Affordability questions remain on sluggish T-72B3M upgrade
Progress has been slow and T-723BM modernisation could cost twice as much as the previous T-72B3 upgrade
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has confirmed that all T-72 MBTs will be upgraded to the T-72B3M standard — but this programme has barely made headway since it began in 2016.
About 250 tanks had been upgraded to the T-72B3M standard by the start of 2020. Using figures from Shephard Defence Insight, this equates to just over 3% of the entire Russian Ground Forces fleet of more than 8,000 T-72s, although the Russian MoD in May announced that 120 more T-72B3Ms would be provided by the end of the year.
Many of the T-72s in the Russian inventory are mothballed
Already have an account? Log in
Want to keep reading this article?
Read this Article
Get access to this article with a Free Basic Account
- Original curated content, daily across air, land and naval domains
- 2 free stories per week
- Daily news round-up email service
- Access to all Decisive Edge email newsletters
Unlimited Access
Access to all our premium news as a Premium News 365 Member. Corporate subscriptions available.
- Original curated content, daily across air, land and naval domains
- 14-day free trial (cancel at any time)
- Unlimited access to all published premium news
More from Land Warfare
-
![NZ begins modernisation of its tactical vehicle fleet]()
NZ begins modernisation of its tactical vehicle fleet
VAMTAC vehicles are expected to replace one-quarter of New Zealand’s Pinzgauers and Unimogs.
-
![Israel’s Elbit Systems riding high and reports almost a billion dollars in orders to close 2024]()
Israel’s Elbit Systems riding high and reports almost a billion dollars in orders to close 2024
Elbit Systems has signed another US$967 million in orders in the past three months after reporting its land revenues increased by 24% for 3Q2024 compared to 3Q 2023 thanks to increasing ammunition and munition sales in Israel.
-
![Italy signs $784 million deal for tactical and logistic trucks]()
Italy signs $784 million deal for tactical and logistic trucks
The contract is for the supply of a variety of military logistic platforms equipped with tactical cabins and based on the new range of IDV SMR6 trucks (Standard Military Range), which includes 4×4, 8×8 and 10x10 variants.
-
![Poland declares capability for Wisła medium-range air defence system]()
Poland declares capability for Wisła medium-range air defence system
Poland has been investing heavily in new defence equipment, including billions-of-dollars in air defence systems such as Narew and Wisła to provide multi-tier coverage, as well as in C2 systems such as IBCS.
