The soldiers of the 127th Territorial Defense Brigade demonstrated the use of M-55S tanks against the invaders on the front lines.

The video was released on the brigade’s page.

The Slovenian M-55S tanks, which are a deep modification of the old Soviet T-55 tanks, handed over in late 2022, are used by the Ukrainian military as self-propelled artillery.

In the video of the 127th Territorial Defense Brigade, one of these vehicles fires a 105-mm cannon with a high trajectory towards positions with the Russian military.

The accurate 105mm rifled L7 cannon, which is adjusted by an aerial reconnaissance unit, allows for fairly accurate fire from a distance of several kilometers.

Judging by the record of combat use of M-55S, the Ukrainian military tries not to bring these vehicles into direct contact with the enemy. This is due to their weak armor, which, even with a dynamic protection kit, cannot withstand a direct hit from modern anti-tank munitions.

These vehicles have come a long way in the Ukrainian army, having been in service with three brigades: the 47th and 67th mechanized brigades, as well as the 5th tank brigade.

The current appearance of the tanks in the video of the 127th Territorial Defense Brigade is unlikely to be evidence of the transfer of the M-55S to the new unit. Most likely, they were temporarily assigned to the territorial defense by the command of the 5th Tank Brigade.

M-55S

M-55S is a modernization of the Soviet T-55 tank, which was developed in the 40-50s. Slovenia improved the combat vehicle in the late 1990s through a joint project between the Slovenian company STO RAVNE and the Israeli Elbit.

The updated Slovenian T-55 was equipped with an L7 105mm gun with stabilizers, a Fotona SGS-55 gunner sight with a laser rangefinder, and a fire control system with a digital ballistic computer.

The armor protection of the combat vehicle was reinforced with Israeli Blazer dynamic protection elements on the turret and frontal part of the hull. Already in Ukraine, the M-55S has also received Kontakt-1 on-board dynamic protection elements and anti-tank armor on the aft hull.

Due to their moderate use in combat operations, only two of these tanks were confirmed lost. They were hit by enemy artillery at a considerable distance from the front line. One of them successfully survived a direct hit by a 152-mm guided ammunition and was able to retreat to the rear area on its own.