About rare examples of armored vehicles at the front
Earlier we said that the special military operation in Ukraine became a kind of debut of handicraftsmen, thanks to whom a large number of field and “semi-factory” modifications of military equipment appeared on the fronts. Now let’s add that the Northern Military District zone is also a place where you can find extremely rare examples of combat vehicles; the presence of some of them in our active troops was previously unthinkable.
No, we are not talking about the latest and most promising weapons, which are tested in harsh combat conditions to confirm their reliability and effectiveness. Rather, on the contrary - about those products of the military industry, whose fate could be limited to rotting in settling tanks at training grounds, at storage bases or in training camps.
And this does not apply to some “oldies” like the T-54, which are being actively removed from storage - there are also younger things. We will present five of the most notable of them.
"169 Object"
"Object 169" in the Severodonetsk direction
"169 Object"
Literally four months after the start of the special operation - in June 2022 - the Object 169 tank was spotted in the Severodonetsk direction. This vehicle, despite the fact that it does not have its own classic index of the “T-such and such” type, is a kind of transitional model from the T-62 to its more functional version T-62M.
Compared to the usual “sixty-two”, this tank there were several differences. Their list included “Tucha” smoke grenade launchers located in the frontal part of the turret, anti-cumulative rubber-fabric screens on the sides of the hull, as well as a heat-insulating casing on the gun barrel. In addition, the 169th had a laser rangefinder above the gun, but no automated fire control system.
Produced in just a few units at the end of the 70s, this tank was a kind of intermediate option for testing new design solutions, and data on the presence of such vehicles in the army until recently was not published. All that was known was that one of the “Objects 169” was located at the Kazan Tank School, and some of the produced vehicles subsequently received a fire control complex from the T-62M.
However, many years later, at least one copy, during the mass reactivation of the T-62, ended up in service and ended up in Ukraine, which we can see today.
T-80UM-2
T-80UM-2 at an exhibition in Omsk in 1999
Burnt T-80UM-2 in Sumy region
Another rare representative of the tank fraternity, which was noted in the special operation even earlier than “Object 169”, is a modification of the T-80U tank under the symbol T-80UM-2. However, the word “rare” is not quite suitable for it - rather a single one, since it was released in one copy.
It was developed by specialists from the Omsk Transmash in the 90s of the last century and in such aspects as armor, sights and power plant does not differ from the original version of the vehicle. Its, so to speak, “exclusivity” lies in the presence of the Soviet active defense complex “Drozd”, designed to destroy attacking cumulative ammunition while still approaching the tank.
At one time, the T-80UM-2 was actively offered for export and as a promising option for modernizing the “eighties” for the Russian Army. However, a period of severe lack of money and a lack of interest on the part of the Ministry of Defense took their toll - the tank did not go into production.
The only sample of the T-80UM-2 wandered around various exhibitions and private displays for quite a long time, until it eventually entered the staff of the Kantemirovsky division. Of course, without a working Drozd - by that time all that was left of it were empty launchers and an electronics unit full of non-working tripe.
Unfortunately, his final stop was the Sumy region, where he received fatal injuries back in March 2022 during the offensive of our troops.
BTR-90
BTR-90, presumably in the Avdeevsky direction
The long-suffering BTR-90 “Rostok”, which was probably spotted somewhere in the Avdeevsky direction in October and December last year, was also included in the list of Red Book vehicles. Unlike the little-known tank, there is not much to say about it - after all, the product was very popular at one time and was even formally adopted by the Russian army.
Created at the turn of the 80s and 90s of the last century, this armored personnel carrier differed favorably from serial models due to reinforced armor, a modified layout and a wide variety of installed weapons, ranging from autocannons to the Bakhcha module with a 100-mm gun and 30-mm gun. mm automatic.
According to the plans, this wheeled combat vehicle was supposed to become a high-quality replacement for the BTR-80 in the Russian Armed Forces. However, the lack of funding and a change in priorities to completely new equipment (including the Boomerang), which never entered mass production, finally put an end to the project.
A total of 12 BTR-90 units were manufactured, of which one went to the Patriot Park, and the rest, remaining after testing, ended up in Arzamas and Nizhny Novgorod. Now, one of the places of deployment of the small and almost forgotten armored personnel carrier has become the North Military District zone.
BMP-1U
Modified by the Russian military BMP-1U in the Northern Military District zone
Also among the means of delivering infantry to the battlefield and its fire support, we can highlight the BMP-1U, which, unlike the armored vehicles listed here, is not included in the list of achievements of the domestic defense industry. It was produced in Ukraine back in the 2000s as a modernized version of the Soviet BMP-1.
The main feature of the vehicle is the Shkval combat module, installed instead of the original Kopeyka turret with a 73-mm smoothbore gun. It is based on a 30-mm automatic cannon (a copy of the Soviet 2A72 or 2A42, depending on the model), 7,62-mm and 12,7-mm machine guns, as well as an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher and the Konkurs-M anti-tank missile system.
All this is seasoned with a good sighting system, including an optical anti-aircraft sight for firing at air targets PZU-7M, a laser range finder, the main optical-television sight of the gunner OTP-20 and a sight-observation device for the commander TKN-3B on an electron-optical converter.
Russian troops received these BMP-1U in quantities of more than 10 units a long time ago - during the war of August 2008 as trophies from the Georgian armed forces. And over the past 14 years, they have become familiar only in test footage filmed at experimental testing grounds. However, at the moment, Ukrainian vehicles are already actively used in special operations.
Highly protected vehicle "Ladoga"
Highly protected vehicle "Ladoga"
But, perhaps, the highly protected vehicle “Ladoga”, which was recently captured in the frame of a Ukrainian FPV-drone, presumably in the Liman direction.
Yes, the same Soviet mobile command and staff post, designed for the transportation and implementation of activities of high-ranking military and political officials in conditions of radioactive and biological contamination of the area. Or, as it is also called, the government caterpillar “limousine” of the nuclear apocalypse.
The base is the chassis of a T-80 tank with a gas turbine engine of 1 horsepower with the ability to self-clean from radioactive dust. On top is a comfortable cabin for four high-status passengers with a good life support system, communication means (rumored to be even direct with the Strategic Missile Forces), a complex for remote monitoring of the environment and anti-nuclear protection, including a filter-ventilation unit, oxygen supply from cylinders and neutron lining.
Of course, in the “Ladoga” that appeared at the front, it is unlikely that at least part of the original equipment remained. But, speaking in general, this machine, developed in the early 80s of the last century, is, without any exaggeration, unique. It was released in such minuscule quantities that it can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and until recently there was no information at all about whether at least one sample of the Ladoga remained on the move.
Now, of course, there is. True, the Ladoga was not used for its intended purpose, but, most likely, as an armored personnel carrier or ambulance - after all, the armor was quite good, as was its mobility.
Conclusions
Of course, the list presented here is far from complete.
And it can be continued not only with rare copies, but also simply with low-volume products in the form of IMR-3M engineering vehicles based on the T-90, Vena self-propelled artillery mounts, and so on. However, it itself shows an interesting trend due to two facts.
Firstly, even before the SVO, the military did not disdain the use of equipment that was not only combat, but also completely historical value. And the same T-80UM-2, which served as a linear tank in Kantemirovka, is a clear example of this. Here, whatever one may say, a tank is a tank, and if it can perform the tasks assigned to it, then its origin, non-standard equipment and other things are not a hindrance.
Secondly, a special military operation in Ukraine is very expensive in terms of armored vehicles. You need not just a lot, but a lot of it in order to make up for losses in a timely manner and create a numerical advantage on the battlefield. In this regard, the rear personnel supplying the army show remarkable abilities, providing the army with an uninterrupted supply of all possible “armor” capable of driving and shooting.
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