest to both the Russian Army and foreign customers, which are inquiring about possible deliveries or licensed production of the hardware, the Uralvagonzavod chief said.
The country's army is reported to have nearly 2,700 of the tanks. Also, 39 new tank battalions are said to have been formed during the past few years
A Russian T-80U tank. Photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:T-80U_main_battle_tank.jpg
Citing an open-source intelligence report by military experts, the Russian Lenta website reported that Russia's Army has a total of 2,685 main battle tanks in its active inventory. About 1,200 of them, or 45 percent, are new or upgraded tanks produced in 2000 or later that have been deployed in combat units, the report says.
In addition, Lenta reported that “39 new tank battalions were formed during the past few years, and 32 of them were deployed in the western and southern directions,” and “the total number of deployed tanks has almost doubled." The website also noted that the Russian defense industry has raised the rate of modernization of older vehicles. “If in 1998-2010 about 150 T-72B and T-80U tanks were upgraded to the T-72BA and T-80UE-1 levels, then in 2011-2020 supplies to the troops amounted to more than 600 T-72B3 tanks, more than 300 T-72B3M tanks and more than 60 T-80BVM tanks,” Lenta quoted the intelligence report as saying.
Meanwhile, the Defence Blog website said that Alexander Potapov, CEO of defense company Uralvagonzavod, part of the state tech corporation Rostec, announced that the first batch of the latest T-14 "Armata" tanks will be delivered to Russian troops shortly. The Armata is of great interest to both the Russian Army and foreign customers, which are inquiring about possible deliveries or licensed production of the hardware, the Uralvagonzavod chief said.
