Russia’s New T-90M ‘Breakthrough’ Tank Completes Testing: Several Hundred Planned for Entry Into Service

Russia’s latest class of main battle tank, the T-90M ‘Breakthrough Three,’ reportedly completed testing successfully in the first week of February. This followed the signing of a contract for the supply of an experimental batch to the Russian Army in 2019. Not to be confused with the T-90MS, an older design intended for export, the T-90M is second only to the T-14 in its capabilities and is a full generation ahead of the original T-90. The platform’s most conspicuous improvement is the integration of the new 2A46M-5 gun and the T-14 tank’s Kalina fire control system, allowing it to deploy the wide range specialised munitions developed for the T-14 and providing significantly more firepower than older tanks.

Other notable improvements to the original T-90 design include integration of the Afghanit active protection system and Relikt explosive reactive armour, and of similar communication and command suite and digital communications systems to the T-14 which improve situational awareness and network-centric warfare capabilities. The platform is not only significantly cheaper than the heavier T-14, but is also much cheaper to operate and requires less maintenance meaning maintaining larger armoured divisions will be more affordable. Should Russia have intended to replace it’s frontline units with the T-14 exclusively, it would otherwise require a major shrinking of its frontline armour. Several hundred T-90 tanks are set to be upgraded to the T-90M standard, while future tanks produced for the Russian Army will also be manufactured to this standard. By manufacturing the T-14's fire control systems and armaments on a much larger scale to meet the needs of the T-90M program, these systems will become cheaper which will very likely reduce the cost of the T-14 tank itself. It remains uncertain whether similarly capable T-90 tanks will be offered for export, but given that the T-14 itself is being marketed abroad it remains highly likely that its new lighter counterpart will also see some sales overseas. As the T-90 is already currently widely deployed by Russian defence clients, sales of an upgrade package including the new main gun and other T-14 technologies could prove highly popular.