Russia de-mothballs tanks from the 1950s and sends them to war – CIT

The Russian military has de-mothballed the T-54/55 medium tanks and started sending them from Russia’s Far East to the combat zone in Ukraine. The tanks were made in the 1940s and the 1950s. Investigators of the Conflict Intelligence Team have obtained photographs of a train transporting military vehicles from Russia’s Far East.

Source: Conflict Intelligence Team, Radio Svoboda

Quote: "As we have established, the filmed train recently departed from the town of Arsenyev, Primorsky region, where the 1295th Central Tank Repair and Storage Base is located."

Details: The investigators examined publicly available archive photographs of the 1295th Base and found out that, in addition to relatively modern T-80BV and T-72B tanks, it also stored a significant amount of T-62M(V) tanks. They also managed to find photographs of the T-55 and T-54 tanks.

The earliest T-54 series tanks were adopted by the Soviet Army back in the mid-to-late 1940s, and the T-55 series entered service in 1958.

"Even an outdated tank is more useful than no tank at all, but we consider the lack of rangefinders and ballistic computers (not to mention fire control systems) to be the key disadvantages of these series, as well as primitive sights and (in T-54s) an inferior gun stabilisation system," – CIT reports.

More details: The experts also analysed free access satellite imagery of the 1295th storage base in Arsenyev and the images which Radio Svoboda was able to obtain with the help of the Planet.com service. The image shows open military equipment storage areas and hangars.

The CIT team also established that between not earlier than 12 July and not later than 2 October, at least 191 tanks had left the base (most likely T-62s). In reality, this number can be much higher, since the most combat-ready vehicles are typically stored in special hangars, and it is impossible to spot their shipment based on satellite imagery.

The investigators state that deployment and use of T-62 tanks by the Russian Armed Forces during the current invasion has been documented since summer 2022, but it is the first recorded instance of T-54/55 tanks being de-mothballed.

Combined with withdrawal of BTR-50 armored personnel carriers from storage and equipping MTLB transport vehicles with ship anti-aircraft guns, withdrawal of Soviet tanks from storage is a sign that Russia has serious problems in supplying its armed forces with military equipment.

Background: During the full-scale aggression against Ukraine Russia has lost 3557 tanks.

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