Senior Lieutenant Andriy Rudykof the Center for the Research of Trophy and Prospective Weapons and Military Equipment of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Presented this briefing:
"TANK T-90M - FAILURE INSTEAD OF A BREAKTHROUGH"
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The people over at 4Chan provided a summary translation, which I will drop over the next several tweets
1. Big focus on propaganda – especially “high-tech” factor 2. Even official specifications for the tank (3:40) bring the Russian claims in questions 2/ boards.4channel.org/k/thread/57514…
3. T-90M is de facto an extensive modernization of T-72B obr. 1989 with some design solutions borrowed from NATO tanks (including “Nakidka”)
4. AFU got a chance to analyze a T-90M captured in September 2022
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5. Basically, T-90M is the maximum of what the Russian MIC can squeeze out of the old Soviet tank designs, in some regards even exacerbating the issues in some areas
6. The engine of the tank (V-92S2F) is largely directly a direct ancestor of the V-2 (1937), that was
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...on the T-34
7. In hot climates (like Ukrainian steppes in summer), the engine loses 1/3 of its power
8. Armor arrangement is very similar to what it was on T-72B
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9. The only design decision Russians took to improve the armored protection of the tank, was to bolt the add-on armor. This decreased mobility of the tank in real world scenarios
10. First T-90M was destroyed by a guy from Kharkiv TDF wielding Karl Gustaf
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11. Research uncovered big shortcoming in tank electronics
12. “Kalina” FCS doesn’t have Russian components except for markings
13. Commercial-grade electronics in tanks, procured in dubious ways
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14. T-90M can’t be produced at any large scale without the imported electronics. Without them, it becomes a somewhat worse T-72B
15. 15 T-90M's have been visually confirmed lost to date (probably the Oryx number). Real loses are likely to be substantially higher
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16. Almost no T-90M are to be seen in the in the frontline area at the moment.
17. The T-90 “Vladimir” might have been called this way to mimic the precedent set by “IS” series of tanks, named after Stalin
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There is a long series of questions and answers at the 4Chan thread which are too long for the Twitter platform.
I'm going to pull a couple that stand out for me as a retired DCMA Quality auditor and WW2 historian.
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1st this:
>How well do T-90M’s intercom systems work?
"We discovered they often doesn’t work. For the longest time, we didn’t quite understand why do Russians have communication problems when in use. During testing we learned that it’s afraid of moisture, as it’s not
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...hermetically sealed. There are big temperature drops inside the tank. The moisture condenses on electronics resulting in all sorts of problems. Even the new ones look like they’ve been in use since the 70’s."
Professional comment - Issues with moisture screwing up
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...electronics are as old as electronics.
My first exposure to this was in the early 1990's as commercial off the shelf computers were getting used by the US military in places like Central America and Saudi Arabia and simply dying.
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The high humidity/high heat & cold nights of the Arabian desert created condensation with the dust that ate USMC 286 processor COTS computers while the US Army mil-spec lap tops worked just fine.
And later in the same era the US Military specified different materials for...
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...printed circuit boards because there were tropical microorganisms that simply consumed the PCB's in the US Army's mil-spec lap tops.
Decades later, when I started the Section 22 research, I ran into the fact US SCR-602 radars died in the SWPA for those moisture reasons
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...while the Australian light weight air warning (LW/AW), which was built with a heater useful with vacuum tube electronics, just "kept on keeping on" in the triple canopy jungle tropics that was New Guinea.
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The Ukrainian analysis of the intercom also has me wondering if no one has taken any of the old Soviet tanks the US has captured over the years into the heat and moisture stress facilities used to test new development American AFV's.
Because this is the 1st time I've heard
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...of this Russian Tank intercom moisture-failure issue.
Perhaps it's just a T-90M problem?
And in some ways the T-90 appears worse than earlier T-72's for which see the next Q&A from 4chan.
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>The open sources claim that the T-90M was supposed to have new autoloader & turret ammo bustle. Were they implemented?
"The autoloader is largely identical to the one on the T-72. 22 rounds in the carousel and 18 additional rounds in the turret bustle. BUT THE BUSTLE ISN’T
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...CONNECTED TO THE CREW COMPARTMENT. A CREWMAN HAS TO PHYSICALLY GET OUT OF THE TANK TO PASS THE AMMUNITION INSIDE (translator’s note: LMAO). This is unrealistic to do during battle, de facto forcing the tank to retreat to reload the carousel. There are also concerns about
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...the autoloader reliability, considering it’s an old design with minimal changes."
The whole 4Chan thread at the link I posted up thread is worth reading.
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The BLUF is the T-90 is a minimally upgraded T-72 with COTS electronics and whatever reactive/dynamic armor design that is available.
AFU sees the T-90 as "just another Soviet tank," built in artisanal quantities, that 3rd generation Western MBT's with handily defeat.
22/22 End
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I've been hearing from various people of this Russian officer operational pattern of taking a a hundred or so Mobiks to the front line and abandoning them (Mobik description - "F--king off") as they attack Ukrainian positions since November 2022.
This is a customer review of the cataract surgical practice that I was supposed to get my left eye cataract removed by today.
=======
DO NOT GO HERE. Masks are a contentious issue, but a business should be upfront about their policies.
I made VERY clear, every time... 1/5
I came here (3 appointments) that I would need to wear an n95 mask during my cataract surgery. The anesthesiologist said this would be fine, and even offered to mask themselves, but didn't know if they still had enough n95's. I offered to supply them, and they said ok.
2/5
When I got to the surgical center, they said I would only be allowed to wear a surgical mask.
They refused the masks we brought (sealed, individually packaged n95's).
>>we'll call it a win by throwing copium and cyber lightning bolts at the problem while hand-waving away all the thorny details."
I disagree.
There are a lot of new Ukrainian weapon, logistical & Russian vehicle & force design reasons to
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@maphumanintent ...think the Russian Army currently lacks the communications and mobility to stop a Ukrainian breakthrough attack.
Looking at the vehicle/force design reasons, the statement:
"The firepower of the Russian Army is in it's vehicles," pretty much covers it.
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@maphumanintent All the best Russian digital spread-spectrum & frequency hopping radios were in its newest vehicles. Most of whom have been destroyed in the last year of fighting.
This leaves Russian artillery with older Cold War generation radios, 3G cell phones or Chinese commercial...
3/
The "Sky is falling on Ukraine" crowd on Twitter is saying Ukraine is still losing more because Wagner is trading prisoner "Meat" for better trained Ukrainians.
Plus Ukraine is wasting artillery shells it needs for a Spring offensive.
2/
Since Wagner is complaining about losing trained cadre at Bakhmut plus the VDV has shown up there in numbers.
We can discount the "Meat for good soldiers" complaint for what it is...Pro-Russian copeium.
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The blue pin in the map below is where the port of Tuapse Russia is located.
Ukraine's DIY Shahed-136 class kamikaze drone/loitering munition already hit the Rosneft oil depot there once.
2/4
The ability of any nation to build 800 to 1,200km range propeller cruise missiles with a 20 kg warhead for a cost of between $10,000 to $100,000 each is a paradigm shift in warfare.
When you are shooting $400K to $1.2 m missiles from jets costing up to $30,000 a hour to fly
3/4