The first army to own the T-90S was India, with their largest order numbering up to more than 300.
Introduce
Russia’s T-90S main battle tank is now considered one of the most popular modern combat vehicles in the world. There are about 1700 vehicles on the payroll of 8 countries including India, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Venezuela, and Vietnam; as the latest name on this list.
According to the media, on a cold winter day at the end of December 2018, the first batch of more than 30 T-90S and T-90SK tanks arrived in Vietnam, these vehicles were shipped from Russia to Vietnam by the Camilla D transport ship. According to some sources, the contract–said to be around 250 million dollar – for the purchase of 64 tanks including T-90S and the T-90SK command version was signed by Vietnam in 2016; and the final shipment for this contract was completed in February 2019.
The Vietnamese tank armor force has recently introduced great images of their new modern T-90S. Before being equipped with their first T-90, Vietnam’s most modern tanks were Russian Т-62’s–the exact number is unknown but it’s generally thought to be a few hundred. The main tanks of Vietnam currently are T-54/55 and the Chinese Type 59 which are considered obsolete by today’s standards. One can find information on mass media that puts the current number of these tanks to about 1,200 vehicles. Additionally, Vietnam also owns about 600 PT-76 and Chinese Type-63 light tanks.
The first army to own the T-90S was India, with their largest order numbering up to more than 300; and, it has reported that they would continue to buy more Russian T-90S main battle tanks even though the Indian versions were not equipped with the Shtora-1 passive electronic countermeasure system.
The original T-90s of the 1990s are now modernized. The new export version is equipped with an improved welding turret, ESSA thermal imaging sight, a more powerful engine and a new powertrain. India is continuing to produce T-90S under Russian license, in increasing numbers.
T-90 tanks themselves can be considered as Russian weapons masterpieces in the 21st century that have been tested on the fierce battlefield in Syria.
Design
Basically the T-90S has a low profile similar to the early Russian tanks, most of the details are similar to the original T-90.
A low circular turret in the middle of the hull, equipped with both active and passive protection system, makes the T-90S the best protected tank in the world. And its fighting ability is not inferior, even surpassing the T-90A. And, Depending on the requirements of customers, the T-90S can be further customized with bespoke equipment options,
Basically, the self-defense system on T-90S consists of 4 layers:
The first is the Shtora-1 passive electronic countermeasure system to defend against laser or infrared guided missiles as well as jamming the target guidance systems.
The second layer of defense is the Arena-E active protection system, which uses doppler radar to detect incoming warheads and intercept them.
The third layer is an external explosive reactive armor, and finally, the armor is a combination of high-strength steel and composite.
The true power of the T-90S armor is still a secret, but according to some estimates, the T-90A’s front armor has the equivalent strength of 550 to 650 mm of RHA steel when dealing with APFS-DS shells or 750 mm of RHA steel when dealing with HEAT shells. When equipped with 2nd generation Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armor, this parameter can be increased from 800mm to 830 mm with APFS-DS and 1,150 to 1,350 mm with HEAT.
Other areas of the tank are thinner armor and protection is generally weaker, but it is also difficult to defeat it if using only old-style anti-tank weapons.
The T-90S uses special coatings, made of electromagnetic wave-absorbing material, minimizes sources of thermal, electromagnetic and infrared radiation, making it difficult for enemy reconnaissance devices to detect. In addition, the T-90S is also fitted with NBC protection system, KMT mine sweeps and an automatic fire suppression system.
T-90S has a mass of 46.5 tons, length of 9.53 m, width of 3.78 m, and height of 2.22 m. The crew of three with the driver’s compartment at the front, two-man turret in the center and the engine compartment at the rear.
Armament
The main weapon of the T-90S is a 125 mm 2A-46M smoothbore gun, stabilised in two axes and fitted with a thermal sleeve.
This is an upgrade of the Sprut anti-tank gun that has appeared on the T-72 and T-80 models, the gun tube can be easily removed from the tank without removing the entire turret attached. The latest automatic reloading system helps T-90S tanks have a high rate of fire, about 7 to 8 rounds per minute, surpassing most tanks in the world with similar tactical features. The gun can fire a variety of ammunition, including Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot, high-explosive anti-tank and high-explosive fragmentation, as well as shrapnel projectiles with time fuses.
j The 9M-119M Refleks missile has a range of 100 to 4,000m, it only needs 17.5 seconds to move to the maximum range. The missile is capable of piercing targets with armour up to 950 mm thick, as well as, destroying low-flying air targets such as helicopters.
The T-90S also had several auxiliary weapons, a 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun and a 12.7mm air defense machine gun. The anti-aircraft machine gun is controlled inside the vehicle, the gunner can aim while sitting inside the tank without having to stick out of the turret, reducing the possibility of casualties. The gun has a rate of fire of 650-to-750 rounds per minute, a range of 2 km.
In addition, the T-90S is also equipped with guns and 10 F-1 grenades that are fitted inside the vehicle compartment for the crew to use in the event that they need to leave the tank for any reason.
Powerplant
The originally T-90 was only equipped with a 840 horsepower V-84MS multi-fuel diesel engine. The later T-90S was equipped with the more powerful V-92-S2-F engine, up to 1,130 horsepower, the power-to-weight ratio reached 23.7 horsepower per ton.
The T-90S can reach a maximum speed of 60 km/h, and it has a range of 550 km.
The suspension of the T-90S is of the torsion-bar type and either side consists of six, dual rubber-tired road wheels with the drive-sprocket at the rear, idler at the front; and three track-return-rollers. Hydraulic shock-absorbers are provided at the first, second and sixth roadwheel stations. It can cross a trench of 2.8 meters and climb a vertical obstacle of 0.85 meters. The T-90S has a fording depth of 1.5meters without preparation.
Operations
The superior combat capability of the T-90 has been most-fully demonstrated on the battlefields of Syria by the Syrian National Army which has been equipped with several of the Russian T-90A model tanks.
The facts on the battlefield have shown that T-90S tanks are very highly reliable and can be easily transported by most popular military transport vehicles.
In the coming years, the T-90S version will appear in arsenals of many countries. Currently, Egypt, Kuwait and Pakistan are said to be Russia’s next potential customers.
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