Uzbekistan upgrades T-64B and T-72B tanks.

Uzbekistan army has upgraded T-64B and T-72B MBTs. The modernized main battle tanks have been unveiled at a military show being held on January 12-14 in Tashkent.

Russian T-72B (Picture source: Army Recognition)

The turret of the T-72B MBTs has received new frontally mounted explosive reactive armor (ERA), which provides better protection compared to the basic T-72B’s Kontakt-1 appliqué ERA. However, the glacis plate still carries the Kontakt-1 bricks. The turret’s top armor has also been reinforced with the Kontakt-1. The rear of the turret is additionally protected by bar-slat armor. The vehicle’s lower hull is fitted with two frontal rubber skirts protecting against munitions with high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads. The hull’s sides have been slightly reinforced, while side-mounted rubber skirts have remained the same. The modernized T-72B lacks side-mounted Kontakt-1 ERA bricks of the baseline tank.

The MBT’s armament suite, which comprises a 2A46M-family 125 mm smoothbore gun, an NSVT Utyos 12.7 mm heavy machinegun, and a Kalashnikov PKT 7.62 mm coaxial machinegun, has remained the same. The tank’s sensor suite appears to have incorporated no changes at all.

The Uzbek military also showcased an upgraded T-64B MBT, which had received new turret-mounted ERA tiles, improved side protection, frontally mounted rubber anti-HEAT screens, and bar-slat armor in the rear part of the turret. The upgraded Uzbek T-64B was unveiled in 2019.

Therefore, both tanks feature light ‘cost-effective’ modernization, which mainly focuses on the increase of the systems’ armor protection.

According to the Military Balance 2019 book published by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the Uzbek Armed Forces have fielded 70 T-72, 100 T-64, and 170 T-62 MBTs. The number of upgraded tanks is unknown.

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