Perhaps hoping to one day retake land lost to the Russians in the 2014 invasion of the Crimea and other regions, Ukraine recently announced plans to refurbish a fleet of rusting T-64 main battle tanks with the intention of making them as battle worthy as the Russian T-14 Armata. On January 18th, the Ukranian government charged the Azov engineering group with the modernization of its antiquated fleet of T-64 tanks currently rotting in a depot and turning them into the newly dubbed Tirex (pronounced “T-Rex” like the dinosaur). The Company has also been tasked with the development of infantry fighting vehicles and the “Azovets” combat vehicle. According to reports, the Azovets is really a prototype, and aspects of the vehicle will be implemented in other projects including infantry fighting vehicles.
Little information has thus far been released concerning the surprise announcement, and it will be a dubious task indeed to turn an aging battle tank from the 60s into a fighting vehicle capable of standing toe-to-toe with a more robust, state-of-the-art battle tank in the form of the Armata that the Russians have already begun deploying in limited numbers.