Tank crews of Russian Southern District increase combat training by 30 percent.

Combat training intensity for tank crews of the Southern Military District’s motor rifle large unit based in the Volgograd Region (Stalingrad in World War 2) in south Russia has grown by 30 percent year-on-year, the Defense Ministry’s press office said.
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T-90A main battle tank (Picture source: Vitaly Kuzmin)

“During the 2020 training year, the tank crews have held more than 25 tactical exercises, over 30 live-firing exercises within units, more than 40 live-firing drills, and had over 250 hours of driving lessons. More than 3,000 munitions of various types were used,” the press office said (machine gun rounds not included). The servicemen conducted live-firing and drove T-90A tanks in various conditions. On average, they covered a distance of more than 600 km (373 mi) on roads of varying complexity, including in rough terrain, every month.

The increase in the amount of time passed in the field had a positive effect on the tankmen’s results. More than 90 percent of the tank crews showed good results in live-firing and driving on the third lesson.

The T-90 is a third-generation min battle tank that entered service in 1993. The tank is a modern variation of the T-72B and incorporates many features found on the T-80U. Originally called the T-72BU, but later renamed to T-90, it is an advanced tank in service with Russian Ground Forces and the Naval Infantry. The T-90 uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard protective measures include a blend of steel and composite armour, smoke grenade dischargers, Kontakt-5 explosive-reactive armour and the Shtora infrared ATGM jamming system. It was designed and built by Uralvagonzavod, in Nizhny Tagil, Russia.

The T-90A entered service in 2005. It has a welded turret (no longer the cast turret of the T-90), a V-92S2 diesel V12 engine and ESSA thermal viewer. It is sometimes called T-90 Vladimir, in honor of its chief designer Vladimir Potkin.