Russia Tries To Catch Up To India

The Strategy Page ^ | 2/28/2010 | The Strategy Page

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

Russia is buying the largest number of new tanks this year, 300 T-90s, than it has in nearly two decades. During the Cold War, the Russian Army often received over a thousand new tanks a year. But when the Cold War ended in 1991, so did the large procurement budgets for the Russian military. Meanwhile, the biggest user of the T-90 is India, which has been buying them for $3.2 million each. This is about a third less that a new M-1, with similar capabilities, would cost. The most recent M-1 model costs twice that.

Four years ago, India adopted the Russian T-90 as its new main battle tank. There will be local production of about a thousand T-90s over the next twelve years. India already has imported over 500 T-90s so far. By the end of the decade, India will have 2,000 upgraded T-72s, over 1,500 T-90s, and few hundred other tanks. This will be the most powerful armored force in Eurasia, unless China moves ahead with upgrades to its tank force. The border between China and India is high in the Himalayan mountains, which is not good tank country. India's tank force is mainly for use against Pakistan.

The T-90 is a highly evolved T-72. Originally, the T-90 was done as a fall-back design. The T-80 was supposed to be the successor to the T-72. But like the T-62 and T-64 before it, the T-80 didn't quite work out as planned. So the T-72, with a much improved turret and all manner of gadgets, was trotted out as the T-90. Weighting 47 tons, it's 23 feet long, 11 feet wide and 7.5 feet high. Same package, better contents. And with well trained crews, it could be deadly.

[piytar]

“This is about a third less that a new M-1, with similar capabilities, would cost.”

Wrong. The T-90 is a great tank, more than capable of dealing with the vast, no VAST, majority of threats in the world. But it’s not even close to an M-1.