From the Kharkov region to the USA: how a T-90A tank captured by Ukrainians ended up near a casino in Louisiana
There is no secret that with the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the United States has opened wide opportunities to study our technology, not in a theoretical, but, let's say, in a practical way. Still, the fighting is quite large-scale, so you can’t do without losses in combat vehicles, including those that the enemy got as trophies.
Indeed, since February 2022, the Ukrainian side has managed to seize a number of samples of Russian weapons, some of which have already safely left for the West. At the same time, given the importance of such trophies, the imagination draws stereotypical pictures of specially designated letter trains and trucks, which, under guard and under the strictest secrecy, quietly drag Russian equipment to the training ground.
However, the reality is sometimes more prosaic, an example of which is the T-90A tank, the trailer with which was simply abandoned for several days near a roadside tavern and casino.
Where did this T-90A come from?
The fact that both we and the United States are interested in captured equipment is, in principle, useless to dispute - by other methods, complete data on enemy technologies simply cannot be obtained even with the help of espionage. Therefore, we are already quite officially talking about a worthy reward for “captured” samples of NATO weapons: perhaps everyone has heard about the awards for Leopards 2 and Abrams. Although they are not limited to.
As for the American side, the requirements to send captured Russian military vehicles overseas or to NATO bases in Western Europe are actually one of the conditions for providing military assistance to Ukraine. And, of course, Kyiv fulfills these requirements in full - the equipment of interest to Western sponsors, which has remained in a more or less intact condition, quickly goes from hand to hand.
As a matter of fact, the hero of this material just got into the right caste, having practically no serious injuries. However, given the available and not fully verified data, they took it as a trophy, judging by the temporary standards of a special military operation, for quite a long time.
Many people remember how the beginning of autumn 2022 marked the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine: yes, that same withdrawal from the Kharkiv region and the subsequent regrouping of our troops, which left a number of previously occupied settlements. In particular, we are talking about the Kupyansk direction, which the Russian military, as part of consolidated units, defended for more than a week. It was there, in the relatively small village of Kurilovka, 113 km southeast of Kharkov, that this T-90A was most likely captured.
Trapped T-90A tank in the village of Kurilovka, Kharkov region
By the way, the fact that the tank from Kurilovka is the one that ended up in the United States is indicated by both identical damage, including infrared searchlights, and the scrawled "212" on the box with the modulator of the Shtora optoelectronic suppression system in the left part of the tower, installed on top of the block of dynamic protection.
The same number with identical handwriting and arrangement of numbers. Tank T-90A near the entertainment center in Louisiana
The circumstances of the abandonment of this tank by the crew are not completely known to us, but, preventing a flurry of comments from adherents of the doctrine “the tank must die with the crew”, it should be noted: there was simply no other way out in this case.
The combat vehicle, moving along the road, turned aside and fell into a pit, turning over almost on its side - the mine under it definitely did not explode, since no damage to the chassis was observed. At the same time, given the depth of this rut and the position of the tank, he would not be able to leave such a trap on his own in any case. But we will not step on the thin ice of discussions about why the tank was not destroyed before the withdrawal - the topic is no longer this material, and the question is rather rhetorical, since we do not know the details of what happened.
One way or another, the tank nevertheless fell into the hands of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - the find turned out to be so valuable that it had to be dug out manually, as evidenced by a number of photographs from the scene. However, they still did not dare to use the trophy as a combat unit and sent it to the rear. And then to Poland, where, leaving the seaport of Gdynia, in the north of the country, he made a voyage to the United States by sea.
By the way, having subsequently found itself near a local casino in Roanoke, Louisiana, the T-90A was already quite plucked in terms of internal equipment: for example, a thermal imaging sight on the French Catherine matrix with related systems in the form of a display and control panel disappeared. At the same time, it is likely that the tank lost this component while still in Ukraine - there they collect electronics of Russian technology with great zeal and even organize closed and open exhibitions on this matter.
However, it could also be removed by agreement with the French - it’s still strange that the United States could consider a “teplak” with a well-known manufacturing technology more valuable than the Russian 1G46 sight, which was left in the tank.
Missing thermal sight and related equipment
Unusual cargo in the parking lot
Roanoke is a rather small town in the southern United States, which does not even have a local government. There are only about five hundred inhabitants, according to 2020 data, but it has its own entertainment center with a casino. And given the proximity to a major highway, there are a lot of visitors to this establishment - mostly truckers. So trucks and trailers in a nearby parking lot, in principle, are a common thing.
However, on the evening of April 11, a truck from a civilian transport company showed up there with a very unusual load: on the trailer that he dragged, there was a tank that was clearly “used”, and even decorated with symbols incomprehensible to local residents. This, although very succinctly, was expressed by an employee of the entertainment center, who said that he had been working for seven years and had seen a lot in all the time, but he saw such a thing for the first time.
It is noteworthy that there was absolutely no security with the trailer - neither the military, nor even at least one seedy police crew. The T-90A itself was not even covered with a simple tarpaulin, not to mention the closed frames that deformed the appearance, often installed on combat vehicles during transportation. In general, there was no talk of any secrecy that one could imagine.
The icing on the cake was the appeal of truck drivers to local workers. They said that the car broke down, so they need to go to Houston, Texas to get a new tractor. Therefore, they say, let the tank stand for some time, while the uncle-guard looks after your parking lot. And they left.
This, again, is on the topic of the attitude of the US military to captured Russian equipment: not all specimens are of such strong interest to bother about their safety during transportation. However, here it is quite possible to object that no one will be able to steal the tank anyway, and it will also not work very well to damage it from the outside. But there is one “but”: the T-90A did not even have hatches closed - you can, as they say, relieve the need for them, or you can shoot all the remaining available “inside”, outdoor equipment or break something that can be damaged.
The open hatch of the T-90A gunner, where a local resident looked
This story would not have received any publicity, but among the locals who often visit the entertainment center, there was an amateur and active player of one Russian multiplayer game about tanks, planes and ships. Seeing one of the "characters" of the game in the face of the T-90A, which he had previously only seen on a monitor or smartphone display, the guy took a few photos and shared them on Reddit in the appropriate discussion thread. Well, then everything is already known: in the end, after a couple of days, the tank was nevertheless taken away, but the pictures literally flew around the whole world and lit up in all major media.
The whole mess of Western media reports about the T-90A can be divided into two main parts.
First of all, of course, there was a wave of delight and gloating. There was nothing else to expect here: one of the newest Russian tanks is already in American Louisiana, and this, they say, testifies to the imminent and unconditional victory of Ukraine. Well, the United States, respectively, will receive the necessary data on Russian combat vehicles and create weaponable to deal effectively with them. In short, an old song about the main thing.
In contrast to this, quite legitimate questions arose as to why the tank, being a means of increased danger and constituting some kind of secrecy, was abandoned with open hatches without any protection in an ordinary parking lot, which, relatively speaking, was looked after by the watchman.
Questions were also raised that the tank could contain ammunition in varying degrees of safety, and the dynamic protection "Contact-5" could be equipped with standard elements containing explosives. But this situation is impossible in principle - no fool in such a kit would have allowed the car to be transported at an early stage, when it was in Poland.
Even at first, they could not connect such negligent behavior with the military in any way - after all, they cannot leave a combat vehicle, even a trophy one, somewhere unattended. However, the servicemen themselves also brought confusion: representatives of the Fort Polk military base located nearby answered a question from journalists firmly that they had not heard of any tank, therefore, most likely, it could belong to a private person.
Nevertheless, soon clarity in the current situation was nevertheless introduced: a shipping list was pasted on the barrel of the T-90A gun, which indicated both the place of departure (the Polish city of Gdynia) and the destination - Aberdeen Proving Ground. Here all the questions disappeared at once: even the Pentagon had to make a statement that the car was heading there, but it did not pose any danger to the local population, since there was no ammunition or explosives in the dynamic protection.
Shipping list on the barrel of the T-90A gun
The Russian tank was taken there for comprehensive research, familiarization with the US military and, possibly, subsequent tests, including shelling the armor of the vehicle with the shells currently in service with the US Army.
It should be noted that the precedent turned out to be interesting.
On the one hand, the US military has clearly demonstrated its attitude towards the equipment captured in Ukraine. One way or another, the tank was transported without any escort and did not think that something could happen to it or the tractor on the way. Of course, it’s not worth talking about Russian saboteurs who could attack and destroy the trophy - this is already from the realm of fantasy. But the chance to threaten the cargo on the road, including at the expense of local craftsmen who could knock out optics, pull something out of internal equipment, or corny burn the tank of the “Russian occupiers of Ukraine”, is far from small.
AAA civilian transport company truck arriving for a trailer with a tank
On the other hand, the military themselves got pretty burned by entrusting the delivery of the T-90A to a civilian transport company. These guys have a simple policy: cargo, whether it is oversized or oversized, is just cargo - as long as they pay. And if something happens, there is insurance. So for the rest, even if the grass does not grow: you can leave it for a few days.
Information sources:
thedrive.com
warspotting.net
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