The 1960s T-62 Tank Is Now A 'Backbone' Of The Russian Armor Corps

The 60-year-old tank works just fine in the era of tiny drones

An upgraded T-62MV in Ukraine. Via Jompy

After 45 grueling months of wider war in Ukraine and thousands of Russian tank losses, the 60-year-old T-62 is now “one of the backbones of the Russian tank fleet,” according to analyst Jompy, who studies satellite imagery in order to assess Russian vehicle stocks.

That doesn’t point to a Russian armor corps on the verge of collapse. It does point to a seismic shift in how the Russians fight under armor. In a new era of warfare increasingly dominated by tiny explosive drones, infantry need all the overhead protection they can get.

A tank, even one dating from the 1960s, offers that protection. Columns of assault vehicles including up-armored infantry fighting vehicles and led by up-armored tanks can, in theory, survive the drone onslaught long enough to drop off their infantry in new positions.

That said, the theory is enduring a very hard to test right now in Ukraine. If it fails, it won’t be the fault of the old T-62, however. It’s possible no tank-led company or battalion assault can survive against hundreds of explosive drones. In that case, it would hardly matter whether the tank is an old T-62 or a factory-fresh T-90.