English isn't my first language, but I understood that as well.
What I'm trying to say is that, if you use T-62 instead of T-72 and 80 ( that you have and can deploy ), you have to be: a) dumb, b) having a death wish or c) wanting that Russia looses the war. Now you can choose whatever option you like more.
You believe the deployment of a tank type is based on a single reason. However I view things much more differently. In my opinion, when we consider Russia’s economy, pre war readiness, current combat operations, and history, I believe the T-62’s were deployed due to these reasons:
1. It is hard to use relatively advanced tanks that received little care out of storage when you consider the fact that Russia couldn’t afford to mothball them in the past. Bringing them back into service takes time and money.
2. Despite the reason above, given the nature of the Ukrainian army who uses T-64Bv’s and T-72m’s and when you take in consideration of what
@sheogorath said here about the T-62M’s armor,
The T-62M has better add-on armor than Ukrane's T-72M received from Poland, Bulgaria and the Czechs. Let's not forget that T-72M actually have thinner and not-as-good composite armor as the T-72A's.
View attachment 100181
View attachment 100182
For comparison, this is the glacis of a polish T-72M
View attachment 100183
Here you can see a T-62M getting hit with an ATGM over one of the composite add-ons with the crew surviving and making an escape
So, considering that the Ukranians don't have modern APFSDS rounds in any of their tanks, in certain scenarios a T-62 might be good enough. And a T-62M with upgraded thermals and rangefinders will have a detection advantage over Ukraine's T-72M and what's left of the T-64 fleet outside of the Bulats.
the T-62M is sufficient enough for tank on tank battles
3. Combined arms is the key to modern warfare. A tank getting taken out by infantry doesn’t mean a tank sucks. It means that the commander of the tank platoon failed to coordinate with infantry, recon and artillery support. This scenario happened before in the 1973 Yom Kippur War in which Israeli tanks were getting smashed by Egyptian infantry’s Soviet ATGM’s in the beginning stages of the war. The Israelis would then change their tactics and combine the efforts of the armor, recon, artillery and infantry to take on this new threat.
In short, T-62M’s are good enough for the current war. Are they ideal? No, but they do the job well enough. Does that excuse Russia’s poor maintenance of their T-80 and T-72 fleet? No, Russia should have mothballed a decent chunk of them at the very least. The reasons for that failure are totally economic ones that are off topic.
