Screengrab. Via Twitter.
Russia is planning to produce and upgrade thousands of main battle tanks, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, revealed on February 9 during a visit to the Omsk transport engineering plant.
“Yesterday, as you know, our enemy was begging for planes, missiles and tanks abroad. What should we do in response? It is clear that in this case it is natural for us to increase the production of various types of weapons and military equipment, including modern tanks,” the TASS news agency quoted Medvedev as saying at a meeting during the visit.
“The production and upgrade of thousands of tanks are on the agenda,” Medvedev said, adding that this task stemmed from the state defense order and decisions made by the Russian president.
Footage from the visit to the Omsk plant showed Medvedev inspecting a deeply upgraded version of the T-80 tank, dubbed the BMV.
The T-80BMV features Relikt third generation explosive reactive armor, the Irtysh fire control system, the Sosna-U gunner’s sight, an improved 2A46M-5 125 mm gun that can fire 9K119M Refleks-M guided missile, an upgraded autoloader, and an improved gas turbine engine that generates 1,250 hp.
Medvedev also inspected a TOS-1A multiple rocket launch system, which is built around the T-72 tank chassis. The system can be armed with up to 24 unguided 220 mm thermobaric rockets with a range of six to ten kilometers.
More than 3,000 upgraded main battle tanks of different types are currently in service with the Russian military. Thousands more in storage.
Russia ramped up the production of all sorts of weapons last year in order to support the special military operation in Ukraine.
The Kiev regime is now preparing to receive loads of weapons from its Western backers, including hundreds of infantry fighting vehicles and dozens of main battle tanks. Still, Moscow will likely maintain the upper hand thanks to its ability to produce weapons on a large-scale.
