The russian federation Contracts Installation of Arena APS on TOS-1A, T-90M
According to russian media reports, an order was signed to install the Arena-M active protection system on T-90M tanks and TOS-1A Solntsepyok heavy flamethrower systems during the Armiya-2024 forum near Moscow.
The contract was signed with Uralvagonzavod machine-building company. The quantity, cost and deadline are not disclosed and are unlikely to become public because the state defense order in russia has been completely classified since December 2018. However, there is an important detail: the installation of the active protection system on the TOS-1A requires the development of design documentation. This means that the installation of Arena-M system has to be developed and tested.
It should be recalled that the active protection system is designed to intercept ammunition on the way to the vehicle. In is known that its installation on T-72 and T-90 tanks has long been practiced in russia. Moreover, the Arena-M system tests on the T-72B3 were officially completed in April 2023. Despite this, not a single russian tank with the active protection system has been spotted on the battlefield so far.
It should be adding that the first prototypes of the Arena system were tested in 1982. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, there was information that this system would be massively installed on russian armored vehicles and that it had been adopted in 1993.
Instead, the Arena active protection system was modernized. In the new version, it was deprived of its characteristic part with radar.
This version was actively offered for export. Information that the Americans were “shocked” by russian active protection system and wanted to buy it, but were refused, was spread in russia. In reality, even India was not interested in the updated Arena-E system. This did not prevent russians from starting to produce Arena-M variant on in the mid-2010s.
In 2018, the wording of the need to develop Arena-M was as follows: “the data available to the designers allow us to see the Arena-M as an effective means of defense against American TOW anti-tank missiles.”
According to its declared technical characteristics, even the first version of the Arena was supposed to destroy anything that threatened the tank from any direction. However, the real efficiency of the system was significantly reduced. The possibility of intercepting modern anti-tank missiles such as Javelin was not commented on.
In particular, russians claimed that they had modified the active protection system to intercept a completely new threat to tanks, such as FPV-drones. At the same time, such problem as risks for the infantry, which is closer than 50 meters from the tank, has not been resolved.
At the same time, the real state of development and effectiveness of Arena-M remains in question, as well as the real possibility of installing this system on russian vehicles widely.
Earlier War Ukraine-Russia News Hub reported that the Kalashnikov concern had begun state trials for the Lotos 120 mm self-propelled artillery gun.