Russian Army Receives New Batch of T-90M Tanks: Will They Bring Active Protection Systems to the Frontlines?

The Russian state owned factory Uralvagonzavod has delivered a new batch of T-90M main battle talks to the Army. While the size of the batch remains unknown, the delivery follows over two years of efforts to significantly increase output of T-90s to meet wartime requirements amid war in Ukraine and rising tensions with NATO members. Uralvagonzavod is the only one of five major tank producing factories that operated the Soviet Union in the 1980s which still produces tanks today, and is by far the largest tank plant in the world with the possible exception of newer Chinese facilities. Although before 2022 local orders for new tanks from the factory were negligible, with only 10 new tanks acquired in the 2010s, Uralvagonzavod retained a very large output far surpassing the collective outputs of all tank plants in the Western world combined due to export demand for the T-90 primarily from Algeria and India. Recent efforts to surge production to near Soviet era levels of well over 1000 per year have reportedly fallen far short, although the current output remains uncertain with some reports indicating that over 300 T-90Ms will be delivered in 2024. 

The T-90M has been widely praised by Russian officials, with both President Vladimir Putin and former president Dmitry Medvedev referring to it as the most capable tank in the world. The tank is nevertheless notable less mobile than the more costly Soviet T-80, which was terminated from production in the 1990s in favour of the cheaper T-90 which costs only a fraction as much to produce and far less to operate. The T-80’s strong performance in the Ukrainian theatre has led Russia to move to resume production of the vehicles after three decades, although this may not materialise before the 2030s. The T-90M’s performance has been improved considerably through the integration of the Arena-M hard kill active protection system, which is expected to be fitted onto all models, although it remains uncertain whether the latest batch will be the first to be built with the upgrade. It was confirmed in August that the first batch of tanks with the systems has been ordered.

The Arena-M provides the T-90M with a radar system to continuously monitor the surrounding environment, and when detecting an incoming projectile tracks it automatically, calculates its trajectory, and deploys protective munitions to intercept and destroy it before it impacts the tank. The most well known system of its kind is the Israeli Trophy, which has been integrated onto the country’s Merkava IV tanks. The Arena-M can intercept rockets, missiles and high explosive anti tank shells travelling at up to 1000 meters per second, and can do so 50 meters away, with promotional materials claiming that it can counter top-attack missiles. The lack of a hard kill active protection system had previously left Russian tanks like the T-90M increasingly behind the cutting edge, with China, North Korea and South Korea all having introduced their own such systems, while the United States and Germany have begun to invest in acquiring the Trophy system from Israel. The T-90M is otherwise well armoured, and integrates Relikt explosive reactive armour as well as extra armour isolating its ammunition internally.