"Weighing and measuring" the power of Russian tanks and Leopard 1s supplied to Ukraine by the West

Recently, Defense24 (Poland) published an article analyzing and comparing the power of Russian tanks with Leopard 1 tanks provided by the West to Ukraine.

Russian army T-55 tank. (Source: Military Today)

First of all, the article compares the armor of the Russian T-54, T-55 and Leopard 1 tanks. Accordingly, the Russian tank has basic turret armor and a fairly thick hull, but such a system may not be enough to protect against modern armor-piercing shells. Meanwhile, the Western Leopard tank has weak armor, so the Leopard will not be able to act as a light tank.

“Although the Russian T-54 and T-55 tanks have better basic armor than the Leopard 1, they are outdated in all aspects, because their concept, structure and many technical solutions date back to the second half of the 1940s,” the newspaper wrote, stating that the Russian tanks, despite their age, are still capable of destroying the Leopard.

The T-54 and T-55 are a generation of tanks produced in the former Soviet Union and equipped for the country's army since 1947. This is the most produced tank model in history with a total of nearly 100,000 vehicles manufactured.

Specifically, the T-54 tank was manufactured in 1946, accepted into the army in 1950 and mass-produced in Kharkov, Lower Tagil and Omsk. During the production process, it was upgraded without changing the vehicle's brand. The T-54 has two variants: T-54A and T-54B.

Meanwhile, the T-55 tank runs on tracks, has a chassis of 5 wheels with a gap between the first and second wheels and no return rollers. It has a short hull, a domed turret located above the third road wheel. The main gun has a caliber of 100mm and has an escape hatch near the base of the barrel. The tank is equipped with a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun and a 7.62mm machine gun under the hull.

The T-55 combined a powerful (by the standards of the time) gun with a highly mobile hull and a very long barrel. Improvements over the T-54 included a water-cooled V12 diesel engine with 580 horsepower, increasing the range to 500 km (up to 715 km with two 200-liter auxiliary fuel tanks).

Additionally, the T-55 can wade through a depth of 1.4m without prior preparation, and has a breathing device that allows it to cross depths of up to 5.5m at a speed of 2km/h.

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