T-72b Rogatka

[Marcello]

There is nothing showing that the specific vehicle has better optics/view/whatever you want to call it, than most modern vehicles, including modern gunships. As for the hill example, it works the other way too, place a modern gunship (except 1 or 2 models) on top of that same hill level 5, and it will see less than the khrisantema-s. Based on what?

On the fact it is fitted with a millimetric radar set, which all the others vehicles you keep talking about lack.
The presence of the radar is confirmed by every source and every picture of the vehicle.
And on the, well known, fact that radar has better long range detection characteristics than optical systems, including thermal sights, especially in several conditions. If you didn't know that, now you do. If you don't believe me, then do some reading on you own.
Thermal sights have several advantages such as lower bulk, lower vulnerability and power consumption, are passive and cannot be jammed, but radar does beat them at the pure range game, especially under some circumstance.
And radar fitted ground units, and there are several of them in the game even if you never noticed them, have always had greater range than thermal sights fitted MBTs you keep talking about, precisely to reflect this. There is absolutely nothing insane about this.