Delayed Victory Day parade features new and upgraded Russian land systems

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.