In recent weeks there have been several reports that the Russian army in Ukraine has had to resort to inferior tanks due to a lack of material. It was about the T-14 Armata, which according to British intelligence does not meet the usual standards of operational equipment. And it was about the T-62, a Soviet tank from the 1960s.
But apparently the Russian army is using even older stocks. As early as March 22, the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on the possibility of Russia sending old Soviet T-54/55 tanks to war. Now the Ukrainian military portal “MIL.IN.UA” writes about the sighting of one of these tanks on the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.
However, it is currently not clear whether T-54/55s are actually part of combat operations. In any case, these types are vintage cars from the 40s and 50s, which, despite modernization, would never have changed conceptually, like “MIL.IN.UA” reported.
According to the ISW, a Russian choice for the T-54/55 type could be due to that repairing these tanks is comparatively cheap – at the expense of the safety of the soldiers inside the vehicles. The T-54/55 therefore do not have the armor of modern vehicles. The ISW assumes that Russia would suffer higher losses by using the old tanks. They were “very vulnerable” against many anti-tank weapons in the arsenal of the Ukrainian army. (tsp)
