Slovenian M‑55S tanks: Ukraine's underused war assets
According to a Forbes analyst, the M-55S tanks sent from Slovenia are the worst Western-made tanks in the Ukrainian army. Instead of engaging in combat against the Russians, they are merely being reassigned to various Ukrainian brigades.
"The Ukrainian military never really figured out what to do with its worst Western-made tanks. Shuffled between brigades for more than two years without seeing much direct combat, the survivors of 28 ex-Slovenian M-55S tanks have reportedly found a new home: the newly formed 159th Mechanized Brigade," writes David Axe.
Are M-55S tanks useless in Ukraine?
The M-55S is a significantly modernized version of the Soviet T-55 tank, which entered service in the late 1950s. The modernization was completed in 1997. By the end of 2022, Ukraine had received 28 of these tanks, while Slovenia received 40 combat vehicles from Germany in exchange for its assistance.
Data from the Oryx group, which tracks equipment losses of the warring parties in Ukraine, indicates that Ukrainians have lost only two such machines so far. Compared to losses of other tanks, this number is very low, confirming reports that the M-55S hardly participates in battles.
M-55S in another brigade
Compared to their Soviet predecessors, the M-55S primarily uses a rifled L7A1 gun with a 105 mm caliber (instead of the 100 mm gun), allowing these Slovenian tanks to use a wider range of ammunition with greater destructive power. There is also an emphasis on a new fire control system, improved internal and external communication systems, and reactive armor.
According to David Axe, it is primarily due to the change in the main gun that the M-55S tanks still retain acceptable offensive capabilities, though they obviously lag behind newer Western tanks in this regard. Despite the installation of anti-drone cages by Ukrainians, the overall durability of these machines is not the highest.
The frequent reassignment of the M-55S tanks to a fourth unit in two years suggests, as David Axe observes, a lack of a solid plan by the Ukrainians on how to use these machines. It's hard to predict if this will change with the 159th Mechanized Brigade, which is one of 14 new brigades that the Ukrainian ground forces established last year.
"Don’t be shocked if the M-55S battalion gets transferred again if and when the 159th Mechanized Brigade disintegrates the way the 155th Mechanized Brigade did," the analyst concludes.
