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Showing posts with the label Russian T-55 Tanks

The 61-Year-Old 'AK-47' of Tanks: Russia's T-54 and T-55's Keep Fighting ( Source- The National Interest / Author- S.K Au- Yeong)

T-55 Tank ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Maher27777)  Source- The National Interest Author- S.K Au- Yeong Like the AK-47 but for tanks, T-54 and T-55s endure on battlefields around the world. Simple to operate and maintain, these decades-old Soviet armored beasts are still popular in small nations and with non-state irregular forces — a true “people’s tank.” If a coup or fratricidal civil war breaks out in one of Moscow’s current or former beneficiaries, there’s good chances T-54 or T-55s are taking part. When Afghanistan collapsed in the 1990s, the Taliban and Northern Alliance coalition both inherited T-55s formerly belonging to the communist government. The tanks served in Yugoslavia’s multi-sided civil war during the same decade. Today, captured Iraqi and Syrian T-55s serve under the black flag of Islamic State and other rebel groups fighting in the region. For these insurgent armies, the 60-year old tanks are just as useful as far more modern