Profile
- Type
- Medium tank
- Conflict side
- Yemeni government and coalition forces
- Origin
- Soviet Union
- Service note
- World War II design retained in limited Yemeni service during the 2010s conflict
Tanks
T-34/85 Tank
The T-34/85 is the 85 mm-gun version of the Soviet T-34 medium tank. In Yemen, surviving vehicles from older North and South Yemeni inventories were reactivated during the Yemen Civil War, where open-source reporting documented their limited use as obsolete but mobile direct-fire support rather than modern tank-on-tank systems.
- Conflict side
- Yemeni government and coalition forces
Service History
- In service
- 1944 onward; retained or reactivated in limited Yemeni use during the 2010s
- Used by
- Yemeni government and coalition-aligned forces, Houthi-aligned forces
- Wars
- Yemen Civil War, North Yemen Civil War
Production History
- Designer
- Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau
- Designed
- T-34 design work began in the late 1930s; T-34/85 production began in 1944
- Unit cost
- Not applicable for reactivated legacy Yemeni stocks
- Produced
- 1944-1946 in the USSR; postwar licensed production in Poland and Czechoslovakia
- Number built
- About 50,000 T-34/85 tanks according to The Tank Museum
- Variants
- T-34/85, T-34/85 Model 1969
Specifications
- Crew
- 5
- Main armament
- 85 mm ZiS-S-53 tank gun
- Secondary armament
- Two 7.62 mm DT machine guns
- Weight
- About 32 tonnes
- Speed
- About 55 km/h
- Armor
- Up to about 90 mm
Conflict Usage
- Yemen Civil War
- Side: Yemeni government and coalition forcesRole: Legacy direct-fire infantry support
Open-source defense reporting documented a pro-Saudi T-34-85 hit by a Houthi anti-tank guided missile near Damt in January 2019, while other reporting described reactivated Yemeni T-34s being used as mobile direct-fire support during the war.
T-34/85 Tank Images
.jpg)
Related Weapon Systems
ATS-59-122Tracked 122 mm self-propelled artillery conversionThe ATS-59-122 is a rare Yemeni self-propelled artillery conversion that mounts a 122 mm artillery piece on the Soviet ATS-59/ATS-59G tracked artillery tractor family. In the Yemen Civil War record it is best treated as a sparsely documented Houthi-aligned battlefield fire-support system, with sources supporting the chassis family, the Yemeni 122 mm conversion, and related Tokchon-style ATS-59 self-propelled gun use.
M113Armored personnel carrierA simple, adaptable tracked armored carrier used for troop transport, evacuation, and support roles, including partner-supplied Ukrainian vehicles, Israeli M113 conversions used as explosive demolition vehicles in Gaza, and M113/M113M vehicles documented in the Yemen Civil War inventory and coalition ground-war context.
M113 with AML-90 TurretImprovised tracked fire-support vehicleThe M113 with AML-90 turret is a Yemeni field conversion that combines the tracked M113 armored personnel carrier hull with the turret and 90 mm gun associated with the Panhard AML-90 armored car. In the Yemen Civil War it appears as a limited, improvised direct-fire vehicle rather than a standardized production variant.
AML-90 armored carShort equipment typeThe AML-90 is a French Panhard 4x4 armored car armed with a 90 mm gun, with documented Yemeni Army service before the Yemen Civil War.BTR-152Short equipment typeThe BTR-152 is a Soviet six-wheeled armored personnel carrier, represented here for documented Yemen Civil War use as an improvised Houthi gun carrier.BTR-40 armored personnel carrierShort equipment typeThe BTR-40 is a Soviet 4x4 armored personnel carrier built for light troop transport and reconnaissance, and this archive entry tracks its later conflict-era appearances in Yemen and Ukraine records.Sources
T-34/85 Tank Collection PagePublisher: The Tank Museum | Note: Supports T-34/85 background, manufacturer-country context, production count, crew, armament, weight, speed, and armor specifications. | Accessed: 2026-06-20Houthi Rebels Destroyed World War II-era T-34 TankPublisher: Defence Blog | Note: Supports Yemen Civil War direct use: a T-34-85 used by pro-Saudi/Yemeni-government-aligned forces was reported hit near Damt in January 2019. | Accessed: 2026-06-20Russian World War 2 T-34 Tanks Still Fighting in Yemen WarPublisher: Army Recognition | Note: Supports Yemen Civil War direct use: T-34/85 tanks were reported used to fight in Yemen, with images described as Yemeni T-34/85 tanks in action. | Accessed: 2026-06-20WWII Weapons in Yemen's Civil WarPublisher: wwiiafterwwii | Note: Supports Yemen Civil War direct use: reactivated T-34s were described as used by Yemeni national army, anti-Houthi, and Houthi forces as mobile direct-fire support. | Accessed: 2026-06-20T-34-85 Tank in North Yemen During Civil War ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and public-domain status for the primary image of a T-34-85 in Yemen. | Accessed: 2026-06-20T-34-85 in the Kubinka Tank Museum Outside ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and public-domain status for an exterior T-34-85 reference image. | Accessed: 2026-06-20T-34-85 Tank USSR ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and CC0 public-domain dedication for a museum T-34-85 reference image. | Accessed: 2026-06-20T-34-85 BG ImagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports image provenance and CC BY-SA 4.0 license for a Bulgarian museum T-34-85 reference image. | Accessed: 2026-06-20