The Russian Bear T-72B3M / A Closer Look at Russia's Upgraded Main Battle Tank

T-72B3M. Russia. The T-72B3M, sometimes unofficially referred as T-72B4, is a recent Russian upgrade of the aging T-72B tank. It is a further development of the T-72B3 with some improvements. It has a new gun, improved fire control system with panoramic commander sight, improved protection, and new This tank was first publicly revealed in 2014. A small batch of these tanks was produced. In 2016 it was announced that Russia is planning to upgrade a total of 150 older T-72B tanks to the T-72B3M standard. Currently Russia is gradually refurbishing and upgrading a number of its aging T-72B tanks to keep them operational and up to date. The T-72B3M can be seen as a low-cost upgrade of the older T-72B tank. By 2020 a total of 248 Russian tanks were upgraded to the T-72B3M standard. However despite all updates and improvements, the T-72B3M is no match for modern main battle tanks MBTs. In 2017 it was announced that first modernized T-72M3M tanks entered service with Belarus. However Belarusian tanks have some differences. Early production versions of the T-72B3M had older Contact 5 built-in explosive reactive armor. It has been reported that this tank will be fitted with a built-in relict explosive reactive armor of 3RD generation. Such armor if present on the T-90MS demonstrator. This tank has a new 2A46M5 125mm smoothbore gun. Autoloader of this tank has some modifications and can use newly developed munitions. This tank can launch 9M119 SPR or 9M119M reflex anti-tank guided missiles in the same manner as ordinary projectiles. Western reporting name for both missiles is AT-11 Sniper. A total of 45 rounds are carried, 22 rounds are stored in the autoloader and ready to use, while remaining are stored inside the hull. There is a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun, as well as a 12.7mm roof-mounted machine gun. The last mentioned is manually controlled by the vehicle commander. The T-72B3M has got an improved fire control system over the previous T-72B3. It is fitted with new panoramic sight with thermal vision, which gives it a hunter-killer engagement capability. Tank commander uses a panoramic sight with thermal vision to search for targets. Once the target is selected the gun is laid on the target automatically and the gunner completes all the aiming and firing process. During that time commander looks for the next target. Such engagement method is present on all modern MBTs. The fire control system comes with a ballistic computer. Gunner uses Sosniu sight with thermal imager. The T-72B3M has got day-slash-night and all-weather combat capability. The tank is also fitted with a digital radio system. So in terms of fire control system and electronics, the T-72B3M performs the T-90 tank used by the Russian Army. This MBT is operated by a crew of three, including commander, gunner and driver. This tank is powered by the V92S2F diesel, developing 1130 horsepower. This engine was also fitted on some refurbished and upgraded T-72B3 tanks. It replaced the original 840-horsepower engine. As a result the T-72B3M is faster than its predecessor. This tank also comes with new tracks. With preparation this MBT can ford water obstacles up to 5 meters deep. This deep wading feature is present on all Soviet-slash-Russian MBTs. The T-72B3M also has a built-in blade for self-entrenching. The tank can prepare itself defensive entrenchment within 12 to 40 minutes, depending on the ground type.