Russian T‑54s: Relic tanks make surprise return in Robotyne battle
The Russian crew most likely attacked Ukrainians in the area of the village of Robotyne using one of the oldest tanks still in service. This was the T-54B, introduced into service in the USSR in 1956. We explain what this 68-year-old relic was doing on the front line.
Jarosław Wolski, a defence analyst, published an interesting photo showing the T-54 tank on his X profile. The photo most likely comes from the region of Robotyne, where Russian tanks from the T-54/55 family were sighted. The unit below resembles a T-54B (with a characteristic infrared illuminator next to the cannon), produced from 1956. It might also be an older T-54-3, updated to this standard.
T-54 tanks - useless hunks of iron vulnerable to virtually anything
The T-54 tanks and their successor, the T-55, were developed based on World War II experiences. The Russians aimed to create a modern medium tank, which eventually evolved into the role of the main battle tank after they abandoned the development of heavy tanks.
Initially, the Russians tried to adapt the T-34 tank to accommodate a larger cannon, but this did not yield the expected results. A similar fate befell the T-44 tank, which preceded the prototypes of the T-54 tank presented in 1946. Serial production began in 1949 after multiple modernizations.
Since then, several variants have been produced, differing in features such as turret shape and armor thickness. The armor, made entirely of armored steel, can now be penetrated by virtually any handheld anti-tank weapon with a shaped charge warhead.
The armour only protects against machine gun fire and some automatic cannons. For instance, the CV90 fighting vehicle may already be capable of penetrating even the frontal armour of the hull, not to mention the weaker sides.
The only arguable advantage of T-54 tanks is their rifled D-10 100mm cannon. Although it is ineffective against the frontal armour of T-72 or T-64 tanks, it is sufficient against fighting vehicles. T-54 tanks are only used here as support vehicles, shelling an area with high-explosive fragmentation shells.
This task, however, is significantly challenging because the T-54 is not equipped with a ballistic computer, and night vision appeared only in the T-54B model, while others upgraded to this standard. However, this first-generation system requires an infrared illuminator, which is as noticeable as a flashlight in other night vision devices. It is a blind, steel, four-man coffin on today's battlefield.
