Video of the Western Military District’s 1st Guards Tank Army T-72B3 main battle tanks from the live fire exercise at the Mulino training ground in Nizhny Novgorod. The firing range is roughly 1,7km. The targets imitate hostile manpower and armored hardware. Tank units, in close cooperation with their assigned units of various branches of the Armed Forces, worked out a full list of tactical actions and maneuvers – in defense, offensive, and performing tasks in wooded areas and localities, both during the day and at night. The two-way tactical and special exercise of the guards tank army of the WMD was completed in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
The T-72B3 is a recent Russian upgrade of the ageing T-72B tanks. It can be seen as a low-cost alternative to the T-72B2 Rogatka upgrade to keep older T-72B tanks operational. The 125mm 2A46M-5 smoothbore gun is fitted with a light-alloy thermal sleeve and a bore evacuator. Due to new hard-core projectile, modern ballistic computer, modernized stabilizer and auto target tracker, it fires accurately even while there is movement. Fitted with new active protection armour mounted on each side of the hull, the T-72B3 version was unveiled in 2016. The tank weighs 46,000kg, has a range of 500km and can attain a speed of 70kmph. It can accommodate 3 crew members. First of these tanks were delivered to the Russian military in 2018.
Mulino is a rural settlement in Volodarsky District of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia. Among military units listed at Mulino were the 34th Guards Artillery Division, the 99th Guards Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment (3 MRD), the 211th Training Artillery Brigade, the 245th Guards Motor Rifle Regiment (3 MRD), the 752nd Motor Rifle Regiment, the 237th and 100th Tank Regiments (3rd Motor Rifle Division), one other unit, and a penal battalion. An important facility in the area is the Mulino training center of the Russian Ground Force part of the series codenamed “Torgau” (after the city in Germany that figures in the military history of both countries). There is also a penal battalion at the site.
The 1st Guards Tank Army is a tank army of the Russian Ground Forces. The unit traces its heritage back to the 1st Tank Army, formed twice in July 1942 and in January 1943 and converted into the 1st Guards Tank Army in January 1944. After the end of the Cold War and the resultant withdrawal of Soviet units in Germany, the army was relocated to Smolensk, disbanded in 1999. The army was formed as the main ground forces manoeuvre and reserve operational formation of the Western Military District in addition to the 6th Combined Arms Army (headquartered in Saint Petersburg) and the 20th Guards Combined Arms Army (headquartered in Voronezh).
