Aim Trainer for Drones? Russia is Sending T-62s to the War A…

Russia has a huge reserve of main battle tanks. Russia is also still producing tanks at a good pace. This is what we’re being told, but the fact is that Russia is upgrading antique T-62s and sending them to great Ukrainian drones. This bizarre situation shows either the great pace of destruction achieved by the defenders of Ukraine, the slow pace of the military industry of Russia, or both.

Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tarasenko shared a Russian-made video showing modernised old Russian T-62 tanks. The T-62 is so old that it wasn’t originally even called a main battle tank – it was classified as a medium tank. The T-62, which entered service in 1961, was created as a modernization of the T-54/55 series tanks, which can trace their lineage pretty easily to the Second World War. All Russian T-62 tanks are now old, because they were produced in the Soviet Union before 1976.

Of course, the video shows T-62Ms with upgraded armour, bulldozer blades and cope cages. But if Russia had enough new tanks, these machines would not be going to Ukraine.

By the way, the Armed Forces of Ukraine also inherited several hundred T-62 tanks from the Soviet times. Ukraine still had a number of T-62M/MVs before the current war, which have additional composite armour tiles on the turret and hull, an improved 620 hp engine and an upgraded fire control system with a laser rangefinder.

The Ukrainian T-62 can fire 9K116-2 Sheksna anti-tank guided missiles. Already during the ongoing war, the Ukrainian soldiers managed to capture several Russian T-62s and turned them into technical support vehicles. Using them as tanks is tricky nowadays.

The T-62 was once a fairly capable tank, but now it’s just an old thing. Weak armour, weak 115 mm gun, poor fire control system. Of course, many older weapons are participating in the war in Ukraine – the Leopard 1A5 is not the latest word in military technology either. But Russia, which has positioned itself as a supposedly great military power, should be ashamed to drag such antiquated nonsense into a war it chose to start.

The T-72 is an incomparably better tank than the T-62. It is the T-72 that forms the backbone of the Russian armoured forces. But now Russia is pulling tanks out of long-term storage that are older than the parents of most Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Ukrainian drone operators are quite clear about it – upgraded or not, the T-62 is just an armoured coffin on tracks for the Russians. But in Russia, there is no protest. People are ok with being sent to die in someone else’s country with ancient equipment for no reason at all.

Written by Povilas M.

Sources: Tech.wp.pl, Wikipedia