Russia deploys upgraded vintage tanks in Ukraine conflict

The Russians boast about producing hundreds of tanks annually, but in practice, this means refreshing old machines from Soviet-era stockpiles. These are not infinite, and the longer the war continues, the more the Russians are forced to renew tanks in increasingly worse condition or turn to older models.

In recent months, it has become apparent that the Russians are already running out of T-80BW, T-90A, or T-72B tanks, as T-62M tanks dominate rail transports. Instances of even older T-54/55 also appear.

The history of the T-62 tanks dates back to the 1960s when they were developed as an upgrade of the T-54/55 family. The new design strengthened the armour by adding an additional steel plate and introducing a new 115 mm smoothbore gun, which differed from the previously used rifled guns.

Then, in the 1980s, the Russians upgraded the tanks to the T-62M/MW standard by adding composite armour blocks on the turret and hull and reactive armour blocks called Kontakt-1, increasing the protection offered by the first variants of the T-72 tank.

This upgrade enhanced the fire control system with a laser rangefinder and allowed for firing 9K116-2 Sheksna anti-tank guided missiles from the main gun.

At the time, it was still a somewhat usable machine, but 40 years later, it is a museum relic vulnerable to being destroyed by any relatively modern anti-tank weapon. Today, its armour mainly provides protection against fire from automatic cannons used on infantry fighting vehicles, and even then, not all of them.

Adding cage armour, a roof, and more Kontakt-1 blocks here will only slightly enhance protection against simple means like FPV drones. Furthermore, it is a completely blind construction at night due to the lack of thermal imaging or even passive night vision, and the 115 mm calibre shells cannot penetrate the armour of T-72 or T-64 tanks.

In practice, T-62 tanks can only serve as self-propelled field artillery with a range of about 8 km, firing high-explosive fragmentation shells. Even the Leopard 1A5 tank, donated to the Ukrainians and considered contemporary, is a more useful solution despite having even thinner armour because it has a relatively modern fire control system with thermal imaging and a ballistic computer.

However, recent footage from regions north of Kharkiv shows that the Russians use T-62M tanks in regular armoured assaults just like other machines. Of course, this results in increased losses because these machines are much easier to destroy than newer versions of T-72B or T-80.