Russia has signed a large contact on the delivery of T-90MS main battle tanks to a Middle East country and plans to close a deal with another foreign customer soon, Russian news agency Tass reported, citing a senior government official.
“A large-scale contract was signed with a Middle East country in December. Another contract on this type of military output is expected to be signed soon,” Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said at last week’s IDEX 2017 International Defense Exhibition in Abu Dhabi, UAE without specifying the country.
The T-90MS tank was tested over two years in several Mideast countries, the Minister added.
Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Alexei Frolkin told Tass earlier that Russia was holding talks with some Mideast states on the sale of T-90MS tanks.
Russia’s defence manufacturer Uralvagonzavod CEO Oleg Siyenko said the T-90MS has large prospects on the Mideast arms market, said the Tass report.
The armored vehicle has successfully passed tests in Kuwait, he added.
The T-90MS is the next step in the development of the Russian-made main battle tank T-90. The new T-90MS was presented for the first time to the public during the defence exhibition Russian Expo arms in September 2011.
This new tank is a complete modernization of the T-90 by touching all the characteristics of the basic variant to increase its operational capabilities in combat and against modern threats of the battlefield. The weight of the T-90MS has increased of 1,500 kg, compared to the basic model of the T-90 to reach 48 tons, but it remains significantly lower compared to the German main battle tank Leopard 2A6 and the American M1 Abrams.
The main armament includes a 125mm high-accuracy gun 2A46M-5 with new features as the installation of high-rigidity barrel tube, play-free trunnion assembly units with elastic rollers an return wedge and two additional play take-up elements with rollers. The 2A46M-5 gun design made it possible to reduce technical dispersion of shells of all types by 15% in average and to increase effective range of fire. A 7.62mm coaxial machine gun 6P7K is coupled to the 125mm gun. The T-90MS carries 40 rounds of 125mm, 22 are ready to be used on an automatic carousel autoloader, other ammunitions are stowed in a special hull rear section to avoid the risks of explosion and provide high crew survivability.
The basic armor of the T-90MS provides a protection of the crew against conventional small weapons and shell splinters. To increase the protection of the T-90MS, the tank is fitted with the new RELIKT reactive armor on the front of the hull and the turret which is designed to replace the Kontakt-5 reactive armor used on older T-90 tanks, will help the tank withstand attacks from all current and future anti-tank weapons.
The RELIKT system is based on a new element of dynamic protection, EDZ 4S23, which is the latest in the line of dynamic protection elements developed by NII Stali - 4S20, 4S22, 4S24. The new dynamic protection element utilizes a completely new composition of explosives that works effectively against modern and future-generation shaped-charge munitions, including tandem munitions, as well as armor-piercing sub-caliber missiles.
Unlike the serially-produced Kontakt-5 system, Relikt works equally reliably against both low-velocity and high-velocity missiles. The hull and the turret are upgraded with detachable modules with built-in explosive reactive armor. The protection system is provided with aramid-fabric inner splinter-proof liners to protect the crew and equipment from the secondary flux of tank fragments. The rear part of the hull and the turret are equipped with wire cage armor to increase the protection of the power pack compartment and ammunition compartment against anti-tank grenades and rockets.
