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Russian Army Eastern Military District received the first batch of T-72B3 main battle tanks TASS 11510153

Armies in the world - Russian army T-72B3

Russian Army Eastern Military District received the first batch of T-72B3 main battle tanks.

The Eastern Military District of Russian army motor-rifle large unit stationed in the Zabaikalsky Territory received the first batch of T-72B3 main batle tanks, Alexander Gordeyev, chief of the district’s press office, told journalists on Thursday, October 15, 2015.

Russian-made T-72B3 at Russia Arms Expo 2015, defense exhibition in Nizhny Tagil, Russia.

The T-72B3 is a development of the standard Russian-made T-72B series currently in service in the Russian army. The T-72B3 has significantly improved its combat characteristics with more fire power, protection, mobility and command controllability. Besides the improved armor and targeting systems, it kept all the good features of previous versions of T-72.

Russian Ministry of Defense has decided that all of the T-72 in service with the Russian armed forces will be converted to T-72B3 standard.

The main armament of the T-72B3 is a 125mm 2A46M-5 smoothbore gun fitted with a light-alloy thermal sleeve and a bore evacuator. The tank is fitted with a carousel automatic loader mounted on the turret floor and also on the rear wall of the turret.

The conventional armour of the turret is upgraded with Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armor. Kontakt-5 is a type of third-generation explosive reactive armour (ERA) able to to defeat modern armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds. Kontakt-5 is made up of "bricks" of explosive sandwiched between two metal plates.

According to Gordeyev, what sets the T-72B3 apart from the previous versions is its advanced track links featuring parallel action joints enhancing the tank’s agility and mobility and extending its service life.

The T-72B3 is virtually on a par with the T-90 tank in terms of performance, but is less expensive to manufacture and maintain, the press officer added.