It's funny, but the Museum of Russian Military History in Padikovo, Moscow Region, is the only place where the T-90 can be seen as a museum piece.
The rest of the brethren, in varying degrees of combat readiness, carry out military service, and they mostly do this far beyond the borders of Russia.
Of a fairly decent number of tanks produced, and the T-90 / T-90A were made about 625 units, the T-90S / T-90SA - about 1500 units, only 550 tanks (mainly T-90 and T-90A) are in Russia, with about 200 in storage. The rest are scattered around the world, and, in light of the successful application in Syria, contracts were concluded for more than 500 vehicles for Egypt and Kuwait.
Nevertheless, there is still controversy about what the T-90 is. Someone considers it a step forward, someone just another modernization of the T-72B.
In fact (as one of the opinions, yes) the T-90 is a continuation of the T-72 and T-80 family of vehicles. That's right, because something passed from the T-80, for example, the fire control complex (KUO) 1A45 "Irtysh", successfully combined with the tank's automatic loader.
Work on the vehicle began in the late 80s of the last century, and the tank entered service in 1992, already in Russia.
If you look closely, in fact, the T-90 does not have much change compared to the base models. Of course, so many improvements and upgrades were made to the T-90 tank, for example, the fire control system was improved, protection, the armor became multi-layered and with built-in reactive armor.
Also on the tank was installed the newest complex of optical-electronic suppression (KOEP) "Shtora", which protected the machine from anti-tank weapons, especially those with a laser guidance head. It cannot be said that the new tank was a breakthrough in terms of its technical characteristics, but the protection and firepower of the vehicle were increased.
So we can say that the T-90 is a deep modernization of the T-72B, but so deep that it has the right to its own name. After the death of Vladimir Ivanovich Potkin, the chief designer of the tank, in 2010, the T-90 was given the verbal name "Vladimir" by the decision of the government of the Russian Federation.
The T-90 has a classic layout: the control compartment is located in the bow of the tank, the fighting compartment is in the middle of the vehicle, and the engine and transmission are in the rear of the tank.
The tank's crew consists of three people: there is a driver-mechanic in the control compartment, and the commander and gunner are inside the turret, to the left and right of the gun.
The main armament of the T-90 is a 125mm smoothbore cannon. The gun is equipped with a stabilizer operating in two planes, has a barrel deformation accounting system and a powder gas pumping system. The rate of fire of the gun is 8 rounds per minute.
The T-90 is also armed with a coaxial machine gun 7, 62-mm and 12, 7-mm machine gun "Utes" on the tower as an air defense system.
The tank has 42 rounds of ammunition and includes various types of ammunition:
armor-piercing projectiles 3BM42;
armor-piercing cumulative projectiles 3BK29M;
high-explosive fragmentation projectiles with an electronic remote fuse;
ATGM 9M119.
The firing range of anti-tank missiles is from 100 to 5000 meters.
Fire control system. All information about the situation, such as firing range, wind direction and speed, air temperature, tank position, are taken into account and processed by the processor. The gunner simply needs to aim at the target and fire a shot. The tank is equipped with a Buran-PA night sight and an Agat-S tank commander's sighting system.
The T-90 is equipped with a four-stroke 12-cylinder diesel engine; in later modifications of the car, it was replaced by a more advanced engine with a turbocharger, which increased its power from 840 hp. up to 1000 hp The engine provides greater mobility and maneuverability of the tank, it is not for nothing that the T-90 is called the "Russian flying tank". Transmission of planetary type. The T-90 has 7 forward and one reverse gears.
The T-90 design uses the undercarriage of the T-72 tank, so it's difficult to add something. Tested by years and conflicts.
The T-90 tank is protected by its multilayer armor, with a built-in reactive armor system, KOEP "Shtora", which protects the vehicle from anti-tank weapons with a semi-automatic guidance system or laser homing. Laser radiation sensors provide its reception in a radius of 360 °, the data is quickly processed, and an aerosol grenade is fired in the right direction, blocking the laser beam. Also, the tank uses a modern fire extinguishing system.
The weak and vulnerable point of protection of the T-90 tank is the location of the fuel system. The fuel tanks are partially placed in the fighting compartment and are not separated from the crew in any way. Another problem of the security of this vehicle is the placement of ammunition inside the fighting compartment, while it is also not isolated from the crew. Its detonation is guaranteed to lead to the destruction of the tank, tested in Syria.
For convenience. The tank is not cramped inside, but something will be placed on every square decimeter. Blocks, panels with buttons and toggle switches, taps. Quite a tense economy, to be honest.
Considering the fact that the latest modifications of the T-90AM / SM are equipped with a modern Kalina control system, which includes a multispectral gunner's sight, a panoramic commander's sight with a digital ballistic computer and a set of sensors for firing conditions, then I think there are even more accompanying twists and push buttons.
A software and hardware complex (PTC) for the interaction of a tank / motorized rifle battalion has been integrated into Kalina. It allows you to combine all the combat and attached vehicles of the subunit into a single information network, exchange information on the location of any combat vehicles of the battalion and the forces assigned to it, the deployment of the enemy, receive and transmit information to higher command levels.
It can take a long time to enumerate the differences between the T-90S / T-90MS and the usual T-90s, but in my opinion, these are already other tanks, of a different generation. A lot of electronics, a lot of independence.
How realistic is it to compare the T-90MS and the T-72B3 … I think this should be done by a specialist. We just showed, using the example of the basic model of the T-90, that the tank has the potential for modernization and further development.
Basic performance characteristics of the T-90 tank
Crew: 3 people
Tank weight, t: 46.5
Engine power, HP: 800/1000 HP with. (diesel)
Fuel capacity main tank / mounted tanks, l: 1200/400
Cruising range on the main tank / mounted tanks, km: 550/200
Speed on the highway, km / h: 60
Arable land speed, km / h: 50
Overcoming obstacles:
- climbing angle: 30 degrees
- barrier, m: 0, 8
- moat, m: 2, 8
- ford, m: 1, 2 (1, 8)
Armament
Smoothbore gun 2A46M-2 caliber 125 mm
Firing range, km: 5
Ammunition, pcs.: 42 (22 rounds in an automatic loader)
Rate of fire, rds / min: 8
Ammunition types: BPS, BKS, OFS, UR
Coaxial machine gun PTKM 7, 62 mm, 2000 rounds
Heavy machine gun KORD 12, 7-mm, 300 rounds
