Russia Has Tripled Production of T-90M Tanks: Can it Keep Up with Wartime Attrition?

Russia’s defence sector has significantly increased production of T-90 main battle tanks, from approximately 90-110 tanks per year in 2020-2021, to 280-300 tanks in 2024, which represents an effective tripling of output. This landmark achievement follows concentrated efforts from mid-2022 to significantly expand tank production. Three primary factors have influenced the decision to drastically increase production of the T-90, including heavy losses of Russian armour in the Ukrainian theatre, particularly in early 2022, as well as the expansion of the Russian Army, and the escalation of<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/germany-leopardii-former-ussr-deployment" target="_blank"> tensions with NATO members</a>. The extent to which the Russian Army’s procurement rates of T-90 tanks have increased has not been proportional to the increase in tank production rates, as before 2022 the majority of tanks being built were being exported to clients abroad, allowing India and Algeria to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-exports-almost-all-tanks-t90s-clients" >field larger T-90 fleets</a> than Russia itself did. Production of the export configured T-90MS tank is thought to have ended in early-mid 2022, with all T-90s subsequently being built to the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russian-forces-in-europe-receive-first-units-of-revolutionary-t-90m-breakthrough-tanks" target="_blank">T-90M standard</a> used by the Russian Army. Where before 2022 the Russian Army fielded only around 420 T-90 tanks, it has received 540–630 more at a conservative estimate since the outbreak of full scale hostilities in February that year. To place this in perspective, T-90 procurements by the Russian Army in the 2010s averaged just one tank per year.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/20/article_6855884e6464c3_42723101.jpeg" title="Russian Army T-90M Tank on the Frontlines in the Ukrainian Theatre">Other than a small number of pre-production <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russias-t14-turret-revolutionary-improvement" target="_blank">T-14 next generation tanks</a>, the service entry of which has been delayed by close to a decade, the T-90 is the only tank class in production in Russia, with the vehicle being built at the Uralvagonzavod tank plant. Commenting on the significance of Russia’s surge in tank production open-source investigators from the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) noted that compared to prior Western assessments, “the actual production rate is significantly higher.” They cited visual evidence of large trainloads of T-90s, and consistent sightings of T-90M units across multiple fronts in the Ukrainian theatre and beyond, as well as data from Russia’s defense procurement infrastructure. “Limiting Russia’s military production must become a cornerstone of NATO’s deterrence strategy in Europe,” the investigators concluded, advocating that “targeted restrictions on equipment and enforcement of secondary sanctions remain essential to slowing the growth of Russia’s defence capacity.” Although the increase in Russian tank production had far exceeded Western expectations, the investigators noted that it remained far from sufficient to keep up with the rates of <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/t90m-ukrainian-forces-destroy-tank-donbas" target="_blank">losses in the Ukrainian theatre</a>, which were by some estimates close to 1000 tanks annually in 2023 and 2024, and higher in 2022.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/20/article_68558eb871eda9_11987011.jpg" title="T-90 Production Facility at Uralvagonzavod">Despite heavy losses, the Russian Army has been able to sustain and even expand its armoured units by bringing Soviet-built tanks out of storage, and in many cases modernising them extensively, with reserves of T-72 and T-80 tanks having been particularly large. With the T-90 itself being a heavily enhanced derivative of the T-72B, which was initially designated the T-72BU, <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russian-t72-evolution-2020s" target="_blank">upgrade packages</a> for the T-72B developed since 2022 have brought the tank’s armour protection levels <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-new-enhanced-t72-features" target="_blank">to a similar standard</a> to the T-90M. With Russia’s stockpiles of main battle tanks in storage having been seriously depleted, largely due to the scrapping or poor storage of much of the inventory inherited from the USSR, the further expansion of T-90M production remains urgent to prevent a contraction in the Russian Army’s fleet size. It is thus significant that investigators from the Conflict Intelligence Team estimated that based on current trajectories, T-90M production could reach 1000 tanks annually in 2028. This would be far from unprecedented, with the Uralvagonzavod facility being able to sustain significantly higher levels of T-72 production during peacetime in the Soviet era, without accounting for its ability to surge wartime production levels to well over 2000 tanks.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/20/article_685588824e0782_55363603.jpeg" title="Russian Army T-90M Tank on Parade" >The increase in total Russian tank production have the potential to exceed increases in T-90M production, as the country’s defence sector may begin serially producing two further tank classes. The first of these is the T-14, although it remains uncertain when the class may enter service, or whether development may be terminated after its very protracted testing period.&nbsp;In September 2023 it was&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/t80-new-variants-production-restart" >reported</a>&nbsp;by Russian state media that the Omsktransmash tank factory, the country’s second major production facility inherited when the USSR disintegrated, was set to restart production of the T-80, after the class’ strong performance in the Ukrainian theatre had made a&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ukraine-german-armour-stuck–mud-t80-turbine" >strong impression</a>&nbsp;on both personnel operating them and on the Defence Ministry. It was subsequently confirmed in April 2024 that industry had <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russia-resumed-production-turbine-t80" >resumed production</a> of gas turbine engines for the tanks. It remains uncertain on what scale T-80 tanks may be produced, although in the Soviet era they cost more than three times as much as the T-72 to manufacture largely due to the costs of their engines, which makes a comparable production scale to the T-90 less likely. It remains possible that large scale production of the T-90M will thus be supplemented by smaller scale production of a new <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/t100-incoming-tank-production" >heavily enhanced T-80 variant</a>, which could form the elite of a future fleet.&nbsp;