russia deploying 60-year-old tanks to front line – UK intelligence
To compensate for losses of heavily armored vehicles, the russian military is pulling obsolete equipment from storage to deploy it in Ukraine.
Monday's intelligence review of the UK's Ministry of Defense reports that the russian military continues to use the 60-year-old T-62 main battle tanks.
In its latest update, the ministry says there is a real possibility that even units of the 1st Guards Tank Army, which is believed to be russia's primary tank formation, will be re-equipped with the T-62 to make up for past losses. It was planned that the 1st Guards Tank Army would receive the main battle tanks of the new generation, T-14 Armata, in 2021.
Recently, russian armored personnel carriers, BTR-50, which first entered service in 1954, were also discovered in Ukraine for the first time, British intelligence notes.
Since the summer of 2022, about 800 T-62s have been removed from storage, and some of them have received upgraded sighting systems, which are likely to increase their effectiveness at night.
However, the British agency emphasizes that these ancient vehicles will have many vulnerabilities on the modern battlefield, including the lack of modern explosive-reactive armor.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 6 March 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence: https://t.co/HPcqkaCGaq pic.twitter.com/1J60pMXGag
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) March 6, 2023
