Another plus equals post but this time about a Russian tank called the T-90. I previously published a blog called "Panther + Tiger I = Tiger II" @ the following link:

http://www.modelairplanecollectors.com/profiles/blogs/tiger-panther...

Browsing a couple of "Top 10" videos on YouTube, I came to conclude that most videos created by amateurs (like ourselves) tend to include the T-90 as either the second or third best tank (The Abrams mostly comes first). However, in professional videos such as the Military channel's, there is no mention of the T-90 anywhere. It seems that they do that because the tank has minimal or no combat history at all. The same case with the French AMX-56 Leclerc. A great tank, but because of its very limited usage in conflicts analysts can't judge how good it is very accurately.

Personally, I believe the Russian T-90 should come third in a "top 10" list after the British Challenger 2 and American M1 Abrams. It is a great tank that came as a result of deep analysis of the performance of its predecessors on the battlefield. The predecessors I am talking about here are the T-72 and T-80. Though the T-90 was an upgraded version of the T-72 and was originally called the T-72BU, it incorporated many features from the T-80. Therefore, I find the T-90 a combination of the best features of the two tanks. The following are the features the T-90 took from the T-72 and T-80:

1- T-72:

- Diesel engine:

Though the T-90 does not use exactly the same engine used in the T-72 (it obviously uses a more advanced one), it maintained a diesel engine instead of the gas turbine engine used in the T-80.

2- T-80:

- Main Armament:

The T-90's main armament is the 2A46M 125 mm smooth bore tank gun. This is a highly modified version of the Sprut anti-tank gun, and is the same gun used as the main armament on the T-80-series tanks.

- Protection:

The T-90 is fitted with a "three-tiered" protection system: the first tier is the composite armor in the turret, second tier is third generation Kontakt-5 ERA and third tier is a Shtora-1 countermeasures suite. The explosive reactive armor (ERA) called Kontakt-5 was used on the T-80U.

- Fire Control Systems:

The T-80 features more sophisticated fire control systems than that of the T-72. Those systems were added to the T-90. The T-90 includes the PNK-4S/SR AGAT day and night sighting system mounted at the commanders station, which allows for night time detection of a tank sized target at ranges between 700 and 1100 meters depending on the version of the sight. Early models of the T-90 were equipped with the TO1-KO1 BURAN sight but later models (T-90S) were upgraded to use the ESSA thermal imaging sight, which allows for accurate firing to a range of 5000–8000 m using the CATHERINE-FC thermal camera produced by Thales Optronique. The gunner is also provided with the 1G46 day sighting system which includes a laser range finder, missile guidance channel and allows tank-sized targets to be detected and engaged at 5 to 8 kilometers (3.1 to 5.0 mi). The driver users a TVN-5 day and night sight.

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Recently, Russia introduced a new upgrade of the T-90 called the T-90MS. This new beast features a DSHK with IR camera, PNM Sosna-U gunner view, 7.62mm turret UDP T05BV-1 RWS, GLONASS+inertial navigation, and explosive reactive armor (ERA) Relikt. I did include some information about this new beast in a previous post "Caution ! Russian Tanks are coming" @:

http://www.modelairplanecollectors.com/forum/topics/caution-russian...


The Russians are planning to continue upgrading the T-90 to extend its service life along with its parents the T-72/T-80. The three tanks however are probably going to be replaced in the future by other promising designs such as the T-95, the Black Eagle, and the Universal Combat Platform T-99. Those designs haven't yet been confirmed and some of them are claimed to be non existent. We Egyptians have a famous saying "A piece of news worth money today will be free of charge tomorrow". It simply means that we will just have to wait and see what the Russians have in store for us.

Regarding die cast models, I own all three tanks mentioned in this post. The T-72 I have is a Unimax forces of Valor 1:72 model. This is probably the T-72M version, also called the "monkey model", used by Iraq in the first Gulf war. As for the T-80 and T-90, I own IXO 1:72 models of both.