The T-90 tank was adopted twenty-five years ago. It turned out to be the most popular at the turn of the millennium. In fact, this tank closed the history of tank building of the 20th century and opened the history of the 21st century. And this is the merit of Russia.
The Indian military believed and still believe that "in terms of effectiveness, the T-90S can be called the second deterrent after nuclear weapons." If we take into account the factor of confrontation between India, Pakistan and China, then the statement is not without grounds. Today the T-90 is definitely better than all the Chinese tanks and the T-80UD "Birch", which were once sold by independent Ukraine to the equally independent Pakistan.
At the heart of the creation of the T-90 was the desire of India to strengthen its armored power. Negotiations on the creation of a tank of Russian design, adapted specifically for India, began in the late 1980s, specific agreements were reached, and an advance payment was made. The new tank was designed by the team of the special design bureau "Uralvagonzavod" headed by Vladimir Potkin. In 1991, the car was almost ready. And then the USSR collapsed, and with it the entire union industrial cooperation, which ensured the uninterrupted functioning of the Soviet defense industry. The project was completed only thanks to Vladimir Potkin - his design talent and organizational skills.
It is not necessary to consider the above as something generally known. This is exactly what, alas, few people know about.
In early October 1992, an exceptional event took place. The new T-90 tank was adopted by the Russian (already) army and allowed for sale abroad under the name T-90S. Then our military thought for a long time what to do with the letter "S". We came to the conclusion: to consider this letter a sign that the machine has become serial and at the same time combatant. Today, all military equipment with the letter "C" stands for serial combat. And 25 years ago, the T-90S was an exclusively Indian tank.
Vladimir Potkin accomplished a real feat. He saved UVZ, proved that the Russian tank building school is the best in the world, and designed a tank that turned out to be the best in the world at that time. And India received a combat vehicle that surpassed in its striking power all the armored vehicles that its potential rivals had. In India, the T-90S tank bears the name Bhishma, which means "formidable" in Sanskrit. But according to the Russian-Indian agreement, the T-90S is also called "Vladimir" - in honor of Vladimir Potkin, who passed away in 1999.
The T-90 is the deepest modernization of the T-72, which for some reason is considered obsolete. Indeed, the French Leclerc, the German Leopard and the American Abrams are much more modern machines. They are saturated with electronics, televisions and thermal imagers, they have very large volumes of armor space in which the crew is comfortable. They have a lot more.
And at the T-90, the crew is squeezed in their places, he sits on the shells, and there is no individual space. But what is the priority in battle? An armored vehicle for a comfortable ride or a tank for battle and survival?
The French AMX-56 Leclerc did not participate in the battles. Its serial production began in 1992, simultaneously with the T-90. Delivered to United Arab Emirates. There it was positioned as an armored Rolls-Royce. The car is comfortable in all respects, but did not participate in the war. And according to reputable experts, she is absolutely not ready for modern combat.
American Abrams, as it were, defeated the armored vehicles of the Iraqi army, which consisted of T-72s. And if there were no "apricots" sitting at the levers of those machines? And let the Iraqi tankers not be offended. The Syrians have shown what even very old Soviet T-72s are capable of, if they are controlled by real masters.
The invulnerability of the US Abrams was dispelled in Yemen, where the Saudi Arabian army entered. There Abrams tanks burned like matches. It is no coincidence that Riyadh has recently been paying more and more attention to the T-90SM, the newest version of Vladimir Potkin's tank.
And finally, the complete defeat of the Leopards in Syria. These tanks were generally considered invincible, like the "King Tigers". And then the Turkish army entered the territory of Syria, it is not clear who controlled, with its latest modifications of Leopard tanks. The destruction was absolute - the towers were torn off, the hulls were torn apart.
At the same time, T-90 tanks of various modifications perfectly show their combat capabilities in Syria. And there is still a moment. Indian T-90 Bhishma did not become the leaders of the tank biathlon, which took place in Alabino this summer. They lost to the T-72B3. But this only speaks about the individual training of Indian tankers, and not about the quality of the T-90, which remain the best tanks in the world.
Now about the quality characteristics.
The T-90 has the lowest silhouette among the main modern ones. It has multi-layer anti-cannon armor protection. Frontal multilayer armor of the hull and turret is equivalent to more than half a meter of homogeneous armor. The overall resistance to shelling by sub-caliber projectiles is estimated to be equivalent to 850 mm of armor steel. That is, almost a meter. In addition to traditional armor and dynamic protection, the tank is equipped with an active protection system, which consists of a modern Shtora electronic-optical suppression system.
The main armament of the T-90 is a smoothbore 125 mm cannon. When firing with armor-piercing cumulative and sub-caliber ammunition, the maximum sighting range is 4000 m, guided missile ammunition - 5000 m, high-explosive fragmentation ammunition along a ballistic trajectory up to 10 000 m. All foreign competitors have a tank shot range of no more than three kilometers. If on the Kursk Bulge the German "Tigers" hit the T-34 at a distance of 2000 meters, now the German "Leopard" will not be able to approach the T-90 even five kilometers.
The only thing that the T-90 is losing is in the power plant. On the other hand, how to look at it. The T-90 tank, standard for the RF Armed Forces, is equipped with a 840 hp diesel engine. All NATO tanks have engines with a capacity of about 1,500 hp. So what? According to the criterion, the mass of the tank and its engine power, Russian vehicles are not very inferior to Western ones.
To summarize, the T-90S, which was created by Vladimir Potkin, completely surpassed all of its counterparts in NATO countries, not to mention China. And let the designers from the Middle Kingdom not be offended. And also the British, Germans and Americans, who profited everything in the tank building of the XXI century.
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