Russian Forces in Europe Receive First Units of Revolutionary T-90M ‘Breakthrough’ Tanks

On April 13th Russian state media reported that the country’s armed forces had received the first units of new T-90M battle tanks. Their delivery was filmed by the Defense Ministry’s Zvezda channel, with the commander of the 1st Tank Army of Russia's Western Military District Sergey Kisel praising them as ‘game changing machines.’ The T-90M represents a major upgrade over previous T-90 designs, and benefits from integration of several advanced technologies developed for the much heavier T-14 Armata next generation tank. In terms of firepower the new tank deploys the 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 including penetrative 'bunker buster' rounds and anti aircraft rounds.

Other notable new technologies integrated onto the T-90M include the Afghanit active protection system and Relikt explosive reactive armour which provide a much higher degree of survivability than previous T-90 variants, as well as a similar communication and command suite and digital communications systems to the T-14 which improve situational awareness and network-centric warfare capabilities. The Russian Army expects to receive several hundred T-90M tanks in the near future, and older T-90 tanks will also reportedly be upgraded to a similar standard with the same new technologies integrated. The T-90M was ranked third in a recent assessment as the world’s most capable battle tanks, and provides the Russian Army a much lighter and cheaper counterpart to the T-14 which can be fielded alongside it and benefit from many of the same critical capabilities.