With a fleet of about 850 aging T-54/T-55 main battle tanks, making the core of its 1,350-strong tank force, Vietnam had to choose wisely how to update these combat vehicles in 2022. In partnership with Elbit Systems, they came up with a compromise set of modernizations, leaving the old 100mm D-10T2S gun but adding smart combat systems, further explained below.
Online user Lee Ann Quann shared some photos from live-fire exercises in Vietnam featuring T-54/T-55 tanks with associated 100mm ammunition. They noted how the T-54M3 and T-55M3 upgrades retain the original D-10T gun to make use of the available ammo shells in storage. But it's definitely not because it's more effective or easier to handle — the main reason is more prosaic.
Read more: Vietnam Reverse-Engineered Soviet BMP-1 Infantry Vehicle and 2S1 Artillery Gun
As noted by Defence24 in an archive publication, originally, a much deeper modernization was planned. Elbit Systems offered to replace the main cannon with a 105 mm rifled gun derived from the famous British Royal Ordnance L7, used in German Leopard 1, for instance. However, the cost of such an upgrade was too high, besides, changing to a new main weapon meant additional expenditures to create a reserve stockpile. Hence, a more budget-friendly solution was chosen.
For the same reason Vietnam could not afford buying russian T-90S at large scale as a replacement, although it does have 64 units in service, as of 2024 information. Since the outbreak of the russian invasion of Ukraine, political reasons have mixed in as well. Chinese alternatives, meanwhile, were not on the table from the start, because the Vietnamese leadership didn't want to spoil relations with the United States.
Instead, they settled on adding essential systems for modern battlefield, like the Spanish Indra TIFCS-3BU fire control system and a diagnostic computer to keep the tank's subsystems in check.
The tank also got explosive reactive armor, though also a compromise variant: instead of high-end Self-Limiting Explosive Reactive Armor installed on Merkava tanks, the Vietnamese military opted for an ERA locally developed by the Institute of Propellants & Explosives. Protective ERA tiles and anti-heat screens were applied to the front of the turret and hull of the tank, as detailed by Tank Encyclopedia.
In addition, the T-54/55-M3 received various utilities, including a weather sensor suite, hydraulic power steering, laser rangefinder, thermal imager for nighttime operations, etc.
Read more: Ukrainian Forces Have the World's Top IFVs, but Which Performs Better: an Interesting Comparison of M2 Bradley and CV90
