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Key Points: The U.S. Army’s 2024 report reveals Ukraine has destroyed over half of Russia’s active tank fleet, including the T-90, known for its advanced features like reactive armor and thermal sights.

-Despite innovations, the T-90 remains vulnerable to Ukraine’s effective top-down attacks using Javelins, drones, and hit-and-run tactics. Lacking a hemispheric active protection system, the T-90’s top armor is its weakest link.

-While the tank’s capabilities, such as firing laser-guided missiles and countermeasures, are notable, they have been insufficient against modern battlefield threats.

-Ukraine’s tactics are reshaping global perceptions of tank warfare and combat strategies.

Russia Loses Half Its Active Tank Force: The Role of the T-90 in the Setback

A recent United States Army Training and Doctrine Command public intelligence report said that Ukrainian fighters have decimated at least one-half of Russia’s “active duty” tank force.

The report, titled “The Operational Environment, 2024-to-2034 Large Scale Combat Operations,” specifies that 3,197 Russian tanks were destroyed as of July 2024. 

Russia Keeps Losing Tanks

There are many reasons for the massive tank losses, many of which have been discussed for several years since the beginning of the war, such as the effective dismounted use of anti-armor weapons, hit-and-run-style ambushes, effective use of drones, and Ukraine’s ability to exploit the top-down attack vulnerability of Russian tanks.

The tactical effectiveness of disaggregated anti-armor attacks with weapons such as Javelins, NLAWs, and Carl Gustaf soldier-fired weapons has led many militaries worldwide to reimagine Combat Arms Maneuver to a certain extent. 

One such tank, the highly touted Russian T-90, is among the armored platforms now being obliterated.

At first glance, this might seem surprising given that the vehicle is reported to operate with reactive armor, composite armor materials, thermal gunners sights, smoke grenades, and electronic warfare (EW)-enabled ability to “jam” incoming anti-tank missiles. 

The T-90 operates with some innovations woven in that are similar to US Army upgrades to the Abrams tank; the T-90 has a 125mm Smoothbore gun and several different kinds of rounds such as a High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) round and HE-FRAG or fragmentation round intended to maximize lethality against dismounted groups of enemy fighters.

The Abrams has, however, been moving beyond these kinds of distinct or separated ammo and has added an automated data link connecting the gunner to the tank’s ammunition.

Russian T-90 Tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Another development is cutting-edge Multi-Purpose Anti-Tank rounds engineered to integrate several different explosives into a single round. 

An article published in Warrior Maven in 2024 compares key specifications between the T-90 and the Abrams. 

“The T-90 entered service in 1993, and the extent to which it has been successfully maintained and upgraded may be somewhat of a question mark. Multiple reports reveal the tank has rather advanced countermeasures such as a ‘TShu-1-7-Shtora-1‘ optronic system to disrupt laser targeting on incoming ATGMs and an electro-optical jammer. Perhaps of greatest significance, the T-90M is engineered with advanced thermal sights, as high-fidelity, long-range targeting sensors can of course offer an impactful margin of difference. The US Army’s v3 Abrams variant, for instance, is engineered with a FLIR, forward-looking infrared sensor reportedly able to transmit high-resolution targeting images at stand-off distances,” the Warrior Maven essay states. 

The T-90 and Top-Down Attacks

The war in Ukraine has shown T-90 tanks to be quite vulnerable to “top-down” attacks, a tactical reality suggesting that the tanks do not operate with a hemispheric active protection system.

Since the top of the Russian T-90 tanks are not as heavily armored and often operate with armored turrets, Ukrainian forces have been able to use terrain and elevated positions such as buildings to target T-90s where they are most vulnerable. 

What kind of active protection system does Russia operate with? That may be unclear, and the rate of destruction of Russian tanks would suggest that there may be “no” APS protecting them.

Russia's T-90 tanks. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Russia’s T-90 tanks. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

An article from the Federation of American Scientists on the T-90 points out several Russian APS systems, such as Russia’s Arena or the Shora-1 technology, armed with hard-kill interceptors. 

“The T-90 is equipped with the TShU-1-7 Shtora-1 optronic countermeasures system which is designed to disrupt the laser target designation and rangefinders of incoming ATGM. The T-90 is also equipped with a laser warning package that warns the tank crew when it is being lased. Shtora-1 is an electro-optical jammer that jams the enemy’s semiautomatic command to line of sight anti tank guided missiles, laser rangefinders and target designators. Shtora-1 is actually a soft kill, or countermeasures system. It is most effective when used in tandem with a hard kill system such as the Arena,” the FAS Military Analysis Network essay states.

The FAS paper also says the T-90’s smoothbore cannon can fire time-fuzed projectiles, which could mirror current applications of proximity fuzes or air-burst rounds. The FAS paper also says the T-90 can fire a laser-guided missile called the Refleks, able to target both armored objects and even low-flying helicopters as a “counter-air” weapon.

The missile (Refleks), which can penetrate 700-mm of RHAe out to 4,000 meters, gives the T-90 the ability to engage other vehicles and helicopters before they can engage the T-90.

The FAS paper says that the computerized fire control system and laser range-finder, coupled with the new Agave gunner’s thermal sight, permit the T-90 to engage targets while on the move and at night.

About the Author: Kris Osborn 

Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.