MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax) - The latest modification of the T-90 tank, the T-90M, will be provided to the Russian army in 2020, , the head of the Russian Defense Ministry's main armored vehicles directorate, Maj. Gen. Sergei Bibik, said.
"We plan to supply modern and modernized equipment to the forces under state defense contracts: T-90M tanks, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, airborne forces' fighting vehicles BMD-4M and BTR-MDM, and latest-generation Taifun, Tornado, and Tigr armored vehicles," Bibik said in an interview with the Defense Ministry's newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda, speaking about the tasks for next year.
Industry representatives and the military earlier announced the provision of T-90M tanks to the Russian Armed Forces in 2018 and then in 2019.
Russian Ground Forces Commander Oleg Salyukov said in September that the Russian army had begun procuring modernized T-90M tanks. There have been no reports on the supply of this equipment to the troops.
The tank was developed under the experimental design project Proryv-3. It is a deep modernization of T-90 tanks with enhanced combat and operational characteristics.
The T-90M has a new turret, which is equipped with a 125-mm cannon with increased endurance and precision. The modernized tank is equipped with a remote-controlled machine-gun system of 12.7 caliber and has a highly automatic digital fire control system that can be used to detect, identify, track, and hit targets.
Uralvagonzavod officials earlier said T-90M tanks would be equipped with climate control systems.