The Belarusian Ministry of Defence signed in June 2019 a contract with the Russian tank manufacturer Uralvagonzavod Research and Production Corporation to modernise 11 T-72B main battle tanks to the T-72B3 level in 2019-2020.
Previously since 2015, Uralvagonzavod has successfully upgraded Belarusian T-72B tanks under the Military-Technical Co-operation Development Agreement between the two countries.
The T-72B3 is an extension of the standard T-72B series. The Russian army is currently using the new version of the tank. The T-72B3 version was introduced in 2010 and is considered the third generation of Russia"s main battle tank. The T-72B3 has significantly improved combat characteristics with more firepower, protection, mobility and command control.
It has an improved armour and targeting system. The main armament of the T-72B3 is a 125 mm 2A46M-5 smoothbore gun equipped with a light alloy thermal sleeve and bore evacuator. The tank is equipped with an automatic carrousel loader mounted on the turret"s floor and rear wall. The tank can carry 38 munitions, including 22 ready-to-use projectiles in the carrousel.
Secondary armaments complementing the tank are a coaxial 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun to the right of the main gun and one 12.7 mm NSV machine gun in the commander"s turret.
