The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) presented new and modernised land weapon systems during the Victory Day parade held in Moscow on 24 June instead of 9 May because of the Covid-19 epidemic.
A trio of Russia’s MBTs participated in the Victory Day parade in Moscow on 24 June: the T-90M Proryv (Breakthrough) tank (left), the T-72B3M obr. 2016 (centre), and the T-80BVM (right). (Nikolai Novichkov)
The parade featured the Armata family of heavy armoured vehicles: four T-14 main battle tanks (MBTs) and three updated T-15 Armata heavy infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs). The heavy IFV had a modernised Kinzhal remotely operated weapon station (ROWS) with a 57 mm main gun, a Kalashnikov PKTM 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, and two anti-tank guided missiles in a protected two-cell bank mounted on the right of the vehicle.
A trio of the latest MBTs composed of six T-90M Proryv (Breakthrough) tanks, seven T-80BVMs, and seven T-72B3M obr. 2016 systems rolled through Red Square for the first time. Unlike the basic T-90M, the Proryv had flexible nets with heavy protection of the lower part of the turret against high-explosive anti-tank munitions.
The artillery component of the parade included nine TOS-1A Solntsepyok 220 mm multiple rocket launchers (MRLs) with reinforced protection, four of the latest TOS-2 Tosochka wheeled MRLs, and six Tornado-S 300 MRLs. The modified TOS-1A’s frontal arc was protected by Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour. The TOS-2 was mounted on the Ural Tornado-U 6×6 heavy utility truck chassis. Tosochka features fully automated firing processes and has an extended firing range. The Tornado-S 300 MRLs were fitted with the ASUNO automated fire-control subsystem, which provides much better accuracy compared with existing systems.
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