Russia’s Bad-Luck Marine Brigade Is Riding 67-Year-Old T-54 Tanks Into Battle, And Getting Massacred By Ukrainian Drones. tank is a tank—even when it’s nearly 70 years old. The problem is that the brigade is doing battle with a modern and reasonably well-equipped Ukrainian brigade armed with explosive first-person-view drones and staffed by some of Ukraine’s most skilled Javelin anti-tank missileers. The 79th Brigade and adjacent 116th Mechanized Brigade for months have been defending Novomykhailivka from the Russian 155th Naval Infantry Brigade and at least one nearby motor-rifle regiment.