The Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus has received its first upgraded T-72B3 main battle tanks from Russia, Belarusian defence minister, Lieutenant-General Andrei Ravkov has announced.

A new batch of upgraded T-72B3 tanks was solemnly handed over to the 969th Tank Reserve Base of the Belarusian army in the 174th Air Defense and Air Force exercise area on 2 June.

The Belarusian defence minister said: “In addition to having our tanks repaired and upgraded in Belarus we use military and technical cooperation with Russia. Russian companies repair and upgrade our hardware at Russian domestic prices in line with the agreement on military and technical cooperation. We are also part of the regional army group, which defends the Union State of Belarus and Russia in the western direction.”

The T-72B3 is one of the more advanced T-72 variants in Russian service, featuring the 2A46M-5 version of the 2A46 series of 125 mm smoothbore guns as well as the Sosna-U gunner’s sighting system, the 1A40-4 fire control system, an independent commander’s panoramic day/night sight with thermal imager, and a new ballistic computer.

It is worth noting that  Belarus’s “140 repair plant” has developed an upgrade package for the T-72 main battle tanks (MBTs). The new upgraded T-72BME main battle tank was displayed the first during the 8th International Exhibition of Arms and Military Equipment «MILEX-2017».