The conflict in Ukraine He got us used to seeing modifications improvised vehicles and tanks on both sides, and in some cases the changes are so profound that they were made at the factory rather than “on the battlefield” as is often the case.
As we have already recalled, modifications have often been made to vehicles – armored and non-armoured – throughout history to improve their protection or increase the amount of fire, but what we recently saw on Russian Telegram channels is something that that’s exactly it had never been seen before. The pictures show a typical tank T-72 Russian (we notice the classic Z on the front fender) with a heavily modified turret so that it is no longer recognizable.
An unrecognizable tower
In fact, it was referred to as “Frankenstein” on Ukrainian websites, and that has never been a more appropriate nickname, judging by the redesign undertaken by the Russians, which was so extensive that it’s also difficult to determine which T-72 model it was it is: That would seem a case B2K However, it could also be an A due to the placement of the Era (Explosive Reactive Armor) tiles on the front of the hull.
There Toweras said, is completely unrecognizable: on the back there is a square extension that makes it look like the western tanks, where this space is used to store shots, but also on the front, on the sides of the fire are in the mouth two “projections” with a rectangular plan that reach almost to the center of the cannon.
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The Russian broadcaster claims that the rear room on the turret would be a novel system to simplify loading shots into the barrel. The mystery, however, remains with the front protuberances, which the Russians say may enclose a smoke screen emitter, or be some sort of protection against loitering ammunition.
On top of the turret is the usual anti-atgm (anti-tank guided missile) protective mesh with the ability to hit from above – which has already proven largely ineffective – while the rest of the hull appears unchanged.
One might think that this change doesn’t really have any impact and that it’s meant to be resemble the T-72 western tankslike the Leopard 2 or the Challenger 2 supplied to the Ukrainian army, but doubts remain that they could have any effective function.
Unfortunately, the video does not show any “operational activity”: the tank was recorded while driving with the turret activated, but nothing else, also the footage is not of good quality and was taken from above, most likely while using a small drone.
The functionality of this new design is questionable as now the tanker can’t get out without rotating the turret almost 45 degrees. It should be noted that when the turret is precisely aligned along the main axis of the hull, free access to the T-72’s hatch is already blocked by the gun barrel. We also have to wonder if the heavy modifications to the rear mean that the ventilation of the engine/transmission area is restricted, which in this case would lead to potentially destructive overheating.
The meaning of these changes
We don’t know if it’s just a video disinformation like so many released during the conflict and still circulating: for example, a video was recently released showing the UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) S-70 “Okhotnik-B” – born the Su- 57 – Claims he was in combat in Ukraine, but this is fake.
What is certain is that the video bears witness to this fantasy of soldiers on the front lines, mostly Russians, trying to make up for the lack of equipment highlighted by the conflict. We have a lot of evidence in this sense: one of the best examples from this point of view is the conversion of old standard wagons T-62 to convert them into heavy fire support vehicles. The Russians removed the turrets from some examples of these tanks (some of which were spoils of war) in order to use the hulls for at least two new types of armored vehicles: a new tank recovery vehicle and a new heavy fire support vehicle that could be called a Bmpt. 62. As far as we know, a new turret with a 30mm gun from the Bmp-2 type AIFVs was mounted on the hull of a T-62, similar to what was done in Algeria with tanks of the same type.
One of the strangest instances of improvised modifications observed during the conflict still came from the Russians, but concerns another armored vehicle: they have been seen Mt-Lb Mounting the turret of an old Soviet 2M-7 14.5mm naval gun (originally installed on sea and river patrol ships from 1945). Other improvised protections for tanks, in addition to the already mentioned anti-ATGM “net”, are cages attached to the sides – as seen on western vehicles – and stone-filled nets around the turret.
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