AFV Recognition
@AFVRec_
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Recognition and Identification of AFV’s, mainly focused on 🇷🇺 armour
Chobham
Joined February 2022
Out of all the vehicles that have been pulled out of storage and used by Russia in this war, this is one that was really at the bottom of my list to even see in theatre, never mind be destroyed. The video shows what appears to be a Ladoga protected command vehicle, I won’t talk
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1/3 Trials of the T-80BV Obr.2023, this model has a new roof mounted cage which is said to protect against Javelin/NLAW and also has the cellular amplifier antennae mounted on the turret.
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Something that has been hugely under-reported. According to a Moscow times article from the 11th of November, the T-14 programme has been halted, ‘in accordance with the real needs of the armed forces’ according to Vladimir Putin. The programme cost 20 trillion roubles. Link ⬇️
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IDF tac markings🧵 . This thread will cover the tac markings commonly seen on IDF heavy vehicles.
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BTR-82 with a new turret containing twin 23mm 2A7 guns, these are the same guns from the ZSU-23-4, likely to combat drones.
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Unseen and rare photos of the T-80 ‘Burlak’, probably the most secretive tank in Russian history, based on the hull of a T-80BV, with a completely new turret, not much else is known about this tank.
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Berlin Brigade camouflage thread🧵 . A CV9030 Mk.III fitted with an ERA package developed by Rafael, it was demonstrated in the Netherlands in 2006 and was painted in the famous Berlin Brigade urban camouflage.
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Brand new T-90M’s coming out of Uralvagonzavod, this one has an improved sight cover on the commanders TO5BV-1 remote weapon station.
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ATGM destroying a Russian T-90M, interestingly the commander is hatch up during this engagement, which is unusual for Russian tank commanders. Being hatch up is arguably the best method for situational awareness when in a tank/AFV, risk of injury is high, but having that
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Been looking at this T-80BV all morning and still can’t work out the circumstances that led to this image, the autoloader is mostly intact but the turret has still detached from the hull like we see in a typical catastrophic ammo detonation.
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Apparently a border stand-off today between Lebanon and Israel, the tank is an Israeli Merkava Mk.IV.
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Russian T-64’s of various models (A,B,BV) that have been pulled from storage, the 2000 T-64’s in Russian stock in 2014 were supposed to have been scrapped, I don’t believe that ever happened due to the amount of T-64’s I’ve seen come from Russia, or if it did it was a very slow
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A Thread on the M2020🧵🇰🇵 . So, the North Korean M2020, after seeing this I instantly messaged @tankdiary and we had a chat, we have some conclusions on this which I’ll list and elaborate on below.
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1/5 Armenian strongman and MMA fighter Narek Yeganyen pulls a 45t T-72B1 Obr.1989, this variant is a rare tank and I believe the only countries that have them are Russia and Armenia, it is unknown how many T-72B1’s were upgraded to the Obr.1989 standard.
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1/2 3BM60 Svinets-2 . Images of Russian 3BM60 Svinets-2 tungsten core APFSDS in Ukraine, these are the highest penetrating APFSDS rounds available for the 125mm 2A46, it can only be used on 2A46M4/M5 guns as the rod is longer which requires the newer autoloaders. These rounds are
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1/3 A strange one for recognition, this tank has been seen throughout the war with the 93rd Mechanised Brigade of Ukraine. At first glance it looks like a T-72B3 due to the Kontakt-5 on the turret. However you can see the 3 drivers periscopes making it a T-80, further to this.
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1/2.A Ukrainian T-72AV and PT-91 attempted to tow a damaged and abandoned Russian T-90M, but both were hit by Moskal FPV drones.
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Russian infantry on a BMP-2, drive through the remains of a VDV company, you can see scattered parts of BMD’s. The location is 48.73809 38.29725 just by the village of Nyrkove, Luhansk Oblast
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South Africa’s Fighting Caracal, a thread on the history of the Rooikat. The Rooikat is a South African Armoured recce vehicle, equipped with a 76mm high velocity gun for fire support, combat recce and anti-tank ops, it entered service in 1987 with the SADF, but its inception
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T-72B3’s and T-90M’s on a train, it’s possible that the T-72B3’s are the new Obr.2022 version, given that some of them have full length sideskirts and one also looks like it has the new ERA around the gun mantlet which is part of the Obr.2022 upgrade, last pics for reference.
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MT-LB with the 2M-3 twin 25mm naval gun turret fitted, it appears extremely unstable, though I doubt these were made for accurate fire but more for indirect fire/suppression. Also not sure why someone has added the GTA San Andreas theme tune to the video.
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Rare Ukrainian BMP-1TS, has a similar turret module to the BTR-3/4. It was mainly intended to be for export, between 10-20 were ordered by the Ukrainian MoD.
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Recognition thread 🧵 .23 S-300V vehicles being transported in Russia, we can see this pretty much comprises of multiple systems, all of which are needed to create a functioning S-300V air defence battery. Luckily for you, the S-300V family was added to the app the other day, so
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1/ The effects of rodents on AFV’s. Rodents have long been a problem for infantry in the trenches, but a lesser known fact is the issue of rodents when they embed themselves in armoured fighting vehicles.
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Short🧵on Upgraded T-72B Obr.2022 and T-80BVM Obr.2022. The T-72B Obr.2022 is likely upgraded from stored T-72B1’s, it receives a 1PN96MT-2 thermal imaging sight, much more ERA including around perceived weak points like the gun mantlet. (1/3)
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Ukrainian prototype based on the T-80UD, with a ZSU-23-4 turret on a raised mount, it had 4 Igla MANPAD missiles on the turret sides. It never entered service or any export interest.
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Russian BTR-80 with 2x UB-32 rocket pods, this one doesn’t look like a typical mounting, they’re mounted onto a roof mounted cage via hard points, like they would be on a helicopter/CAS aircraft and also have cabling which appears to feed inside the turret, meaning they can be
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Development of the BMP-T🧵 . The BMP-T is a relatively new vehicle, despite this its inception dates back to the 80’s.
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1/2 Hamas fighter placing what looks like an RPG warhead on the side of a Merkava 4M Windbreaker, the fact they’re able to use these tunnels to get close enough to do that is extremely detrimental to IDF armour.
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Challenger 2 OES thread 1/.The OES Challenger 2, known in military parlance as the Operational Entry Standard (OES) – often synonymous with Theatre Entry Standard (TES) – represents an advanced tier of armoured capability, a step above the baseline vanilla model.
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A Russian 2S6M1 Tunguska-M1 in Ukraine, firing a 9M311 missile and then subsequently firing it’s 2x 30mm 2A38M guns. It’s worth noting that the target acquisition radar at the rear of the turret is in its stowed position meaning it’s switched off. The radar is 2 systems that form
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Posting this to break up the news feed of the Super T-62M. Via @armenianarmymemes on Instagram
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The Russian 61st Armoured Repair Plant are overhauling vehicles, most interestingly the T-72B1MS, which is an export model of the T-72B1, it has thermal sights, a commanders panoramic sight, fire control system, navigation aids etc.
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I always find it interesting that South Africa design both the ugliest AFV’s and also the best looking AFV’s at the same time
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The T-64’s first contact 🧵 . The T-72 and T-90 MBT’s are well known around the world, with the T-72 seeing action in most of the major conflicts since it began to be exported. However for the T-64 and T-80 this was not the case, neither the T-64 or T-80 were ever exported by
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T-80BVM which was hit by a Ukrainian ATGM, you can see the hit at 0:36 sec on the first video, with the following video and images showing the aftermath. The tank was saved by the Relikt ERA.
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The original T-90M to be destroyed on 4/5/22 at Verkhniy Saltiv, was never recovered and still remains in situ as to when it was destroyed.
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Russian T-80BV with sandbags and cages fitted everywhere, Kontakt-1 in place of the IR searchlight, as well as 2 pigs heads mounted on the hull sides. Not sure what else to say about this one.
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Transnistrian Army recruits on a T-64BV course in 2017, likely a gunnery course given the tank turret trainer in the final image. Transnistria has one tank battalion, which isn’t at full strength as it only has 18 T-64BV’s compared to the usual 31 tanks in a Russian tank
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1/2 Ukrainian forces using a captured Russian Vityaz DT-10 articulated tracked carrier, these vehicles are absolutely unstoppable across all terrains, they’re used by the Russian 200th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, which is an Arctic brigade. Other than that it is used by
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Thread about the Ladoga protected command and staff vehicle for senior commanders.
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Points from the few videos I have seen of the Ukrainian offensive. -Method of movement is shocking.-Advance to contact routes are horrendous, even if mined it’s no excuse to be so close together, vehicle spacing is just a few metres in some cases.-Static in open for long periods.
#Ukraine: For the first time, a Ukrainian Leopard 2A4 tank was destroyed by the Russian army during the recent Ukrainian attack near Novopokrovka, #Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
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Russian YakB 12.7mm rotary machine gun fitted to a technical, likely for anti-drone purposes, it also has a thermal sight and a holographic sight. The YakB has an extremely high fire rate of 4000/5000rpm and is one of the few gas-operated Gatling guns, most guns like this are
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1/2 Ukrainian PRP-3 hull with a BMD-2 turret fitted, firing at Russian positions, in service with the 54th Mechanised Brigade, I’d seen and posted about these a few months ago and seen nothing since, until now.
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A very bizarre modification of a BRDM-2, appears to be converted into an APC of some kind. It still retains it’s 14.5mm KPVT Heavy Machine Gun, but on a pintle mount rather than the turret mounted version on a standard BRDM-2.
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New batch of BMP-3’s from Kurganmashzavod, these have the smoke grenade dischargers removed from the turret cheeks and on the turret rear inside, they have been moved to create mounts for additional armour it seems.
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Pics of the new T-72B3 Obr.2022 tanks in theatre now, with new protection upgrades, including 4S22 ERA covering the sides, 4S22 ERA covering the turret rear and sides, as well as K-5 ERA covering the mantlet, mudguards and lower hull one tank has a crew made roof mounted cage.
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1/ Thread of Azeri AFV’s sighted moving towards the border of Nagorno-Karabakh/Armenia. T-72’s, like the T-72 Aslan
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A Russian VDV convoy containing a BTR-ZD and BMD-2 gets ambushed, the BMD-2 provides cover by traversing right and nearly crushing the drivers head on the way around, either the area is a low threat or the crews are just poorly trained in order to be driving around head up.
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1/3 What appears to be a Sosna-U or PNM-T thermal view and a very excited tank commander firing a GLATGM (Gun Launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile) at a target, target is unidentifiable at that range, the target is about 4000m away, from firing to impact is about 12 seconds
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A train near Rostov, 15x T-90M, 9x T-72B3 Obr.2022 and 14x T-62M’s on the other carriage.
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BMP literally means IFV, also I don’t think many US troops care that much.
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A Sqn, Queens Royal Lancers, end of tour range package on Challenger 1 in Glamoc, Bosnia as part of SFOR ‘99
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1/3 What looks like a Russian T-80BVM being hit twice, the first time it survived, the second time disabled the tank, although the crew apparently survived according to the source, I’ll post that at the end.
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Captured modern production run of the BMP-3, includes mounts for additional armour (not fitted), installation of the Sodema thermal sight, navigation system, automatic gearbox and some more upgrades. Other pictures are for reference.
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Conclusion-Somewhere under there is a T-72 covered in plastic. The 🇰🇵 received an unknown amount of T-72’s from the USSR at some point. This post is humorous, but in all seriousness it is what I described above, a T-72 dressed up to look like something else. End of thread.
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Thread about deployments of the Rooikat. The Rooikat came too late to be involved in the South African Border War, it’s service has only seen it deployed outside of South Africa on one occasion.
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Leaked image of a Chinese 140mm APFSDS next to a Chinese 125mm APFSDS
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Merkava Mk.IV being hit by an Iranian PG-7T tandem warhead RPG, for some reason the APS (active protection system) didn’t counter the RPG.
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3/3 Before the comments are bombarded with ‘this is a T-80BVM’, it isn’t. The BVM upgrade consisted of Relikt ERA upgrade, 2A46M-4 gun, Sosna-U thermal sight, FCS upgrade etc, whereas the recent upgrades are T-80BV’s with Relikt fitted and a 1PN96MT-02 thermal sight, therefore
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1/3 T-62M’s upgraded at 103rd Repair Plant, to the unofficial T-62M Obr.2022, which is mainly Kontakt-1 ERA, bar armour and a 1PN96MT-2 thermal sight. The one on the left (T-62M) didn’t receive Kontakt-1 ERA on the turret, hull only and is keeping its BDD composite turret armour,
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A captured russian R-149BMR Kushetka-B command vehicle, based on the BTR-80. The original fixed turret has been removed and been replaced with a BRM-1K turret, which has the same main armament as the BMP-1, the 2A38 grom 73mm gun. I don’t know if this BRM-1K turret retains the
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Hamas recognition cards for IDF vehicles, as well as weapon systems that could be used against them
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A T-72B3 gunner observes a friendly T-72B3 through his Sosna-U sight, you can see the T-72B3 he’s looking at has been firing pretty rapidly given the heat signature of the main gun
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A Russian T-72B in Kursk, this tank is named “Карась” or “Crucian Carp” in English. The Crucian Carp is a medium sized freshwater fish native to Europe. #fishrecognition
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Development of the BMP-T🧵 . Following on from Object 781, we have the Object 782, which was designed in parallel to the 781.
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1/2 Following up on my recent 🇺🇦 prototype post, here is possibly the ugliest prototype ever designed, the BMT-72. The BMT-72 was a private venture by KMDB that never seen success in either the domestic or export market, it is an extended T-72 hull which can carry 5 dismounts…
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Challenger 1 towing a captured WW2 PaK-40 75mm AT gun, Drvar, Former Yugoslavia, 1996. Can’t tell the cap badge due to blurry image, but I believe it might be the Queens Royal Lancers.
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2/3 Now to put it mildly many of the design decisions on the T-80 series are very odd, for example on the T-80U the smoke grenade dischargers are placed on top of the Kontakt-5 ERA, so if the ERA detonated you would also lose your means of smoke cover, now on this model the
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1/3 A Russian AFV repair centre, we can see a variety of vehicles here including T-80BV’s, BMP-1’s, BMP-2’s and new BMP-3’s having their additional armour kits fitted.
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First T-90A loss I’ve seen for a while, I haven’t seen much of these for about 6 months, it’s likely most of them are being sent back to be converted into T-90M’s, making them quite a rarity now. The other tank is a T-72B.
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Destroyed Russian T-72B3 belonging to the 291st Motor Rifle Regiment, 42nd Guards Motor Rifle Division, driver and gunner have been killed and the commander escaped, the tank continued to roll at low speed until it landed in a ditch.
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Centurion Millimetre-Wave-Radar target tank. This tank was produced for MMWR targeting trials, it is a hybrid of a Centurion with a major part of the hull originating from an FV4202 prototype. After the trials it appears was used for recognition/OPFOR as it’s been clearly dressed
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Despite it looking a bit mad, if it can cross open ground whilst being impervious to drones, break a gap in the line which can then be exploited, then it serves a purpose.
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Whilst everyone is on the theme of one year since it began, this is one of the strange things I won’t forget from that first day.
Russian and Ukrainian vehicles literally pass each other here and neither side does anything
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Some destroyed and damaged Russian vehicles, looks like they’ve been recovered back to this forest and abandoned/awaiting withdraw from theatre whilst also being cannibalised for parts. First one is a T-90M, it’s unknown why it’s out of action but it has been completely stripped
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Unknown EW kit fitted atop of Russian tanks, so far it’s been seen on 2 tanks, one being a T-72B3 Obr.2022 (image 1) which is also notably fitted with Nakidka thermal resistant camouflage, and a T-90M which was destroyed (image 2&3), once I get more info on this system I’ll post
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People are finally tiring of David’s lies.
@secretsqrl123 My "research" was asking Ukrainian commanders on different parts of the front line last week whether Ka-52 were still a problem. They said they were. You've been spreading misinformation all summer.
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Ukrainian army starting to look like a Wargame Red Dragon NATO deck.
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Correction: The antennae are Volnorez counter drone system, not cellular data amplifiers as some sources have stated.
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T-72B3 driver shows off the drivers compartment, the right side display has a digital rev counter as well as a display which shows how much pressure is being applied to either of the steering sticks. The left display shows oil temp, oil pressure, coolant temp etc, pretty
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Dog (unsure on variant, likely German shepherd) on what looks like a T-80BV based on the snorkel size and stowage bin. Image from @AndreiBtvt
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Some interesting bits on this train, in order of tracked vehicles. Very rare VT-72 ARV (based on T-72).T-80BV.Very rare GT-MU, almost like a mini MT-LB.BTS-4A ARV (based on T-44M).
⚡️Echelon of Russian equipment seen heading towards Ukraine according to Russian sources
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1/2 Artsakh Defence Army tank crew in front of their T-72B1’s, note the stars on the barrel, red denotes tanks knocked out, yellow denotes BMP’s knocked out and white is other targets so APC’s/trucks etc.
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T-14 Armata spotted in Kazan, likely moving too or from the Kazan Higher Tank Command School, Central Military District, the tank interestingly is one of two T-14’s I’ve seen with the Russian tri-colour AFV camouflage, typically seen on BTR-82A’s, it may be the same tank I seen
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A T-80B with Kontakt-1 added, turret stowage removed so that Kontakt-1 can be fitted there, an interesting camouflage and a roof mounted cage which is getting ERA attached to it. The T-80B’s are generally quite rare compared to the T-80BV, though there still are quite a few in
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