That said, even an old tank is nearly immune to all but specialized anti-armor munitions and heavy artillery, and can deliver lethal direct fire at a distance. The T-62 delivery thus shows Moscow is compelled to dig deeper as it exhausts its most modern weapon system in combat, even though the T-62 is even more vulnerable than the hundreds of Russian T-72s and T-80s knocked out or abandoned in combat. Lacking adequate personnel to simultaneously attack and defend territory in Ukraine, Russia is trying to lean on its deep inventory as a substitute. However, an interviewed Russian T-72 commander stated his unit removed the improvised cages, noting they inhibited the functionality of the turret machine gun and radio antennas, and prevented crew from escaping a burning vehicle. 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker June 5, 2022
However, cage armor should help against anti-tank grenades dropped by civilian-style drones - a popular Ukrainian tactic which has had surprising success - and possibly degrade lighter anti-tank weapons. In a support role, the armor upgrades may give T-62Ms a chance of surviving frontal armor hits from lighter and/or older anti-tank weapons used by Ukrainian infantry, including M72A2 LAW, RPG-7, AT4 and Carl Gustaf anti-tank weapons and dated but still widespread SPG-9 recoilless guns and MT-12 Rapira anti-tank guns. But tank-on-tank battles remain relatively rare in Ukraine, and T-62s remains perfectly capable of lobbing 115mm shells downrange to blast infantry, fortifications and lighter armored vehicles. In a head-to-head fight against Ukrainian tanks (primarily T-64s, but also T-72s and T-80s), T-62Ms will be at a grave disadvantage due to inferior sensors, fire control, armor and armor-penetration. Likely, though, many were in too poor of a condition to be refurbished and deployed as quickly as the T-62Ms dispatched to Ukraine, which seem likely to be shunted to second-rate pro-Russian separatist forces. That said, Russia is estimated to have around 10,000 tanks in storage, including 2,500 T-62s, suggesting there are undoubtedly thousands more T-72s and T-80s that can yet be reactivated. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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