T-72B3 – trusted tank used in Russian tank racing tournaments

T-72B3 – trusted tank used in Russian tank racing tournaments

The Russian team competed on the T-72B3 tank on August 5.

The Tank Biathlon is the largest and most important competition at the International Military Games (Army Games) organized by Russia every August.

The Russian Army currently has nearly 3,000 main battle tanks in combat readiness, including 2,000 T-72B tanks of all types and nearly 1,000 T-80s and T-90As.

The T-72 series was considered a fearsome weapon on the battlefield when it first appeared in 1973. Compact size, equipped with composite armor, completely new 125 mm 2A46M smoothbore cannon and measuring system.

The automatic loading system helps reduce the size of the turret, although the 2A46M gun and 125 mm ammunition on the T-72 are larger than previous tanks, while reducing the crew size to only three people.

The T-72 is equipped with superior armor compared to contemporaneous US and NATO main tanks.

The T-72A tank is displayed in a Russian museum.

Equipping the Kontakt-1 with explosive reactive armor (ERA) doubles the T-72 tank’s resistance to HEAT anti-tank shells.

T-72 tanks played a key role in Soviet mechanized infantry formations throughout the Cold War, and were exported to many countries, including Syria and Iraq.

Some weaknesses in the exported T-72 variant are also shown, such as bullets with only half the penetration ability of the Soviet domestic T-72 version, poor fire control and night vision systems, and lack of equipment.

The economic crisis in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union forced the country to cut its defense budget and cancel many projects to build new generation tanks.

Improved economic conditions in the 2000s helped Moscow secure capital for military modernization projects.

The T-72B3 tank of the Russian team competed on August 5.

The B3 upgrade package provides a completely new Kalina fire control system and ballistics computer.

The attack capability of the T-72B3 version also improved significantly when equipped with the Sosna-U fire control system and thermal imaging glasses of the T-90MS.

Sosna-U’s most prominent device is the Catherine-FC thermal imaging sensor developed by the French Thales group, allowing the T-72B3 crew to detect and identify tank targets from a distance of 10,500 m during the day.

Sosna-U also helps the T-72B3 possess the ability to search and destroy (hunter-killer).

The new 2A46M5 gun on the T-72B3 has much higher ammunition accuracy than the old version, equivalent to the Rheinmetall Rh-120 L/44 gun on the German-made Leopard 2 tank.

The VN2 crew waved the flag after completing the test on August 6.

The first T-72B3s still used the original V-84-1 engine with a capacity of 840 horsepower.

The Russian army has currently upgraded about 1,400 T-72s to the T-72B3 standard, ensuring combat and survival capabilities not inferior to the spearhead T-80 and T-90A of elite units.

The 2019 International Military Games attracted more than 6,000 soldiers from 223 delegations from 39 countries, but did not have the participation of Western militaries.