Cuban T-55 Ready for New War: Tank Receives Local Tuning for UAV Protection

The Island of Freedom still operates about 1,200 Soviet vehicles, modifying them to meet modern threats

Photos of a Cuban T-55 have appeared online, which local craftsmen have equipped with homemade protection against drones. Metal nets, screens, and camouflage are fixed on the hull and turret of the veteran - classic "folk tuning" in the era of drone wars.

Cuba began receiving Soviet T-55s in 1963. In total, more than 1,300 vehicles were delivered, of which about 1,200 are in service and in storage today. Some of them were converted by the Cubans into self-propelled artillery installations. Obsolete, but numerous and unpretentious tanks continue to serve thanks to their ease of maintenance.

T-55 is a Soviet medium tank adopted in 1958. It weighs 36–36.5 tons, the crew is four people. A 580 hp diesel engine accelerates the vehicle to 50 km/h. The main armament is a 100-mm gun, the hull forehead is armored with 100 mm, the turret is 200 mm.

The current "anti-drone" modification is a forced reaction to the changing nature of wars, where the main danger to equipment is increasingly posed not by tanks, but by cheap drones.

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