Better Than the American M1 Abrams? Egypt Signs Massive Arms Deal for 500 Russian T-90MS Tanks – Reports

The Egyptian Defence Ministry has reportedly signed a major contract with Russia’s Uralvagonzavod corporation to acquire 500 T-90MS battle tanks, which will provide a much needed technological improvement for its armoured units. The contract was signed in the final week of June, and will see Egypt manufacture the battle tanks under license. The T-90MS is currently Russia’s most sophisticated class of battle tank made available for export - although the more advanced T-90M and T-14 tanks are expected to be offered to foreign buyers before 2025. Egypt’s defence sector previously assembled the American M1A1 Abrams tank, of which over 1000 are currently in service, and the same facilities are expected to be expanded to now manufacture Russian armour and facilitate a higher rate of production. A number of factors including the Abrams’ age, cold relations with the United States and Cairo’s efforts to diversify its arms supplies and reduce its dependance on Western armaments are thought to have influenced the decision - as have the T-90MS’ several performance advantages over the older variant of the Abrams tank.

Egypt has shifted away from reliance on American armaments after the overthrow of its Western aligned Islamist government in 2013, to which Washington responded with an arms embargo causing serious shortages of spare parts and undermining Egyptian counterinsurgency efforts. In replacing the M1 with the T-90MS in frontline, units, Egypt is following the example of the Iraqi Army’s 35th Brigade, 9th Armoured Division, which also showed a strong preference for the Russian platform in 2018. India and Algeria were previously leading clients for the T-90MS with the former elected to field well over 1000 and continuing to place successive rounds of orders while the latter deploys over 500 and is also continuing to receive new units. The T-90MS is considered by far the most sophisticated tank in Africa, and Egypt will be the third to deploy it after Algeria and Uganda.

Egypt has considerable experience operating Russian battle tanks, and currently deploys considerable numbers of older T-62 platforms acquired from the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. These are thought to have been upgraded with North Korean assistance, although this remains unconfirmed. The T-90MS has a number of advantages over Egypt’s M1A1 including much greater fuel efficiency, a higher calibre 125mm main gun, and access to a far wider range of specialised ammunition types. While Abrams tanks in U.S. service are being equipped with modern active protection systems such as the Israeli ‘Trophy’ and with advanced armour composites, export variants are considerably less well protected as demonstrated by the performance of those in Iraqi and Saudi hands in recent conflicts. The T-90MS by contrast makes use of modern composite armour and integrates the Kontakt-5 explosive-reactor armour suite providing a high degree of protection. The Abrams is reported to also be poorly suited for desert conditions, with its complex power plant requiring constant cleansing of its filters to prevent the engine from stalling. The T-90MS’ smaller and much newer power plant has no comparable issues.