“And they are expendable”
Their crews aren’t expendable.
And they would be vastly worse than modern tanks at resisting attack from modern tanks, when the Ukrainians advance.
Their crews aren't expendable.
And they would be vastly worse than modern tanks at resisting attack from modern tanks, when the Ukrainians advance.
You go to war with what you have, not what you wish you had. In combat, everyone is expendable and modern battlefield is an extremely lethal place so people are going to die no matter what tank they are in.
Fact is, the way tanks are being deployed in the Ukraine war, the T55 is not an ineffective weapon.
And it's just as easy to hit a T-90 as it is a T-55 with a modern anti tank weapon and both are going to be just as dead after they are hit.
FWIW, the Russians are reportedly deploying a scary effective next gen counter battery system in Ukraine. One can think of a pretty effective strategy to use a mobile T-55 in combo with the new Russian counter battery system that is effective and surprisingly survivable for the T-55 crew in the current Ukraine environment.