Someone left a Russian T-90A tank, apparently in mint condition, and from the Ukrainian War, at a truck stop on US Interstate 10, alerting everyone passing by. The image of the tank, still mounted on a transport truck, quickly ended up on sites like Reddit and from specialized portals such as The War Zone echoed the theme.
The issue is that, initially, no one really knew what he was doing there, and what was the reason he was in the United States. Quickly, it went all over the internet, and specialized sites and OSINT expert users found the origin of the tank.
A Twitter user by the name of Naalsio, pointed out that the Russian tank “belonged to the Russian 27th Motor Rifle Brigade, 1st Battalion of the Tank Army, and was abandoned in Kurylivka, Kharkiv Oblast, around September 25, 2022. He was later captured by the Ukrainian army:
However, no one explained what a Russian tank was doing in Louisiana. The War Zone contacted the military commanders in the area, but none of them took responsibility for the tanke, neither knew anything about its origin or destination:
I contacted my ops people “They didn’t know anything about a Russian tank arriving at Fort Polk, but they said they would look into it and let me know.” My opinion is that this tank is probably owned by a private citizen or a company
Spokesman at Fort Polk, home of the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center, speaking to The War Zone
The Pentagon gives an explanation to the Russian tank on American soil
But yes, actually everything had a explanation. The Pentagon confirmed to The War Zone that the Russian tank that arrived in Louisiana was on its way to the Aberdeen proving ground:
“I can confirm that a T-90 tank was being transported to Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, when the truck carrying it suffered a mechanical problem. That problem has been fixed and the tank is safe.”
Pentagon spokesman The Warzone.
It seems that the tank is in the US. to be studied in order to design better defenses and attacks against these armored cars. The T90-A is one of the most modern, so interest from the US is great.
The United States Army Aberdeen Test Center or ATC an agency of the Department of Defense for pground combat, direct fire and live fire vulnerability tests. A versatile test center with various capacities. Therefore, it is the perfect destination to test the defensive capabilities of the tank in a controlled environment. Also taking into account that this model was manufactured in 2004, so it is a relatively new model.