Mr. Sergey Chemiezov, General Director of Rostec Technology Corporation, announced that tank production for the Russian army will increase significantly, specifically seven times in 2023.
Russian military expert - Colonel Viktor Murakhovsky - Editor-in-Chief of the magazine "Arsenal of the Fatherland" based on personal assessment also said that the Russian military industrial complex has provided the country's armed forces with about 2,100 tanks of various types in 2023.
Most notable among these tanks is the advanced T-90M Proryv, but there are also older T-54/55 and T-62 series tanks and their upgraded and improved versions.
The scenario outlined above is entirely possible, as Russian tank manufacturers have claimed that their production line is capable of producing about 200 new T-90M Proryv tanks per year.
Russian tank factory.
Estimates given by Mr. Murakhovsky show a bright outlook: in 2023 the Russian army will be supplied with nearly 1,900 tanks, including 210 newly produced tanks, 840 modernized T-72B3 tanks from old tanks taken out of reserve, along with 840 re-equipped T-80, T-72, T-62 and T-55/54 tanks.
Before the conflict broke out, the Russian army purchased only 30 new production tanks and 120 upgraded ones. During the same period, namely in 2020, not a single old tank was withdrawn from the reserves for re-equipment by Russia.
However, Western analysts say the information is highly inconsistent when cross-referenced with Western sources. Survey experts from the Swedish think tank FOI, citing a report on the military capabilities of the Russian Federation after 1.5 years of conflict, said that Russia is currently capable of producing fewer tanks than announced, only about 520.
FOI statistics are as follows: in the past year Russia received only 62 T-90M Proryv and about 60 T-90/T-90A; 80 T-80BVM tanks; 140 T-72B3 tanks and about 140 T-72B3M, in addition to a small number of upgraded T-55s and T-62s.
Upgraded T-80BVM tank of the Russian army.
Despite FOI's pessimistic reports, Russian sources still give positive assessments of the country's armored potential. In addition to modern tanks, Russia still owns up to 2,000 upgraded T-64 tanks and about 2,800 reserve T-54/55 tanks.
Furthermore, their projections suggest that by February 2024, despite current losses and conservative estimates of defense production capabilities, the Russian military will still maintain between 2,500 and 3,000 tanks.
From the above assessments, it can be concluded that by 2023 the Russian army will likely accumulate up to 2,100 different types of tanks (including the delivery of the remaining 200 T-90 Proryv tanks by the end of the year).
Western media also reported that Russian defense industry leaders included all tanks, including those taken from storage and nominally remaining at Defense Ministry factories, in the statistics.
This action is seen as a demonstration of the “inefficiency” related to the losses suffered by the Russian military leadership when deploying tanks in recent attacks.
However, Russian political and military leaders have always been confident that they have an unlimited supply of main battle tanks (MBTs) in reserve, capable of compensating for any losses with relative ease.
Le Hung (Source: Bulgarian Military)
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