Uralvagonzavod Updates Modernization Package for T-72B3 Tanks
Recent footage obtained by the Conflict Intelligence Team shows a trainload of newly shipped T-72B3M tanks from the Uralvagonzavod plant with a new modification package, which we provisionally mark as Model 2024 (Obr. 2024). As is evident in the still images we have released, a new element has been added to the factory upgrade: rubber-fabric screens designed to protect the rear of the turret and the engine and transmission compartment. While additional modifications may also be present, they cannot be discerned from the available footage. Nevertheless, this distinctive feature—the rubber-fabric screens—will make it easy to identify tanks produced from the summer of 2024 onward. Tanks shipped as part of the last public delivery, announced in May 2024, lacked these elements. This will facilitate a more accurate assessment of Russia's capabilities in upgrading T-72B3M tanks.
Uralvagonzavod has modified the T-72B3 tank several times since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the fall of 2022, the first wartime modification appeared, unofficially known as the T-72B3M Model 2022 (Obr. 2022). It featured additional explosive reactive armor on the lower glacis plate, hull sides, turret, track shoulders and gun mantlet, as well as a remote-controlled thermal sight shutter. Furthermore, slat armor was mounted to protect the turret race ring, along with fittings for an improvised roof screen aka cope cage. At the same time, the Russian defense industry faced a deficit of necessary components, particularly electronics. As a result, some tanks received the simpler 1PN96MT-02 thermal sight instead of the Sosna-U multi-channel stabilized sight. Omsktransmash [Omsk transport machine factory, major tank producer], which upgrades T-80 tanks to the T-80BVM level, encountered similar issues. Meteorological sensors were missing on some T-72B3M tanks, and even those with the Sosna-U sights sometimes lacked the remote-controlled sight shutter. Certain tanks were also missing explosive reactive armor on the hull sides, track shoulders, turret sides and rear, rear lattice screen and slat armor around the turret race ring.
These component shortages persisted into 2023 as new modifications were introduced. The T-72B3M Model 2023, as we will refer to it for convenience, included additional explosive reactive armor on the tank’s rear instead of protective screens. A standard cope cage was also added. By fall 2023, the issue with the Sosna-U sight seemed to be resolved, although meteorological sensors were still not installed on some tanks, even within the same batch. Apart from the meteorological sensor, all other new features are present in the Model 2024 variant.
