The Russian Ministry of Defense has ordered modernization kits for the T-72 and T-90 “field” tanks, which should protect combat vehicles from shelling on city streets, allowing them to overcome rubble and barricades. A representative of the military department told the Izvestia newspaper about this.

Photo: ITAR-TASS

The publication's interlocutor noted that to overcome the rubble, the city tank will be equipped with a bulldozer bucket-blade. Such kits are installed only on American TUSK (Tank urban special kit). In addition, the bottom of the tank will be reinforced with armor plates to protect against mines and landmines laid on the road.

A special grille will be attached around the tank's hull, which will detonate the warhead of portable anti-tank systems before it comes into contact with the armor - grenade launcher shells will explode as they approach the tank.

The Main Armored Directorate is preparing tactical and technical requirements and tasks for such a kit. Work should be completed in the summer of 2013, after which a tender for development will be announced.

A combat vehicle with an urban combat kit must withstand hits from RPG-7 and RPG-29, as well as landmine explosions with a power of several tens of kilograms of TNT. The new kit will include additional explosive reactive armor units (bars with explosives that deflect a projectile upon impact).

The components of the kit are being developed by the Steel Research Institute, which, as the newspaper suggests, will be the winner of a future development tender. The institute has a large number of ready-made samples of dynamic protection, lattice screens and other elements. The research institute noted that each urban combat kit will cost the military no less than 200-250 thousand dollars.

A tank officer from the brigade of the Southern Military District explained to the publication that conventional tanks are not suitable for battle in the city, since among houses and buildings they are more vulnerable to close-range fire than on the front line. This was largely the reason for the failure of the storming of Grozny in 1995, when militants shot at tanks from the roofs of houses using hand grenade launchers.

However, in the field, the urban kit will make the tank heavier, slow down maneuverability and increase fuel consumption. In open areas, tanks with a blade and RPG protection will be vulnerable, so the kit for urban combat must be removable.

The Russian Ministry of Defense ordered tanks for fighting in the city