Antiquated T‑62 tanks make a comeback: Russia's outdated maneuver in occupied Crimea

Information gathered by the Ukrainian-Tatar resistance movement reveals that such transports systematically occur in both directions. The Russians are supplementing forces in Crimea with outdated equipment from their homeland, replacing retiring machines, often visibly damaged. Recently, Atesh agents documented the rail transport of several T-62 tanks, BREM-1 armored recovery vehicles, and REM-KL engineering vehicles.

In the analysis of Atesh agents, this underscores the profound shortages that Russian units equipped with heavy machinery are grappling with. This aligns with the conclusions drawn by Forbes.

It's estimated that Russia unleashed an onslaught on Ukraine armed with nearly 3,000 tanks. After 23 months of combat, Russian losses are believed to be no less than 90 percent. While most tanks were destroyed in battle, a fraction were abandoned and subsequently seized by the Ukrainians.

Russia is making strides in manufacturing new tanks. However, these T-62s are machines pulled from storage and repaired as needed to render them functional for frontline duty. Their actual prowess in the contemporary battlefield is limited. T-62 tanks were produced between 1963 and 1978 and, despite their often questionable technical condition, lag in endurance and offensive strength relative to more recent models.

Reports from the frontlines suggest that the Russians are pretty inventive when exploiting antiquated armored equipment. Sometimes, they deploy them as fire points and, at other times, as kamikaze vehicles. For instance, T-62 tanks and MT-LB transporters have been observed in this latter role.

The T-62 comes standard-equipped with a 2A20 gun, cal. 4.53 inch, and two machine guns – cal. 0.3 inch and cal. 0.5 inch. The tanks can also generate a smoke screen, a significant upgrade from the T-55 series. However, the armor on the initial variants of the T-62 offers insufficient protection against modern weaponry, even the RPG-7 grenade launcher. It was bolstered during upgrades such as the T-62M and T-62MW.