Syrian Army Using Most Advanced Tanks in Anti-Terrorism War

The Russian language Russkaya Gazeta newspaper said in a report on Thursday that at least two T-72 tanks have been monitored in Syria that enjoy some capabilities of the T-14 tanks that are among the latest state-of-the-art tanks in the world.

According to the report, one of the two tanks monitored in Syria is equipped with night vision systems and it can still be used for daylight missions if the tank’s surveillance system is damaged in clashes.

The second tank is equipped with a camera and active protection system (Sarab) that makes the armor resistant to a variety of enemy missiles. Also a Viper-72 system has been mounted on the tank which can trace targets some 4km away.

Other reports said in March that the Syrian army has optimized its T-72 battlefield tanks to resist against anti-tank missiles.

According to the Arabic-language al-Hadath news website, an optimized T-72 tank was hit by an anti-tank missile in a test field in Damascus province, but the tank remained unharmed and continued operations.

Diyana Mikhailov, a military expert, said that the T-72 tank merely sustained some small damage during the test, adding that the optimization process was successful.

The Syrian army had deployed the Russian T-90 tanks against the terrorists in Aleppo Front in Northern Syria in February 2016 after the T-72 tanks failed to resist against the terrorists’ anti-tank missiles.

The T-90 and its outstanding capability to destroy incoming TOW and M79 missiles appears to be perfect for a theater of war like the one in Syria.

In 4 and a half years of conflict, more than 9,000 BGM-71E3B TOW and M79 anti-tank systems have been introduced in the country. Their capability to easily penetrate T-55 and T-72 tanks was the main reason why the Syrian Arab Army has had so many problems gaining ground in Aleppo province prior to using T-90 tanks.

Now, after optimization process, the Syrian army troops will be able to use the T-72 tanks again.