Czechia Offered Ukraine T-72 Tanks. One Problem: They Can’t Shoot Straight.
Ukraine won’t be getting 30 T-72M4CZ tanks; their fire controls are broken beyond repair.
The Czech Republic had planned to donate 30 upgraded T-72M4CZ tanks to Ukraine
Tests revealed the tanks’ Italian-made fire controls are broken—and unfixable
FPV drones have made tanks far less critical to Ukraine’s defense than in 2022
Ukraine’s military restructuring has also reduced its overall tank requirements
The Czech Republic had every intention of donating its roughly 30 T-72M4CZ tanks to Ukraine. Just one problem—the three-person tanks, deep upgrades of the Soviet-designed T-72, don’t work.
So Ukraine won’t be getting the tanks, even though it could surely use them. The Ukrainian armed forces went to war in February 2022 with around 1,000 tanks. They have since lost more than 1,000 tanks and received another 1,000 or so as donations.
That should mean the Ukrainians have as many tanks as they started with 45 months ago. The problem is that the Ukrainian armed forces have doubled in size. At the same time, hundreds of surviving tanks are badly worn out after nearly four years of hard fighting.
As a consequence, there’s a tank shortage in Ukraine—one those Czech T-72M4CZs won’t be helping to solve.
The problem with the T-72M4CZs—which underwent an upgrade in the early 2000s—reportedly lies with the TURMS/T fire control system from Italian firm Selex Galileo, according to Novinky.cz. The TURMS/T helps the crew aim the tank’s 125-mm main gun.
Something is broken inside the fire controls. “In the summer and autumn of this year, control tests were carried out repeatedly and without success,” the Czech defense ministry told Novinky.cz. “The problem occurred with the so-called rectification, i.e. the accuracy of the firing of tanks.”
“Repairing these components is not technically possible, as confirmed by their Italian manufacturer,” the ministry added. Unable to shoot accurately, the T-72M4CZs are almost certainly destined for scrapping. The Czech army is re-equipping with 44 modern German-made Leopard 2A8 tanks.
The broken tanks won’t dent Prague’s overall military support for Kyiv. Outgoing prime minister Petr Fiala revealed last week that Czechia has sent Ukraine military support worth $832 million since February 2022—and actually profited from the effort, receiving $1.19 billion in return through foreign aid and defense contracts. The Czech-led ammunition initiative has delivered more than 1.5 million large-caliber artillery shells to Ukraine.
Read the rest at Euromaidan Press.
