A video posted by a Russian serviceman shows his exasperation as he examines the six Tunguska self-propelled anti-aircraft guns his unit received, none of which are in working order.

“This is our battery, all 6 Tunguska vehicles, none of which are currently operational. 3 cars can be restored with some repairs. But the repair obviously takes time. The guys in Ulyankovsk (where there is no repair depot) say that it will take from a month to a year,” says the Russian military officer, opening the “presentation”.

“Here’s what we got,” he points out, filming the vehicles on his phone.

“In fact, 5 Tungusoks, except for the light one, which is a corpse that cannot be started because it can catch fire, were overhauled last year. All vehicles underwent maintenance between February and November last year. As a result, we received 5 cars with varying degrees of malfunction,” he continues.

“So not a single machine is combat-ready at the moment. And the sixth one is a corpse,” says a noticeably irritated Russian military officer, adding that “this is equipment given to us by the Ministry of Defense.

“I’m not even talking about TKM (no ammunition support vehicles). All 6 are stationed in Kamyshyn, all 6 are not working,” he added, noting that the auxiliary vehicles do not even have the necessary chargers to lift the ammunition boxes.

“That’s how we prepare to hell to go on a special operation,” he concludes.

How many Tunguska vehicles does the Russian army have?

Although at first glance they may seem like a relic of the past, the Tunguska anti-aircraft vehicles are not as old as other weapons that the Russian military has decommissioned to send to the front, such as the T-54 tanks/ 55, for example.

Entered into the Soviet armed forces in 1976, they remain in Russian service to this day, and before the start of the war in Ukraine, the Russian military is believed to have had 250 such systems.

However, it is unclear how many of them are also capable of combat, as a video released by the Russian military also illustrates.

The independent site Oryx, which monitors the losses of both armies fighting in Ukraine, notes that the Russians allegedly lost 13 Tunguska vehicles, one of which was captured by the Ukrainians.

This car was captured by the Ukrainian military at the end of March last year, probably during the withdrawal of the Russian army from Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.

However, during the war in Ukraine, Tunguska equipment played a less prominent role, as the Russian armed forces relied more on air defense systems with air-to-surface missiles of the Strela type and other designs.

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