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Ukraine - M-55s

Media reports said in September 2022 that Slovenia would provide Ukraine with 28 M-55S tanks, an upgraded version of the T-55, which was produced between 1958 and 1979. One US magazine painted the T-55 as a “hopelessly obsolete tank,” which however purportedly can serve as “a cheap and reliable platform.”

T-54/55 is a Soviet medium tank, which weighs only 36 tons, is not even a main battle tank. Since 1947, more than 100,000 such cars have been produced! For example, most of the Soviet tanks during the Afghan war were T-54/55. This tank was manufactured in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland and China (Type-59/69/79). Of course, in the former countries of the Warsaw Pact and their successors, many tanks of this type remained, which some of them tried to modernize.

Slovenia received its T-55s as a result of the events of the Ten-Day War of 1991, when the central Yugoslav government decided to send an army to pacify separatist sentiments in the republic that declared its independence. For a number of reasons, the troops did not achieve any good results, but the Slovenes grabbed almost two battalions of equipment.

Slovenia, in addition to the T-72, got about sixty T-55 units, which, given the lack of money of the newly formed country and the absence of its own tank building, no one was going to throw in the trash. But to call these tanks, which began to become morally obsolete back in the 60s, did not turn out to be modern. The T-55 actually had (and still has) a lot of problems, but it was necessary to pay attention to at least a few of them.

First of all, the armor of the tank should be noted, which consists exclusively of a steel mass up to 100 mm thick along the forehead of the hull and up to 200 mm in the frontal part of the turret. This did not give any confident protection even from RPG-7 anti-tank grenades of not the first freshness, not to mention guided missiles and sub-caliber shells.

The T-55 sighting system was of no less concern: no means of automating the preparation of a shot in the form of a ballistic computer and a laser rangefinder, and sights - only optics for firing during the day and infrared "night lights" for shooting and detecting targets at night. The FCS on M-55S is much better - it is fully integrated, with fully independent gunsight stabilization, lead counter and meteorological sensor. In a sense that FCS is about equal to what T-80U has, and way better than "ballistic corrector" of the T-62M and T-72B/B1 with their semi-dependent stabilization. The lack of a thermal imager does make the M-55S still not all that wonderful on the modern battlefield.

There were questions about the gun. Still, a rifled 100-mm gun against the background of larger-caliber counterparts did not look very advantageous both in terms of the power of high-explosive fragmentation ammunition, and in terms of penetration of sub-caliber and cumulative shells. In the USSR, by the way, they tried to solve the problem of the penetrating ability of the "weave" by introducing new shells, including those made from uranium alloys, but where did Slovenia get them from?

It would hardly have been possible for the Slovenes to modernize tanks exclusively on their own, since there was neither a full-fledged production base nor technologies for this. Therefore, they decided to entrust the case to the Israeli company Elbit Systems, which, as they say, ate the dog in service.

They did everything at the local Slovenian STO metallurgical and machine-building plant in Ravno. This not only made it possible to gain useful production experience, but also to give people jobs and provide the enterprise with its subcontractors with financial support. 30 T-55 tanks out of 55 available were upgraded. All work lasted about five years - from 1996 to 2001. Modified machines received the M-55S index, or, translated into Russian, something like the T-55M.

Slovenia promised Ukraine 28 ?-55S tanks in exchange for equipment from Germany. The Slovenian military would receive 35 heavy 8×8 trucks and five heavy 8×8 water tanks. An exchange agreement between Prime Minister Robert Golob and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was signed in September 2022. Thus, such a circular exchange will also strengthen defense cooperation between Slovenia and Germany. In general, according to experts , the tank is obsolete, and its combat capabilities are limited.

The M-55S-1 tank was operated in the 74th armored mechanized (read armored) battalion of the 1st brigade of the Slovenian Army.

The fact that rather outdated armored vehicles will be supplied to Ukraine caused skeptical comments on social networks, but this supply has two circumstances that allow it to be taken seriously. First, these tanks are really a very serious modernization of the T-55, which was carried out by the Israeli company Elbit. The second circumstance is that tanks remain an important weapon on the battlefield. Nothing equal in terms of protection, weapon power, maneuverability, passability and speed has yet been invented.

Many countries with old Soviet-era tanks in service have carried out their modernization. In Slovenia, the obsolete ?-55 tanks have undergone the deepest modernization likewise. This modernization was made jointly by the Slovenian STO RAVNE (now Sistemska tehnika) and the Israeli Elbit companies. During this work, 30 tanks were modernized. The modernization program itself caused a scandal, because instead of the initial DM 500,000 for the modernization of each of these tanks, it ended up costing Slovenian taxpayers 3 million 430,000 marks per tank. ($1.7 million). The cost of modernization turned out to be 7 times more than was calculated at first. The last updated ?-55 was transferred to the Slovenian armed forces in 1999.

The last improved tank left the company in 2001. As a result, the tanks "went in parts." First, they were in service with the 44th tank battalion of the Slovenian army, then went to the 74th tank / armored battalion of the 1st brigade. However, in 2006, the 74th battalion was reorganized into a motorized infantry. As a result, all 30 M-55S tanks were transferred to storage. In 2018, the Slovenian Ministry of Defense put them up for sale, but was able to sell only one tank for 820,000 euros. As a result, 29 tanks remained.

Considering that 28 units were transferred to Ukraine, one either broke down or was left as a keepsake. The 28 M-55S main battle tanks, supplied by Slovenia, were assigned to the recently formed Ukrainian 47th Assault Brigade, a new kind of unit with a very special leader. The 47 assault regiment is a combat unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a corresponding full-time organizational structure - assault, tank, artillery, anti-aircraft units, etc. The commander of the regiment is Ivan Shalamaga, the chief sergeant of the regiment is Valeriy Markus.

The 47th Assault Brigade was a new kind of unit with a very special leader - the famous veteran and author Chief Master Sergeant Valery Markus, one of the sex symbols of the Ukrainian army. After serving in the Ukrainian army, Valery began writing. Markus became famous after his post-war book "Footprints on the Road" became a bestseller in Ukraine and Europe. Markus maintains his Instagram and Facebook pages, and also regularly shoots videos for his YouTube blog. Markus created his own battalion from the military.

47th Assault Brigade was formed as a battalion by Valery Markus and Ivan Shalamaha in April 2022. On June 28, it was decided to expand the unit to the size of a regiment. Along with the reformation, the unit received tanks and artillery. In October, it was reveled that the regiment would be expanded again, this time to a brigade. Majority of the fighters are volunteers, who passed the military tests and later signed the military contract. The brigade is primarily equ

ipped with the weapons supplied by the NATO countries. During the modernization, a new 105mm L7 gun with a thermal sleeve was installed, one of the most successful tank guns of all time. The tanks were equipped with reactive armor, the elements of which are clearly visible on the hull and turret. The fire control system was improved by installing a digital ballistic computer. The gun is stabilized in two axes. A new Fotona SGS-55 sight with a laser rangefinder was installed. The tank also received a new Fotona COMTOS-55 commander’s sight with an independent line of sight stabilization. It allows tracking targets and even carrying out gun guidance regardless of the gunner. The LIRD-1A laser irradiation detector is associated with the launch system of smoke grenade launchers IS-6, which can be automatically activated in the event of an emergency. Modernization of the V-12 diesel engine led to an increase in power from 520 hp to 600 hp.

"Slovenia has fulfilled its part of the agreement with Germany. Ukraine has received the second major donation of weapons to Ukraine. Thus, in terms of GDP, Slovenia is among the countries that have made the greatest contribution to the defense of Ukraine," the 24UR publication said. The media said a batch of military equipment under a black tarpaulin, 28 M-55S tanks was transported by rail. "Tanks will now strengthen the Ukrainian defense in the war. In exchange for donations, Slovenia will receive 40 vehicles from Germany," the publication said, citing the country's Ministry of Defense.

From the old Soviet T-55 tank, only the hull remained, all the filling has been changed. Compared to the more modern T-64, T-72 and T-80, which mainly fight in Ukraine, the M-55S really loses in many parameters. However, tanks rarely engage tanks on the battlefield. In the modern war, their main enemy is artillery, anti-tank means of infantry, drones. And the targets of tanks in battle are often fortifications and light armored vehicles.

There is a new German ammunition under the cannon. According to Rheinmetall W&M, the core of the base 105 mm APFSDS projectile with the SCDB propellant charge will penetrate about 560 mm thick rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) at an encounter angle of 0°. Penetration thickness will be increased to almost 600 mm by the SCDM propellant improvement program (PIP) and even higher penetration characteristics using the electrothermochemical (ETC) method of ignition of the charge. Tests have shown that the SCDB propellant charge increases muzzle velocity and therefore penetration by about 7-10%.

Representatives of Rheinmetall W&M say that such characteristics are sufficient to destroy all models of the widely used Russian T-72 tank, even when equipped with dynamic protection. According to the company, there is a potential for US development that will allow the 105-mm APFSDS projectile to hit all targets of the FCS system.

M-55S Slovenian upgrade of the T-55A was equipped with an Israeli Blazer hinged dynamic protection on the turret and on the forehead of the hull, rubber-fabric onboard anti-cumulative screens, a 105-mm L7 gun, a modular turret on the Rafael turret with a DShK machine gun, a new Fotona SGS-55 fire control system (with integrated digital ballistic computer, laser rangefinder, gunner's sight SGS-55 with two-plane stabilizer and atmospheric sensor), observation system for the commander Fotona COMTOS-55, driver's periscope Fotona CODRIS equipped with night vision devices, two six-barreled smoke grenade launchers with the LIRD-1A laser sensor system. The engine was modernized, the power increased to 600 hp. The caterpillar belt can be equipped with removable asphalt shoes.

The armor protection of the T-55, even in the 60-70s, already left much to be desired. The Slovenes, together with the Israelis, went just the second way and installed dynamic protection on the M-55S, which is often referred to as the "Super Blazer". Structurally, it consists of throwable metal plates and explosives. The Slovenes themselves claim that the installation of dynamic protection makes it possible to protect the tank from penetration by all RPG-7 monoblock grenades and monoblock anti-tank guided missiles. And here it is hard to disagree, since the previous version of the Blazer, installed by Israel on the M48 and M60 tanks, gave resistance to cumulative weapons in the region of 400 mm.

The supply of M-55S from Slovenia is most likely an attempt to help Ukraine in "fire" mode. Heavy armored vehicles are necessary in the much-talked-about offensive in Ukraine. Later, more modern tanks will probably be delivered to Ukraine. Ukraine still expected to receive German Leopard-1s, and at a briefing in the Pentagon on September 19, a representative of the US Department of Defense directly said that the tanks are the subject of negotiations with the Ukrainians.

Compared to the more modern T-64, T-72 and T-80, which mainly fight in Ukraine, the M-55S really loses in many parameters. However, tanks rarely engage tanks on the battlefield. In the modern war, their main enemy is artillery, infantry anti-tank weapons, and drones. And the targets of tanks in battle are often fortifications and light armored vehicles. Modern anti-tank means really allow you to fight them quite effectively, but their vulnerability is often the result of mistakes in the tactics of their use, and not in the design of combat vehicles.

Modern anti-tank means really allow to fight them quite effectively, but their vulnerability is often the result of mistakes in the tactics of their use, and not in the design of combat vehicles. Russia also does not shy away from using the T-55: Russian T-62s, also a modernized version of the T-55, are involved in the Ukrainian conflict.