Q&A with the commander of the captured T-90A.

Interview with "Shrek" - the commander of the T-90A trophy tank (the crew named it "Volodya") of the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (also known as SSO "Azov").

— Are there any explosives in the reactive armour cases?

— Yes, there are. The original armoured skirt was torn off, so it had to be replaced with the one that had "Kontakt-1" (older type of explosive reactive armour - translator's note) on it. I would also like to note the absence of ERA on the tank's lower hull plate. We had to modify some elements, in particular, to add ERA blocks under the side spare part boxes, on the turret and sides of the tank.

— What vehicle did you use before? How does T-90A compare to it?

— Before that, my tank was T-72. In general, I can say that the T-90 is the same T-72, but with a significantly modernized equipment.

— Is "Shtora-1" electro-optical active protection system used?

— "Shtora-1" was not used, it works unstably and can interfere with the operation of the machine. I used only infrared searchlights, which work really well. The enemy's tank rangefinders and laser-guided ATGM malfunction when the searchlights are on.

— How much ammunition was there in the tank at the time of capture?

— The tank was full of ammunition when it was found. I cannot say exactly what kind of shells were there, but I know for sure that there were 9K119M Reflex-M guided missiles.

— Couple of words about engine repair. If vehicle has V-92 engine, are spare parts from B-46/84 are compatible with this engine?

— Russians' engines are total crap. It smokes like a "Kuznetsov" aircraft carrier. At first I thought that I had problems with the engine, but then seeing several other vehicles with the same engine I realized that this is their feature. It consumes oil like crazy - 20-25 liters of motor oil per 100 liters of fuel.

— Is the B-92 engine more capricious than the V-84? Are there any problems with engine overheating?

— The engine eats everything that is put in it. There was a problem when the tank was captured - someone poured some shit into the additional tanks and filled the oil tank with sand and earth. It is almost impossible to completely clean this whole thing. However, the engine has been running for at least 500 km and is still working.

— Has the tank been put into unit's table of organisation?

— It seems so. I do not know exactly how, but it is on the list.

— Are there any nuances with maintenance - both in the fields and in factory conditions?

— It is quite convenient to maintain. Almost everything can be done in the field. We did not notice any specific differences from the T-72 in terms of maintenance.

— What are the advantages and disadvantages of the T-90A compared to the T-72B3 and T-64BV? How ergonomically well thought out are the various modules in the T-90?

— The commander's seat in the T-90 is much better designed. It has a stabilized NSVT machine gun and the ability to duplicate fire. There is also equipment for firing ammunition with radio detonation (currently I can not check it, as we do not have the appropriate shells). Also T-90 tank turret has better armour.
Disadvantages compared to T-72B3:
No duplication monitor.
No rear view camera.

— What about the rationality and effectiveness of modernization of the Russian tank fleet in comparison with ours?

— T-90A is in fact the attempt of the Russian military industry to make a tank that is not much worse than our BM Bulat. My vehicle was made in 2006. Apparently, some of the components are a copy of our devices.

— What should modernization of the tank park of the Armed Forces of Ukraine look like, in your opinion?

— In my opinion, the best option is to modernize the older T-72 tanks in the direction of improving the indirect fire ability. This way we can simultaneously compensate for the lack of self-propelled guns and make a universal fire support vehicle.

— Which one of the tanks has more convenient anti-aircraft machine gun: T-64BV or T-90A?

— I have never had the opportunity to test the anti-aircraft gun on the T-64. I can say that the advantages of the T-90A are that it is stabilized and it is possible to fire both through the main sight and through the PZU-7(anti-aircraft sight - translator's note).

— Does thermal imaging channel come as a separate sight (as on the T-72B3 cf. 2016) in addition to the standard one?

— There is no thermal imaging channel at all. Instead, there is the "ESSA" complex. This is an ordinary night sight. On my vehicle it was already malfunctioning, so it is unknown how effective it is.

Note: probably, our interviewee made a mistake with the year of production of the tank, because the night sight would have been on the T-90A of 2004, but not on the T-90A of 2006 - last year's T-90As all had a thermal imaging sight.

— Question from a reader from the 1st separate tank brigade. Are there any critical differences with T-72 that do not allow crew members to perform basic combat tasks? In what condition did the trophies arrive? Is further repair carried out and by which personnel (crews, repair units)?

— Trophies are captured mostly in quite good condition. Practice shows that trophy vehicles are better than T-72 from Poland and the Czech Republic. In our case, the repair was carried out at the factory, although all further operations with the vehicle were done by the crew. There are no critical differences. Although the gunner and commander have to get used to the new devices.

— Can you compare the new guns with the older 2A46 models: real resource, accuracy, all other things being equal, how good is the fire control system and its importance in accurate hitting?

— Regarding the gun, I can say that the 2A46M4 is easier to maintain than the regular gun and the stabilizer behaves much better. According to my feelings, this system can pass the beer glass test.
As for the fire control system: everything is much better than in the T-72. Due to the change of the sight magnification, the gunner can see the target and identify it much faster.