Russian state media sources reported on January 4 that Army models working on the frontlines the disputed Zaporozhye area have for the primary time obtained modernised T-80BVM tanks. The area has seen Western-supplied armour together with Bradley Preventing Autos and Leopard 1 tanks take significantly heavy losses since hostilities there escalated in June 2023. The supply of latest T-80s comes as a rising variety of reviews have highlighted a powerful desire amongst Russian models for the tank class, which is assumed to have influenced the choice introduced in September 2023 to restart manufacturing of the tank class virtually 1 / 4 century after manufacturing traces closed. Talking to reporters, the unnamed commander of the unit in Zaporozhye which obtained the brand new tanks emphasised that the reliability and manoeuvrability of the brand new T-80BVM tanks had been superior to different tanks such because the German-suppled Leopards being extensively utilized by Ukrainian forces. “The identical Leopards are drowning within the mud, they’re always, always drowning. We will noticed from drones how they’re being taken out [of the mud]. Our car has a fuel turbine engine, it’s not afraid of mud or slush, it flies over all potholes. That is the distinction that permits our tank models to function in any climate, help infantry and overcome enemy trenches and dugouts with out slowing down,” he noticed. Whereas the Leopard 1 has lengthy since been thought-about out of date, mode fashionable Leopard 2s obtainable in smaller numbers have additionally taken heavy losses and severely struggled with the native terrain.
Relating to the capabilities of the most recent T-80 variants, the commander acknowledged when interviewed by native media: “We’ve obtained a very new car. The car has a essentially new communication system … It can’t be jammed, it really works very properly. Its sound is high-quality, clear, there are not any interruptions. The machine can be outfitted with a very new safety system.” He added that “extra armour modules had been put in on the tank, enabling it to face up to strikes from drones and anti-tank missiles.” Whereas there are rising indicators that Russia has struggled to extend tank manufacturing, the nation’s defence sector has been extremely profitable in modernising and refurbishing over 1000 Soviet constructed tanks that had been beforehand in storage to equip frontline models in 2023. The T-80 is by far the costliest tank class in frontline use, and though mass produced within the Soviet period noticed manufacturing shortly contract after the state’s disintegration because the much less succesful T-72 and its by-product the T-90 had been thought-about a lot more economical each to provide and to function. The T-80’s fuel turbine engine, though considerably including to its upkeep wants, gives a serious benefit in mobility over each different Russian tank lessons and over all Western tanks. Solely the American M1 Abrams additionally makes use of a fuel turbine engine, though these have a lot poorer energy: weight ratios than T-80s as a consequence of their a lot bigger sizes. It’s notable that whereas Ukraine additionally operates a really small variety of T-80s and their indigenous by-product the T-84, these virtually all use cheaper and fewer highly effective diesel engines extra just like these of the T-72, with such low price variants having been in-built Ukraine beneath the T-80UD program within the remaining years of the Chilly Conflict.
