Azov brigade unveils upgraded T‑80U tanks boosting survivability
Soldiers from the Azov Brigade showcased their T-80U tanks and modifications that have significantly increased their survivability. We present the performance of this armoured spearhead of the Soviet Union.
The "Azov" Brigade, despite ideological controversies, belongs to the group of the most motivated and best-commanded units in Ukraine. For this reason, its battalions are often sent to the most challenging sections of the front, for instance, to relieve other surrounded Ukrainian units.
For this purpose, the unit receives the best possible equipment, and the T-80U tanks are among these, significantly surpassing in performance and protection most machines from the T-72 or T-64 family, which Ukrainian tank crews are mostly familiar with. Western machines such as the Leopard 2 tanks or the M1A1 Abrams tanks typically go to new units trained from scratch.
Soldiers of the 12th Azov Brigade spoke in an interview with the Militarnyj portal about their impressions of switching from the T-64 to the T-80U and the changes made to the tank. Navin, who serves as a deputy in the 1st Company, 2nd Armoured Platoon of the 12th Brigade, highly praises the new tanks, calling them a true assault machine compared to other tanks, which he describes as toys.
He especially values the tank's excellent mobility and reverse speed compared to machines from the T-72 family, where the maximum reverse speed is 5 km/h. The Ukrainian also praises the GTD-1250 gas turbine's power, as it is twice as powerful as the engine from the T-64, for a similar weight.
On the other hand, he claims that initially, drivers from the T-64 tanks were not impressed after switching to the T-80U, but once accustomed, none wanted to return to the older machines.
T-80U - armoured spearhead of the Soviet Union
The T-80U tanks were developed in the late 1980s as an evolution of the T-80BW tanks, with better turrets featuring factory reactive armour Kontakt-5, improved fire control systems, and the ability to fire 9M119 Refleks anti-tank guided missiles.
As journalist Łukasz Michalik from Wirtualna Polska wrote, for the Russians, the tanks were a revolution due to the use of a gas turbine providing almost instantaneous torque, compared to a diesel engine that needs to rev up. This feature, along with its mobility, earned them the name "flying tanks" in Russia.
Moreover, the frontal armour of the hull and particularly the turret far exceeds what the basic T-72B offers, whose shells serve as the base for making T-72B3 or T-90M tanks. This means if the T-80U hull is covered with modern reactive armour, the final result could be even better.
However, the downside remains the automatic loader along with the ammunition magazine in the hull, which causes a massive explosion and the immediate death of the crew inside if hit. It's worth noting that Ukrainians developing this project at the Kharkiv Malyshev Plant have designed the T-84 Oplot tank, free from this defect.
It's also worth noting that the Azov Brigade made modifications to the received T-80U tanks to adapt them to the current war conditions. The modifications include adding "Knife" reactive armour blocks where factory Kontakt-5 blocks do not reach, adding curtains with counterweights protecting the connection point of the turret with the hull, and extending the turret bustle in the form of a basket protecting the engine compartment from FPV drones.
