- US Abrams tanks have seen combat in Ukraine, where Soviet-style tanks are by far the most prevalent.
- Soviet-style tanks are smaller and lighter than their American counterparts.
- Both designs have their strengths and weaknesses.
Both Russian Soviet-style tanks and the American-made Abrams are at war in Ukraine, as well as in Russia's Kursk region. From the design and combat capability perspectives, the two tank styles are very different.
The Soviet-style T-series tanks, like the popular T-72 tanks that both the Russians and the Ukrainians use, are smaller and lighter than the Abrams and are operated by fewer crew members with less protection. They are less heavily armored but have a lower profile than the heavy Abrams tanks now being used by Ukrainian forces. The Russian tanks feature notoriously dangerous autoloaders but are also easier to mass-produce.
Ukraine operates a small force of M1A1 Abrams tanks that were built for a war with the Soviets and defeated Soviet-made armor in the Gulf War. The Iraqi tanks were downgraded T-72 models, similar to how Ukrainian Abrams are export models without the top upgrades. Still, Ukraine's soldiers have praised the Abrams.
"It's better than T-72, T-62, and even Russian T-90," a Ukrainian tank commander recently told Business Insider. Ukraine has operated both Soviet-style and Western-style tanks, giving its troops a clear picture of the differences between the two.
Like other tanks and armored vehicles in Ukraine, the Abrams is facing challenges with the constant threat of drones, land mines, and anti-tank missiles, forcing it into an atypical role, but the tank is still valuable. Along with the Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, it has strengthened the combat capability of the Ukrainian 47th Mechanized Brigade.
"It's an infinitely superior system," Robert Greenway, a retired Army officer who was assigned to the Abrams for a time and is now a national security expert at the Heritage Foundation think tank, told BI when the Abrams tanks were arriving. "The A1 may be old in the sense that it's been in our inventory for quite some time, but it's far superior to anything that the Russians have."
Russian tanks were built with quantity and mobility in mind
Soviet-style tanks are smaller targets that can be harder to hit and easier to hide. That smaller size means less material demand, allowing Russia to turn out more of them. The US took a different approach.
"We were never going to produce as many tanks as the Russians," Greenway told BI in the fall. "We were just going to produce one that was able to take out multiple Russian tanks and survive the process." Tanks like the T-72 weigh roughly 20 tons less than the Abrams and are visibly shorter and less long.
The Soviets wanted more for less with greater mobility, while the US, thinking about the need to make a stand against a Soviet armor onslaught, was more focused on firepower and survivability.
"A lot of this comes down to the philosophies, the general overarching military philosophies of each side," said Jeffrey Edmonds, a former US Army tanker who is an expert in national security. "You have the Soviets that viewed quantity as a quality of its own and the American side, which had a technological advantage across most domains."
Throughout the war in Ukraine, Russia has relied on its T-72s, T-80s, and T-90s, which share certain design features.
That Soviet-style design — smaller, lighter, and lower to the ground — makes the tanks somewhat harder to engage in certain environments and more mobile, but the tanks lack the kind of thick armor that shields Abrams crews. In the Abrams, ammunition is stored behind the turret and separated from the crew by blast doors in protected racks for safety. The Soviet-style tanks store ammo in the turret, leading to catastrophic ends if ammo is ignited by a hit on the vehicle.
"All design considerations were guided by general principles of mass and mobility," Edmonds said of Soviet tanks.
Abrams tanks are bulkier and more powerful
The US originally planned to send the Ukrainians newer M1A2 tanks but decided to expedite the process by opting for the older M1A1 instead. Kyiv received only 31 Abrams tanks, which have been operated by Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade.
Though the M1A1 is older, it's still a capable asset.
The Abrams' original purpose was to counter Soviet-style tanks in a land war in Europe, boasting stronger armor to take more hits and prioritize crew survivability. During the Gulf War, US Army assessments noted multiple instances of enemy fire bouncing off of the tanks, which were able to survive multiple hits and continue dealing damage.
The Abrams' lethality stems in part from its depleted-uranium penetrator rounds, which are highly effective at piercing enemy armor because the rod sharpens on impact and the metal fragments may also ignite, potentially leading to a catastrophic kill. Most Russian tanks don't fire this ammunition.
And its powerful gas-turbine engine, which is sometimes compared to a jet engine, can get the 60-ton A1 up to 45 mph, offering the heavy tank sufficient agility.
The Abrams, however, is complicated to maintain. When Ukraine received its tanks, experts said keeping a consistent supply chain of spare parts and materials to repair damaged A1s would be difficult, but US officials have said they've sent "a lot more spare parts" to keep the line going.
The limits of the tank
In Ukraine, both the Soviet-style and American-made tanks are struggling. Drones, a relatively new and now persistent threat, as well as anti-tank weapons and land mines, have proved particularly problematic.
Both Ukraine and Russia have been building increasingly complex cages on their tanks to defend against drones. These have hurt Soviet-designed tanks, eliminating their low profile, but tank battles are less common, potentially making that less of an issue.
The Abrams has played less of a role, and, instead, US-provided Bradley infantry fighting vehicles are a significant asset. The US has sent more than 300 Bradleys to Kyiv since early 2023.
Bradleys have been seen transporting troops and matériel around the front lines and even duking it out with Russian T-90s, which Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed as the best tank in the world.
Ryan Pickrell contributed to this reporting.