Sweden Carl Gustaf 84-mm man-portable reusable anti-tank weapon pierced through the armor of the Russian modern T-90M tank from a long distance.
On May 4, the Ukrainian military released a video of the Russian T-90M main combat tank being destroyed. The footage plainly demonstrates that the power compartment of the Russian army’s most modern main battle tank was attacked. A Ukrainian soldier, according to the Ukrainian army, hit the power compartment with a Carl Gustav recoilless rifle. Given that the Carl Gustav recoilless gun’s armor-piercing bullet has a maximum penetration depth of 500 mm and the T The back and sides armor of the -90M have a maximum thickness of 300 mm, and it is completely destroyable.
However, even if the power compartment was destroyed, the T-90M main battle tank could not be completely destroyed, especially the turret was still attached to the main body. The army launched a second strike, or the Russian crew destroyed the vehicle after abandoning it. According to some commentators, the Ukrainian tank arrived to shoot its vulnerable spot with a 125mm grenade, effectively destroying the T-90M main battle tank.
Drone footage shows Ukrainian troops targeting a Russian T-90 tank in #Kharkiv Oblast pic.twitter.com/5aGVN3NOwm
— marqs (@MarQs__) May 10, 2022
Many Russian army tanks were parked on the road in a state of alert at the time, as can be seen in the video. The buttocks of this T-90M main battle tank were damaged heavily. Carl Gustaf was certainly not sitting still. The gun’s maximum effective range is 500 meters, but in actual warfare, it’s likely to be closer, especially when confronting a Russian tank squad. I have to say, the Ukrainian army that launched the attack is quite daring.
Many countries utilize the Carl Gustaf recoilless gun including India, which was developed in Sweden. This 84mm recoilless gun has been constantly improving since its inception in 1946, in addition to generating new types of ammunition and more precise sights. Its production materials have also been consistently enhanced. The current M4 model, which has a titanium alloy/carbon-fiber structure, is 3 kg lighter than the M3 type, making it easier to carry for individual soldiers. Because of the diversity of ammunition available, the Carl Gustaf recoilless gun allowed the infantry to hit a variety of objectives, and because of the rifled barrel, its accuracy significantly exceeded that of most rocket launchers.
The Carl Gustaf recoilless gun, on the other hand, is not the strongest anti-tank weapon in the Ukrainian infantry’s arsenal, and it is not even ranked, let alone the “Javelin,” “Brimstone,” NLAW, Milan-2, and Stugner-P and other types of anti-tank missiles. Even the rocket launcher, the German-made “Tekken-3,” has a maximum armor penetration depth of more than 800 mm, which is more than enough to deal with Russian tanks.
The destruction of the T-90M main battle tank once again demonstrated the Russian army’s lack of assault infantry, which was unable to offer effective tank protection. Despite its high mobility, armor, and firepower, the tank’s sense of the external situation is poor. Even if the tank commander sticks his body out of the turret regardless of the risk of being sniped, he will not be able to close the distance. When confronted with infantry with anti-tank weaponry, tanks without infantry protection are particularly vulnerable.
But the problem is that the Russian army cannot solve the problem of the shortage of assault infantry. In the first stage of the “special military operation”, including the airborne troops, the elite infantry of the Russian army was used wastefully and consumed a lot. Many Russian army BTGs are now There is simply not enough assault infantry, and there is not enough combat effectiveness, not to mention the low morale, even the strong conscription of the Donbas cannot solve this problem.
Untrained infantry sent to the battlefield is just cannon fodder, and cannot perform such difficult tasks as infantry-tank coordination. In Syria, the problem of insufficient infantry can also be solved by using pro-government militias and Iranian armed forces, but in Ukraine, the Russian army is now There simply can’t be enough troops to solve the problem, let alone well-trained. The lack of infantry is only one of the many shortcomings of the Russian army. To win the “special military operation”, the Russian army is under great pressure.