According to the Ukrainian state-owned defense holding Ukroboronprom, the contract for the supply of Oplot-T Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) to Thailand ended successfully. A new batch of Oplot MBT was tested under the presence of Thai Defense Ministry officers and will soon be sent to Thailand.

Ukrainian-made Opolot main battle tank for Thailand during field tests in Ukraine (Picture source Ukroboronprom)

The contract was completed despite the announce by Thailand to purchase Chinese VT-4 main battle tank instead of the Ukrainian tank, due to the long-term delivery schedule. in November 2017, Thailand had received 31 of the T-84 Oplot-T tanks, with an additional five tanks heading to Thailand by ship and the final batch of the remaining 13 tanks already manufactured.

In March 2011, the Royal Thai Army had placed an order for 49 T-84/Oplot-T MBTs from Ukroboronprom. State Administration of Industrial Security Ukraine. The tanks were to be manufactured at the Malyshev plant based in Kharkiv, Ukraine, to replace its fleet of aging American M41A3 Walker Bulldog light tanks, dating from the Vietnam war era. The Oplot-T is an Oplot-M (export version) with some minor modifications to meet local requirements, such as different radio, air conditioner and so on

As a reminder, the T-84 is a development of the Soviet T-80UD. It was first built in 1994 and entered service in the Ukrainian army in 1999. Its high-performance opposed-piston engine makes it one of the fastest MBTs in the world, with a power-to-ratio of about 26 HP/ton (19 Kw/t). Ten of them entered Ukrainian service in 2001.

Main armament of the T-84 Oplot consists of one 125 mm KBA-3 (this is the local built version of the Russian 125 mm 2A46M-1) smoothbore gun fitted with a thermal sleeve and fume extractor. This is fed by an automatic loader which is similar to that installed in the T-64 in that the separate loading ammunition is stowed vertically whereas that of the T-72 and T-80 is stowed horizontally.