T-90
The T-90 is a third-generation Russian main battle tank developed from, and designed to replace the T-72. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard protective measures include a blend of steel and composite armour, smoke grenade dischargers, Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour and the Shtora infrared anti-tank guided missile jamming system.
The T-90 was designed and built by Uralvagonzavod, in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. It entered service with the Russian army in 1992. The tank allegedly first saw combat in the 1999 war in Dagestan, with Russian Ground Forces. Russia later used the tank from 2017 in its intervention in the Syrian civil war. Russian T-90s were deployed in the war in Donbas in 2014, as well as in the full-scale Russo-Ukrainian war following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Syrian Arab Army used the tank in the Syrian civil war in 2017, as did the Azerbaijani Land Forces in the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Development
The T-90 has its origins in a Soviet-era program aimed at developing a replacement for the T-64, T-72 and T-80 series of main battle tanks. The T-72 platform was selected as the basis for the new generation of tank owing to its cost-effectiveness, simplicity and automotive qualities. The Kartsev-Venediktov Design Bureau from Nizhny Tagil was responsible for the design work and prepared two parallel proposals—the Object 188, which was a relatively simple upgrade of the existing T-72B tank, and the far more advanced Object 187—only vaguely related to the T-72 series and incorporating major improvements to the hull and turret design, armor, powerplant and armament. Development work was approved in 1986 and the first prototypes were completed by 1988. The vehicles resulting from the Object 187 program have not been declassified to this date.The Object 188 was engineered by a team under V.N. Venediktov. The biggest change was the integration of the T-80U's 1A45 fire-control system. The Object 188 was initially designated as the T-72BM. The first four of these were delivered for trials in January 1989. An improved variant was delivered beginning in June 1990. In March 1991, the Soviet Ministry of Defense recommended that the Army adopt the Object 188. Work on the Object 187 was simultaneously stopped for unknown reasons.
Production and service history
Russian tank production dwindled in the years before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union. The Kharkov tank plant belonged to the newly independent Ukraine, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant ended production in 1989, and Kirov in Leningrad in 1990. In the two remaining tank plants at Omsk and Nizhni-Tagil, state orders all but ceased in 1992. Around the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense decided it would commit to eventually producing just one tank type.During the 1980s, the Soviet military had ordered T-64s, T-72s and T-80s, then in simultaneous production from rival tank design firms. Though all three tanks had similar characteristics, they each required different components, which contributed to the Army's logistical burden. Though both Nizhni-Tagil's T-90 and Omsk's T-80U had their merits, the T-80's gas turbine engine was notorious for its high fuel consumption and poor reliability. Additionally, Russian T-80s suffered heavy losses in their first combat use during the First Chechen War. Meanwhile, the T-90 was spared media criticism as it was not deployed in Chechnya, and its new name distanced it from the T-72, which was also lost in large numbers in the conflict.
In January 1996, Colonel General Aleksandr Galkin, chief of the Main Armor Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, said the Russian Armed Forces would phase out T-80 production in favor of the T-90. Production of the T-80 at Omsk persisted until 2001, mainly for the export market.
The principal upgrade in the T-90 is the incorporation of a slightly modified form of the T-80U's more sophisticated 1A45T Irtysh fire control system and an upgraded V-84MS multi-fuel engine developing 840 hp. The T-90 was manufactured at the Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil, with low-level production being carried out since 1992 and virtually ceasing towards the end of the 1990s for the native market. Around 120 T-90 tanks were delivered to the Russian Ground Forces before production of an upgraded version was resumed in 2004.
By September 1995, some 107 T-90 tanks had been produced, located in the Siberian Military District. Later, another U.S. report said that "..with only 150 built by mid-1998, the Siberian Military District's 21st Motor Rifle Division received these MBTs and formed a tank regiment." However, the 21st MRD had already been reduced to the status of a motor-rifle brigade by this time, and then was reduced to a storage base in 1997.
Facing tapering domestic orders, Uralvagonzavod received government approval to export the T-90 in the mid-1990s. The designers at Uralvagonzavod created a new, welded turret that offered improvements in protection and internal space in the same period. In 1997, India signaled interest in the T-90 in response to Pakistan's acquisition of 320 Ukrainian T-80UD tanks. India's Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi was already license-manufacturing the T-72 under the name "Ajeya".
The first 42 complete Indian tanks were delivered in 2001 and were designated T-90S, still equipped with the older cast turrets of the early series and powered by the V-84 engine making 840 hp. In 2002, 82 vehicles were delivered, now equipped with the new welded turrets and the V-92S2 engine, generating 1,000 hp. The initial contract stipulated the following batch of 186 tanks, now officially called Bhishma, to be completed in India from Russian-supplied kits, and then gradually replaced with domestically manufactured parts. Delays in domestic production compelled the Indian authorities to place an additional order for 127 complete vehicles from Uralvagonzavod.
In 2005 the Russian army resumed delivery of the T-90, requesting the "original" specification for the vehicle with a cast turret. But with the new order numbering 14 tanks, and the large capital investment required to set up production of new cast turrets, the Russian Ministry of Defence agreed on a new configuration very close to the Indian T-90S, which was expeditiously accepted into service without any trials as the Object 188A1 or T-90A. 2005 saw delivery of 18 new tanks – enough to equip approximately five tank platoons. These new Russian tanks were powered by the V-92S2 engine, carried a T01-K05 Buran-M gunner's sight and were protected by the most recent Kontakt-5 reactive armor with 4S22 explosive tiles.
The years 2006–2007 saw the delivery of 31 T-90A tanks each, now fitted with entirely passive ESSA main gunner's sights supplied by Peleng in Belarus and using the 2nd-generation thermal camera Catherine-FC from Thales, and improved 4S23 ERA tiles. The joint venture established on the basis of JSC Volzhsky Optical and Mechanical Plant and Thales Optronics, produced Catherine-FC thermal imaging devices, which were further used to develop "ESSA", "PLISA" and "SOSNA-U" sighting systems produced for the Russian armoured vehicles, including T-72B3 tanks and export versions of T-90S. Since 2012, Russia was able to produce 3rd-generation Catherine-XP cameras based on QWIP matrix technology.
In 2012, the Russian-made commander combined sample supervisory-sighting system "T01-K04DT/Agat-MDT" was presented to the public at the International Forum Engineering Technologies 2012. According to Krasnogorsky Zavod plant, Agat-MDT has the ability to install in the sight the newly developed domestic UPF format 640×512 by 15 microns, which makes possible in the future to extend the range of target identification at night to 3.5–4.0 km without modifications to the sight.
In 2016, the Krasnogorsk plant finished testing the Irbis-K night-vision sighting system for the T-80U and T-90, with first deliveries planned for 2017. Completion of the Irbis-K, the first Russian-produced mercury cadmium telluride matrix thermal sight, addressed a disadvantage of Russian tanks relative to their Western counterparts. The Irbis-K can identify targets at ranges up to 3,240 meters during day and night.
In 2007, there were about 334 T-90 tanks of various types serving in the Russian Ground Forces' 5th Guards Tank Division, stationed in the Siberian Military District, and seven T-90 tanks assigned to the marines. Since 2008, the Russian army has received 62 tanks annually, suspending orders in 2011.
After the cancellation of the T-95 in 2010, Uralvagonzavod began the OKR Armata design study. The study resulted in the Object 148 based on the T-95. The Russian Army curtailed T-90 orders beginning in 2012 to prepare for the arrival of the new tank. In July 2021, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said the tank, designated the T-14 Armata, will enter serial production in 2022.
Deliveries of upgraded T-90M tanks started in April 2020 to the Guards Tank Army of the RF Western Military District. The T-90M ‘Proryv’ has received a principally new turret, the 2A46M-5 gun, and a more powerful engine. The Proryv is outfitted with a new multi-channel sighting system that allows employing weapons at any time of day or night and it can exchange data with other vehicles in real time. A new batch was delivered in March 2021. According to Ukrainian intelligence sources, manufacturing of T-90s was slowed because of the effect of International sanctions since the start of the invasion of Ukraine. An article from Forbes magazine in early October 2023 suggested a rise in T-90M's production based on the increasing amount of T90 losses in Ukraine.
It was estimated the Russian army had no more than 85 T-90M, and 380 earlier T-90 variants, in February 2022.
The UK-based International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates that annual production of T-90M tanks could reach up to 90 units in 2024. Analysis suggests, however, that the majority of these T-90Ms are likely upgrades of older T-90A models rather than newly built tanks. Sources indicate that over 200 T-90Ms have been delivered since the war in Ukraine started. The UK-based Military Watch Magazine reported in September 2024 that efforts to surge the production rate to well over 1000 per year had fallen far short, with the output remaining uncertain with some reports indicating that over 300 T-90Ms would be delivered throughout the year.