Some resources based on the open source photo claim that the russian army began to use "Indian" T-90S against the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Basically, these combat vehicles were intended to be exported to India. But now these tanks are allegedly in the ranks of the russian occupation forces. The reason is obvious: russia’s defense industry faces lots of obstacles trying to ensure the proper pace of repair of armored vehicles.
Indeed, the defense-industrial complex of the russian federation has "fallen" to the point of inability to produce new machines. And the maximum that they have been able to achieve for now is the modernization of 12 units of T-80BVM’s. But it is highly unlikely that russian invaders applied the "Indian" T-90S on the battlefield. Probably, everything was much more prosaic.
Read more: 224 Days of the War: russian Casualties in Ukraine
To begin with, Defense Express will clarify that the T-90S is actually an export modification of the T-90A. Unlike the T90A, the export version is equipped with air conditioning, additional ERA protection on the turret, the 902 Tucha smoke grenade launch system. However, it doesn’t have the Shtora-1 electro-optical active protection complex.
Both the T-90A and the T-90S use a welded turret. Accordingly, there are quite a few visual differences between these two models. Therefore, it should not be ruled out that the photo mentioned above could actually be the T-90A tank, and not one from the "export" batch.
According to The Military Balance, by the end of 2021, the russian army had 350 T-90/T-90A tanks in service, and 200 T-90/T-90A’s in storage.
In mid-September 2022, the first reports appeared that russians were removing their T-90A’s from storage bases in the temporarily occupied Crimea. And it seems that some commentators took these tanks as "Indian" T-90S tanks.
What is interesting: these tanks don’t have barbecue cages welded above turrets. Although such decisions could be seen even on russia’s flagship T-90M Proryv.
Read more: The russian Army to Receive New T-80BVMs, No Further T-72B3 Upgrade Expected
