Russia Attacks Ukraine With TNT-Filled T-55 “Tank Bomb” – Vehicle IED

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) 

The destruction of Russian tanks in Ukraine has become both extremely well-known and extensively documented, and the Russian military has been widely reported as sending WWII-era T-55 tanks to fight Ukrainians. 

If Russia’s most modernized tanks such as the T-90M or even upgraded T-72s are getting obliterated by Ukrainian anti-armor tactics, then it would seem T-55s would have little hope for success. 

Perhaps this is why the Russian military appears to be copying terrorist tactics such as those used by insurgents and US enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remote-detonated Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices were remotely detonated by Russian attackers on  a “massive scale” in terms of size and explosive impact. 

The Russian military has embraced an enterprising attack method which, building upon previous uses of vehicles as “explosives,” is using large, old T-55 Russian tanks as massive unmanned explosives to drive into Ukrainian forces.

A Russian T-55 was filled with 3.5 tons of TNT and five FAB-100 bombs (220-pound air-dropped bomb) and then “detonated” by a Russian tank commander as it entered a Ukrainian stronghold. The Russian tank commander, as quoted in The Drive newspaper, observed the tank crew exit from the vehicle after putting the vehicle on manual gas and directing it to the enemy location. The large explosive-filled tank was exploded by remote control.

According to the news report, tank-bomb attack was a reported success, however it seems rather curious that Ukrainian forces would not “see” and attack an incoming tank. There would be a high likelihood that dismounted Ukrainian fighters would be armed with anti-tank weapons and they would certainly be inclined to fire them from stand-off ranges at an approaching Russian tank.