T-80 MBT

Main Battle Tank - Russia

The T-80 is a main battle tank designed and manufactured at the Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) under the direction of Nikolai S Popov, with the prototype being designated the Obiekt 219. The T-80 is a development of the Russian main battle tank T-64, the T-80 was the first Russian-made main battle tank motorised with a gas turbine engine. This was accepted for service in 1976. The T-80 was confused with the Soviet T-72 by some Western analysts, but the T-80 and T-72 are mechanically very different. They are the products of different design bureaus; the T-80 is from the SKB-2 design bureau of the Kirov Factory (LKZ) in Leningrad while the T-72 is from the Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. They are similar in superficial appearance, but the T-80 is based on the earlier T-64 while incorporating features from the T-72, which was a complementary design. In 1996, Cyprus ordered a batch of 41 T-80 series MBTs for its National Guard with all vehicles delivered by early 1997. These were delivered from stock as the only remaining T-80 plant in Russia, at Omsk, has a significant number of T-80U MBTs built for the Russian Army but not delivered because of a shortage of funds. The T-80 is also used by the Republic of Korea, this country bought 33 T-80U. Production of the T-80 has been completed at Leningrad and the other T-80 plant, Kharkov, is now in Ukraine. This facility has built 320 T-80UD MBTs for Pakistan which were delivered between 1997 and late 1999.
T-80B and T-80BV MBTs were used during the First Chechen War. This first real combat experience for T-80 MBTs was unsuccessful as they were used for capturing cities, a task for which they were not very well suited. The biggest losses were suffered during the ill-fated assault on the city of Grozny. The reasons for that included the fact that the forces selected to capture Grozny were not prepared for such an operation while the city was defended by, among others, veterans of the Soviet War in Afghanistan. The T-80 tanks used in this operation either did not have reactive armour (T-80B), or it was not fitted before the start of the operation (T-80BV), and T-80 crews lacked sufficient training before the war.

T-80 MBT variants:

- T-80: basic version (1976)
- T-80B: Can fire the Kobra missile 9K112 (AT-8 Songster), new fire control system, a new generation of K ceramic composite armour. new engine GTD-1000TH turbine engine.
- T-80BK: commander model T-80B with additional communications equipment
- T-80BV: further development of T-80B with the addition of the first generation of Kontakt explosive armour to the hull and the turret.
- T-80BVK: Commander version of T-80BV with additional communications equipment
- T-80U: the second generation of T-80 with a new 125 mm gun, can fire the 9M119 Refleks missile (AT-11 Sniper), new computer firing control system, commander cupola with remote machine gun 12.7 mm, new engine GTD-1250 gas turbine. new armour Kontakt at the front.
- T-80U1: first production of T-80Uequipped with 9K112 Kobra radio-guided anti-tank weapon system
- T-80UD: turbine replaced by 6TF two-stroke diesel developing 1,100 hp, a different transmission and driver controls and built-in second-generation explosive reactive armour.
- T-80UK: command version of the T-80U with additional communications equipment
- T-80UE: This is a T-80UK with some of the command elements removed while retaining the TshU1-7 Shtora-1 countermeasures system.
- T-80UM: new power engine 1.250 hp gas turbine, deep fording kit and Agava M1 computerized fire control system
- T-80UM1: fitted with the more advanced Arena (or Kazt) Defensive Aid Suite (DAS), new engine GTD-1250G
- T-80UM2: T-80 chassis fitted with a new turret, armed with a 125 mm gun fed by a bustle-mounted automatic loader, equipped with the first generation of Drozd-1 defensive aids suite.