Russia is “Modernizing” 800 Ancient T-62 Tanks Because of Ukraine Losses

A Russian T-62 c. 1984 either laying a smoke screen or caught on fire. I’m going with caught on fire. Public domain.

First designed in 1957, sixty-five years ago, the Soviet-made T-62 is a relic of the Cold War.

Over the next three years, the Russian military is scheduled to receive over 800 refurbished T-62 tanks that have been sitting in storage, in some cases, since the early 1980s.

Russia has sustained severe losses in its ongoing war against Ukraine. The open-source intelligence group Oryx has painstakingly cataloged visual evidence of at least 7,022 Russian tanks that have been destroyed, abandoned, or captured in Ukraine.

And due to Western sanctions, Russia is unable to get their hands on the high-tech replacement parts necessary to build or keep more modern tanks running.

Andrey Gurulyov, a retired Russian general-turned-politician, explained the situation during a recent tour of the 103 Armored Repair Plant in Russia’s Far Eastern Transbaikal Krai region.

Gurulyov said that the 800 T-62s would be upgraded with new night vision optics and better armor and other…