Recently, a video went viral of an M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle operated by Ukrainian forces defeated a russian T-90M Proryv in a one-sided barrage of shots, the tank finished off with an FPV drone strike. A truly unique episode, with an outcome most experts would deem unlikely to ever happen, especially because this duel happened on a close distance, where the russian most advanced main battle tank theoretically should excel over any IFV.
Nonetheless, it happened, and the reason is the level of preparation the Ukrainian operators received coming into the fight and, of course, skill. Moreover, in an insightful article by ArmyInform, we can find out which vulnerabilities of the russian tank were exploited by the Ukrainian crew to come out on top.
Read more: Two Bradley IFVs Neutralized a russian T-90M Proryv Tank in Combat Near Avdiivka
The media asked Mykola Salamakha, a tank warfare expert, to comment on the video. He said, T-90 in fact has many weak spots.
For starters, the field of view on sights and observation tools for both tank commander and gunner of a T-90M is too narrow for close combat: 4° when zoomed 12x, and 12° at 4x zoom. In other words, at a 500-meter distance, about 100–150° are out of vision. The fight against the M2 Bradley was happening at a distance ~150–200 meters.
Another nuance is that the screen protectors over the PNM-T gun sight (1) and the panoramic sight are too large, making them a perfect target for shooting at 150 meters.
Apart from that, the reloading which takes at least 8 seconds for T-90M Proryv, played its role, while the M2 Bradley's M242 Bushmaster autocannon can fire practically without a break.
Additionally, there are other weak points on the T-90M that could be exploited by an adversary upon a close encounter.
Particularly, the commander's tower (2) in general is protected with only 30 mm of armor, the redan (3) is only 25 mm thick, the ammo rack (4) behind the turret is covered with 20 mm armor, and the 40-mm rear armor plate (5) which can withstand an RPG shot but not an armor-piercing shot by Bradley or whatnot.
One more detail not highlighted in the photos is the gun mantlet which is only 30 mm thick. It is located next to the gunner's compartment in the frontal part of the turret. The gunner's sight (itself unprotected) is installed inside a pocket (6,7) enclosed by armor varying in thickness from 20 to 70 mm; it can be pierced by 25mm armor-piercing ammunition from a distance of 300–400 meters.
The original article in Ukrainian is available here.
Read more: Ukrainian Forces Destroyed 2S4 Tyulpan, T-90 Tank, and 242 UAVs of Various Types in the Tavria Direction
