Lets do a short #T90 vs #T72 visual diff thread. #T90 is an evolution of the #T72 & was originally supposed to be called T-72U or T-72BU. Also, remember that early #T90S exported were actually #T72 turrets on #T90 hull. The pic is a T-90A Mod 1992 (feel free to correct) #εpsilon
But first, how do you know it is a #T90 or #T72 in the first place? Look at the wheels, it should have 6 road wheels with these spoke & cavity type design. If there are 6 cavities (pic 1), it is a newer #T72, if there are 8 (pic 2) older #T72. If there are 8, then confirmed #T72.
#T90M's wheel cavities (also called indentations on all #T72 and #T90) extend till the rim edge instead of just short on older #T90A, #T90S and all #T72
Pic 1: #T90M without skirts, identations till wheel rim edge
Pic 2: #T72B3, identations just short of wheel rim edge.
But what if no wheels visible. This is a #T90A, distinctions to remember. 1. Shtora dazzlers -Orange, either side of the gun 2. Commander's sight+manual RWS -Red 3. Smoke grenade launchers 2+2+2 config so 6 a side -Green 4. Laser sensors -Blue
Very easy to see distinction from side, look at the exhaust port over the 6th road wheel 1. Long: #T72 -Red 2. Short: #T90 -Green
But remember, exhaust port is only on the left/port side of the tank.
Now the most difficult distinction part 1
Pic 1: #T90A with green highlighting 3 ERA wedges no 1-2-3. They are flush and equidistant with each other so its a #T90
Pic 2: #T72 coz the red highlighted ERA wedges 1-2-3 are not flush and uneven
This arrangement is mirrored on sides
Part 2
Where the last ERA wedge ends (last ERA wedge marked by green) on the base armor, the base armor has straight lines marked in RED. This is because base armor on #T90 is welded turret plates.
On #T72 the area is smooth and curvy, marked in BLUE
Back to easy ones, if it has no wedges but bricks like below, it is not a #T90 for sure! If you can confirm other aspects then its a #T72 for sure. Now some oddballs after this.
Oddly, 2 are from #India and used by #Indianarmy
Exhibit A: #T90 commander RWS but uneven ERA wedges. These are actually early #IndianArmy#T90Bhishma which had casted turrets. They are essentially/almost #T72B3 spec.
Pic 2 shows they have the #T90 powerplant as well.
Just like #India, even #Russia had its fair share of early #T90A with #T72 turrets which were casted. Here 1. Shtora-Pink 2. IR sensor-Blue 3. Commander shield-Green
4: Red highlights turret curve just above turret ring, on a #T90 it is straight, its a curve here, look closely.
Showing straight turret base lines of a #T90A captured in #Ukraine marked by red in pic 1. Also, all #T90M have a smooth appearance as seen in pic 2 with a RWS panoramic sight. Pic 3 shows that #T90M has a longer turret, another distinction to keep a note of
No. 1, The event eg. something happens btw 2 countries, trust in this order and identify overlaps. The overlap is usually true.
1: Unedited videos of same event, multiple angles
2: Unedited pics of same event, multiple angles
3: Directly or indirectly corroborated by both
eg....
Eg 1. Moskva sinking
3a: #Ukraine claim, Moskva sunk by AShMs
3b: #Russsia claim, Moskva sunk by fire & storm
2: Pics of Moskva with sooty hull, big black marks/holes on the hull near water line away from openings.
1: Video of Moskva showing all in pt 2.
Conc: Moskva sunk by AShM
While the #IndianArmy has #Arjun in production, why isnt there a large scale commitment to replace ageing #T72M in service. These tanks are terrible for their crews and not well protected.
While the plan is to add #T90 turrets on #Indianarmy#T72 and there are prototypes going around test areas. But #T90 is now a known quantity, the #US has a few to test on and develop anti-tank munition tech. #India needs to get away from the turret popping design to gain a.......
Qualitative edge as all #Chinese tanks and all #Pakistani tanks which are not Type 59 derivatives rely on the same carousel auto-loader design. The #Chinese ZTZ-99 and #Pakistani Al Khalids are essentially #T72 derivatives, how do I know? I looked at the road wheel identations.
This is a opposite #whatwerethedesignersthinking thread. The #Russians built a 5,000 tonne frigate that has more missiles than several larger contemporaries. It has 16 AShMs VLS (2 3S14 8 cell UKSK modules) and 32 Redut SAM VLS for 9M96E 40 km and 9M96E2 120 km missiles. #εpsilon
My very scientific metric 115 tonne per missile (I know it is not scientific, just a fun metric). For eg. #Indian#Kolkataclass is 154 tonne per missile, #British#Daringclass is 168 tonne per missile. But, those are destroyers and have larger stores for longer deployments
It is funny that these frigates have the same peer armament as #IndianNavy MF-STAR destroyers with equally potent AD & AShMs at 2/3rds the displacement which limits endurance for this #Russian ship. The Gorkys are based on elongated Krivak/#Talwarclass/Admiral Grigorovich hulls..
My Indian followers,#Russians have benefitted a lot from you guys designing and purchasing #Russian origin gear for them to swoop in and buy some you guys paid to develop or revive. Exhibit A: Su-30MKI becomes Su-30SM. #εpsilon
There are two distinct #Su30 lines, #Indian#Su30MKI at Irkut plant and its derivatives and #Chinese#Su30MKK at KNAAPO plant and its derivatives. The Su-30SM, bought in nos is from MKI lineage. To be fair #Russianairforce also bought 18 Su-30M2s to keep KNAAPO busy before #Su35S
Exhibit B: MiG-29K operated by the #IndianNavy made sure that the #Russians can buy a few for themselves after the #Indian production run was done. Else, they might have stuck to upgrading their Su-33s in the long run.
Our previous threads on naval vessels have highlighted the lack of AD on #Pakistan's #Zulfiqarclass, lack of any missiles on #Indian#Kamortaclass. But does an ideally armed vessel for its size look like? The #Russian Stereguschchiy class says hi! #εpsilon
These are sadly the only two blue water capable naval surface vessels #Russians have been able to produce in numbers. With 8 (including related Gremyashchiy) in service and 20+ planned, these will be the bulk of the #RussianNavy fleet
For a 2,000 tonne corvette the Stereguschchiys have 16 SAMs derived from the S350/S400 9M96 family of missiles capable of 40 km to 120 km engagement zone. The lead ship lacks this and has a Kashtan CIWS on the bow. They carry 8 Kh-35s as well. Gremyashchiys have a UKSK module...
New Iteration of #Whatwerethedesignersthinking! This time it is the Zulfiqar class frigate from #Pakistan. #IndianNavy presently maintains a massive advantage in fleet size over the #PakistanNavy. The advantage was even more so in the 2000s. These frigates have just 8 SAMs..
For comparison, the 3 #IndianNavy#Delhi class destroyers that were in service before the #Pakistani Zulfiqar class have more Kh-35s than the 4 Zulfiqars have SAMs. The AD is made worse by the considering that these are 15 km range missiles vs 120 km - 300 km ranged Kh-35s.
The Zulfiqars are based on the #Chinese Type 053H3 base design which shares the same SAM but are late 1990s vintage compared. These vessels are finally getting much needed backup in the form of the 4 Type 054APs which are infact better than their Indian contemporaries in SAMs