As Losses Mount, Russia Is Reactivating Soviet-Era T-54 Tanks. That Says So Much.

Russia is dusting off the cobwebs from military deep storage facilities in the country’s Far East, for the first time railing un-upgraded Cold War T-54B tanks westward, possibly bound for Ukraine. Now, a video of the T-54s transported by rail has surfaced.

This news was first revealed on Wednesday by an investigative report by Conflict Intelligence Team, an independent investigative group from Russia. Formed in 2014 with a focus on exposing Russia’s initially covert war in Ukraine, its members were forced into exile after Moscow initiated its 2022 invasion.

The group posted still photos of T-54s seen transiting through the town of Arsenyev, on the southeastern tip of Russia near Vladivostok—the location of the 1295^th Central Tank Repair and Storage Base. Earlier in the summer of 2022, this base also furnished T-62MV tanks that were deployed into combat in Ukraine. Though similar in appearance, the smaller T-54 can be distinguished by a visible gap between the front two road wheels not visible in its successor.

Based on satellite photos, the investigative group estimated at least 191 tanks, but possibly many more, were withdrawn from the facility between July and October 2022.

You can see the huge number of apparently rusting tanks in this satellite photo, though keep in mind more vehicles may be housed in better condition in hangars.

Like the T-62, the T-54 has a four-man crew as its gun is manually loaded, unlike the three-man crews of newer Soviet and Russian tanks like the T-72. The T-54’s sensors and mechanical fire control systems are crude by modern standards, limiting its ability to detect and hit enemies at longer distances. Furthermore, limited night-fighting capability on T-54Bs and T-55s comes via a Luna infrared search light, which risks fatally illuminating the user to enemies. The T-54’s engine power-to-weight ratio is also inferior to much heavier Western tanks, confining maximum speed to around 32 miles per hour.

Though formidably armored when they emerged in the late 1940s and 1950s, T-54s are vulnerable to all modern anti-tank weapons. In return, their D-10T 100-millimeter rifled guns would struggle to penetrate the frontal armor of modern Soviet and Western tanks, which usually exceed 450- to 500-millimeter equivalents versus kinetic rounds, or even more against shaped-charge HEAT rounds. By comparison, even Russia’s newer 3UBM11 100-millimeter sabot rounds with tungsten penetrators achieve only 280-millimeters equivalent penetration at 2 kilometers, and the 3UBM8 HEAT round blasts through 350-millimeters at any range.

To be fair, the gun’s shortcomings mostly matter when dueling other tanks, a comparatively rare form of combat in Ukraine. Outside of that, the T-54/55 still poses a deadly threat to infantry, its gun still threatens all armored vehicles short of a tank like BMP or Bradley fighting vehicles, and its front turret armor should withstand most anti-tank busting weapons, including the autocannons on IFVs.

In the kinds of a small-unit infantry actions around entrenched positions common in this phase of Russia’s war in Ukraine, fire support from even a small number of tanks can make a big difference.

Indeed, Ukraine has already beaten Russia to re-introducing to T-55 tanks, as its all-volunteer 47^th Assault Brigade uses 28 T-55-based M-55S tanks donated by Slovenia. But those are very heavily upgraded with a 105-millimeter L7 gun effective against most Russian tanks, an uprated 600-horsepower engine, stabilized infrared day/night sights, digital fire control computers, laser-warning receivers, smoke grenade launchers, and blocks of explosive reactive armor (ERA) that will give it a chance to withstand infantry anti-tank rockets and missiles.

The Russian T-54B and T-54-3 identified on the train, by contrast, don’t appear much upgraded yet. The T-54-3 (or Object 137Sh) differed from the rare early production models by the flush bottom of its half-sphere turret, smoke-generating system and slightly improved TSh-2-22 gunner’ sight. It was identified in the photos by its muzzle counterweight.

The later T-54B introduced improved gun stabilization and limited night-fighting capability thanks to a ‘Luna’ infrared searchlight, but still lacks many improvements introduced on the T-55 introduced in 1958.

Moscow may invest in improving these vehicles by fitting blocks of ERA, or laminated BDD-type “eyebrow” armor already used on the T-62; by fitting new sights; or even a fire-control system capable of firing 9M117 Bastion (NATO codename AT-10 Stabber) laser-guided anti-tank missiles from the gun. This has a range of 3.4 miles and a HEAT warhead achieving 450-500 millimeters penetration, or a more formidable 600 to 750 millimeters using newer tandem-charge warhead variants.

However, given resource constraints and the urgency to move hardware to the frontline in Ukraine, pre-deployment upgrades may be more modest to save time and cost. Perhaps the outdated tanks may go to Russia Donetsk and Luhanks separatist armies or supply second-line formations assigned defensive roles, perhaps even as serving more as “moving pill boxes” rather than breakthrough tanks.

They might also be used for training, though that would be less than ideal way to prepare operating modern tanks due to their different crew configuration and lack of modern systems.