Russian Tanks

[Koh]

Back to topic. Any photos of those T-80s in the war? I'd rather see the pictures myself than trust someone saying it's a T-80 in a picture. Wouldn't be the first false identification.

The reason I'm so sceptical is because the formation lists I've seen for Caucasus tend to list the units equipped with T-72s and T-64s. I don't know the Russian policy but the swiftness of their response would indicate that they probably didn't have the time to ferry in troops from other military districts.

- Koh

[Snipey]

Originally Posted by Koh

Back to topic. Any photos of those T-80s in the war? I'd rather see the pictures myself than trust someone saying it's a T-80 in a picture. Wouldn't be the first false identification.

The reason I'm so sceptical is because the formation lists I've seen for Caucasus tend to list the units equipped with T-72s and T-64s. I don't know the Russian policy but the swiftness of their response would indicate that they probably didn't have the time to ferry in troops from other military districts.

- Koh

Well the T-80 was used in the First Chechen War, the Second Chechen War, so it is definitely in the region. Also the source comes from an Ossetian soldier who fought in the war and could have asked the Russians or could have known how the tank looks like.

The Caucasian Region has been the most militarized Russian Region ever since Chechnya's attack on Dagestan, on August 7, 1999. (Is this just me, or is attacking Russia and losing on August 7th a requirement for failed leaders in the Caucasian region?) It even has T-90 tanks, which were kept in reserve during this conflict, in case the US/NATO wanted to escalate. However the T-90s were used with great success in the Dagestan War. From the Moscow Defense Brief, an extremely credible source, (and my absolute favorite on Russian military):

"The use of T-90S tanks in Dagestan deserves mention. A group of these vehicles consisting of 8 to 12 units according to different sources was supposed to be delivered to India. Folªlowing a sharp aggravation of the situation in the Caucaªsus, however, the tanks were transferred to Dagestan. In the Kadari zone one T-90 was hit by seven RPG anti-tank rockets but remained in action. This indicates that with regular equipªment T-90S is the best protected Russian tank, especially if Shtora and Arena defensive protection systems are integrated in it."

Source: http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/3-2002/ac/raowdsmcc/

Your reasons would have been correct, had Russia not already had T-80s in the Caucasian military district (North Caucasus military district). It is Russia's largest, and best equipped military disctrict, and for good reason. It was, until the end of the South Ossetian War, the most volatile military district as well. It might still be the most volatile, but no longer a weakspot.

Wouldn't you want to have your best units in reserve in your most volatile military district? In addition, part of the Spetznatz force was flown in from Moscow. Russia took this war very seriously, they even had Iskander missiles deployed.

The number used was very small, most likely under 20 tanks. Also, since Russia no longer provides NATO with its troop movement information, it's hard to ascertain the overall number that Russia had in the Caucasian Military District, but I can assure you that number is over 20.