Those who visited Russia’s Army 2019 arms show were able to witness an amazing sight; a Russian main battle tank was used for slicing fruit into pieces by utilizing a machete blade. The exhibition was held at Kubinka, outside Moscow. The video shows a Russian T-80U main tank being employed for the task of slicing fruits – anyone feeling nostalgic about fruit ninja?
The Russian T-80U main battle tank can be seen with a 2A46 125-millimeter gun in the video. Generally, the 2A46 is armed with armor piercing, shaped charge, or 9M119 Refleks anti-tank missiles. However, for this particular job; it was fitted with a low-tech weapon of mass destruction – a machete-like blade that was stripped to the barrel’s tip by making use of pipe clamps.
The Russian T-80U main tank then proceeds to slice a watermelon, a Russian pear, and an apple into halves. As to why this was done; to display the control that a tank gunner has at his/her disposal and the super-precision that it possesses. Modern tanks can actually engage targets that are at a distance of four thousand meters. This means that the gun should be capable of making very fine adjustments to hit targets at such long distances.
The T-80U is a Cold War-era tank that is still in Russian service. Although it was slated to be withdrawn from Russian service when the new T-14 Armata tank was unveiled. However, the cost and the accompanying technical difficulties with the T-14 Armata led Moscow to rely on previous models such as T-80U. Russian stunt is not the very first stunt that has been performed using tanks. The US Army, the Germans, and even the Japanese have tried such stunts with different variations in the past.
Check out the video below of the Russian T-80U and let us know what you think of it!
