Ministry of the Defense Republic of Serbia has for the first time publicly showed new T-72MS main battle tanks on 28 November.
The President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Serbian Armed Forces Aleksandar Vučić, accompanied with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Nebojša Stefanović, PhD, the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces General Milan Mojsilović and the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko attended the presentation of new T-72MS tanks, donated by the Russian Federation on Saturday.
According to the Serbian MoD, the first batch of 11 upgraded Soviet-era tanks was delivered last month.
The T-72MS, commonly known as White Eagle, s an advanced variant of T-72B1 that features new armour and is equipped with new optics and combat equipment.
“These tanks also have stronger ballistic protection, explosive-reactive armour, better steering and navigation. Everything is incomparably easier for them and I believe that this will significantly contribute to greater combat readiness, interoperability and competence of our forces,” said Serbian President Vučić.
Lieutenant Colonel Goran Jovanović from the General Staff’s Development and Equipping Department (J-5) pointed out that the Russian T-72MS tank was currently the best in the Balkans and beyond, adding that the tank had undergone complex modernization and that all its features, manoeuvrability, armour protection and firepower had been significantly improved compared to M-84 tanks, which were in operational use in our armed forces.
“By fitting it with an 840 horsepower engine, its mobility has been increased. Our M-84 tank and the basic version of the T-72 tank are fitted with 780 horsepower engines. It has also been fitted with an automatic transmission that allows the driver to drive it more easily, and depending on the type of terrain, the driver can choose whether to change gears manually or automatically,” said Lieutenant Colonel Jovanović, adding that the armour protection that has been added to the T-72MS tank, successfully protects the tank crew from various types of projectiles.
