The Tank That Wasn't There

The Editor builds Meng Models’ T-72B3.

- David Grummitt

Of all the AFVs used in the conflict in the Ukraine the T-72B3 is probably the most notorious. The tank was a 2010 upgrade to the T-72B introducing a new fire-control system, tracks and engine, the Sosna-U multi-spectral panoramic sight, a 24A6M5 main gun, a turret-mounted wind sensor and the distinctive Kontakt-5 ERA system. Some 270 tanks were modernised and delivered for service with the armed forces of the Russian Federation in 2013. The upgrade continues today with newer tanks receiving the state-ofthe-art Relikt ERA. Western and Ukrainian sources began posting images and film of T-72B3s in Donbass in early June 2014, seemingly irrefutable evidence of Russian involvement in the war. The Open Source Investigative Network ‘Bellingcat’ has documented T-72B3s serving with 6th Tank Brigade and 200th Independent Motor Rifle Brigade in eastern Ukraine, and at least one T-72B3 was destroyed in battle, while another was captured and used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Meng’s Russian Main Battle Tank T-72B3 (ref. TS-028) was released in 2016 and shares many parts with their T-90 kits. The kit is presented in a stout box and looks very good, with fifteen crisply moulded green plastic sprues, seven sprues of black plastic individual track links, a clear sprue and a small sheet of photoetch. Markings are provided for five vehicles: one in Russian service, one seen on the 2015 Victory Parade, one seen at the 2015 Tank Biathlon Championship, and another at the 2015 Russian Arms Expo. A fifth marking option is for the tank captured by the Ukrainians in Donbass.