T-80

Description:

The T-80 uses features of both the T-64 and the T-72. It also has some unique features. For example, it has a new type of rubber-tired road wheels. These are larger than the T-64’s, but slightly smaller than the T-72’s. The road wheels are mounted in noticeable pairs, with the middle pair particularly close together. The rubber-bushed, double pin track has rubber track pads and U-shaped track guides. A self-entrenching blade is mounted on the lower glacis. The rear hull has a large exhaust.

The T-80 displays a large left-hand optic, indicating a laser rangefinder. The smoke grenade launchers are moved to the rear of the turret sides to make room for reactive armor boxes. (Reactive armor appears on many T-80s.) The tank also has an enlarged snorkel on the turret rear.

Capabilities:

The T-80 is the most recent Soviet tank to enter series production and it incorporates the latest in Soviet technology. It is capable of firing the AT-8/SONGSTER ATGM through its main gun; it can also fire conventional 125-mm ammunition. It has an autoloader for the main gun. Its armament and optics are like those of the T-64B. Its infrared sight indicates that it lacks a thermal imager.

The T-80 may have enhanced frontal armor; that is, it may have an upper glacisof steel layers enclosing fiberglass layers, and a cast steel turret incorporating nonmetallic materials. It has the same collective NBC protection system and anti-radiation liner as the T-64 and the T-72 tanks.

The T-80 has improved mobility due to an estimated 1,000-hp gas-turbine engine. However, its weight has increased to 42 metric tons.

Limitations:

[None given]

Remarks:

A T-80 prototype existed in 1976, but it did not enter production until the early 1980s. It has been deployed since 1984 in Soviet units in the WGF; that is, the two armies which did not receive the T-64: the 1st Guards Tank Army and the 8th Guards Army. It is likely that the Soviets will initially reserve the T-80 for their own forces, as they did with the T-64.