Summary and Key Points: The T-90M Proryv, hailed by Vladimir Putin as the world’s premier main battle tank, faces an existential crisis on the Ukrainian front. -Despite Uralvagonzavod shifting to a 24-hour production cycle to output nearly 300 units annually, Russia is losing armor faster than it can be replaced. -Visually confirmed losses now exceed […]
The thing is, you can design an autoloader in a way that protects the crew.
The survability of western tanks isn’t just about where the ammo is stored, but how it’s stored. Western tanks, both with and without autoloaders, place all the ammo at the back, either of the turret or the hill respectively. More importantly, the ammo is stored in a heavily armoured compartment, which has blow-out panels on the outside of the vehicle; the ammo detonates the panels collapse, allowing the force of the explosion to spread out from the tank.
The problem with the T90 design (which is really just an updated T72) is that the autoloader is attached to the bottom of the turret basket. This means there’s no possible way to vent the explosion outside, other than by going through the turret, and through the crew along the way.
Yes, you can. But they didn’t. Hence, why I said it makes sense in this specific case.