The USSR was a huge state with huge plans and enormous opportunities. The numbers are amazing. According to information from the USSR Ministry of Defense, as of January 1, 1990, there were almost 64,000 tanks. Nobody had that much. Against this background, even the immodest ten thousand American Abrams tanks fade (this is how many MBTs have been produced by the United States over the years). In principle, given that the Soviet armed forces had countless thousands of tanks at their disposal, it is not surprising that there were several types of vehicles, even without taking into account their modifications. This caused difficulties in terms of operation, but they were not supercritical given the number of cars built and the almost limitless possibilities for cannibalizing them, if necessary.
Recall that the T-72 became the most massive tank of the second generation: in total, about 30,000 combat vehicles of various versions were produced. Its twin brother, the T-64, was produced in a more modest batch. A total of 13,100 T-64 tanks (A, B, BV) were built. Experts, as a rule, point to the great technical complexity, "capriciousness" and high cost of 64s in comparison with other Soviet MBTs, which is, not least of all, due to the technical revolutionary nature of the tank (although the very evolution of main battle tanks is a more than controversial issue).
Finally, the final chord of Soviet tank building can be considered the T-80, which, apart from the general concept of the Soviet school of tank building, inherited almost nothing from its "ancestors". This is a completely different vehicle, different from the T-64 and T-72. The number of released 80s is also more modest. The well-known armored expert Alexei Khlopotov notes in a material about the Omsk plant of transport engineering that "without taking into account Kharkov and experimental early machines, which were made in small batches in Leningrad, 5391 T-80B and BV and 431 T-80U were manufactured" (probably meant before the moment of curtailment of production). The number of all produced T-80 tanks of different versions, according to open sources, reaches ten thousand units.
Answering new challenges
Russia as of 2017 had at its disposal about 450 T-80BV and T-80U tanks. Plus thousands more of these machines are in storage. In any case, this is far from the most massive Russian tank: the basis is the T-72B of various versions. Now, we recall that the troops already have more than a thousand modernized T-72B3s (including vehicles of the 2016 model), which personify the future of the Russian armored forces, as well as the general vector of development of this type of troops. In addition, the troops have different versions of the T-90, which, in fact, is just another version of the T-72. And already in the foreseeable future, the army will gradually purchase T-14 based on the "Armata".
In this regard, the news that sounded a couple of years ago turned out to be completely surprising. In 2017, Uralvagonzavod signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense for the modernization of 60 T-80B tanks to the T-80BVM level. This may be just the beginning. Recently, special attention has been focused on this tank.
It is known that the T-80BVM received an improved GTD-1250TF gas turbine engine, which develops power up to 1250 hp. with. and makes an already agile tank a real "hound". In general, gas turbine engines are a separate topic for discussion. According to the assessment of the chief designer of the Ural Carriage Works, Leonid Kartsev, the T-80 had, according to the results of military tests, a kilometer fuel consumption of about 1, 6-1, 8 times more than the T-64 and T-72. That is, in front of us is a very voracious car, despite its relatively small mass.
The problem is that, with good driving characteristics, the tank did not have any great superiority in firepower over its Soviet counterparts. As for the T-80BVM specifically, it, as before, carries a 125-mm 2A46 gun, more precisely - a 2A46M-4, as well as NSVT and PKT machine guns. This does not give a decisive superiority over the latest US and European tanks. The Belarusian "Sosna-U" is called to increase the potential on the battlefield, allowing to fight day and night and under any weather conditions, but in 2019 this will not surprise anyone.
Protection has increased. On the latest version of the T-80BVM, in addition to the "Relikt" ERA set installed on the turret, you can also see a new set of mounted ERA in "soft" containers located on the sides of the combat vehicle. But this measure can hardly be called “revolutionary”. Rather, it is forced.
One more
In general, there is no reason to believe that the T-80BVM will have any advantages over other Russian MBTs. The advantage of the 80-k in terms of mobility has already been largely leveled by the presence of the T-72B3 of the 2016 model, which received the V-92S2F engine, which has a maximum speed of 1130 horsepower. GTD-1250TF of the T-80BVM tank, as noted above, is more powerful. However, not much, and the mass of combat vehicles is approximately equal.
There is, however, one point in favor of the T-80BVM. Earlier, some experts emphasized that it will be easier to start a GTD-1250TF gas turbine engine than a diesel engine if the air temperature is -40 degrees Celsius or lower. However, a number of journalists and bloggers, for example, Kirill Fedorov, well-known in narrow circles, questioned the thesis about the urgent need for the T-80 in low temperatures. The problem of operating diesel engines at low temperatures seems far-fetched. As an example, the German "Leopards" were cited more than once, for which low temperatures never prevented them from maintaining a high level of combat readiness.
In general, the reason for the appearance of the T-80BVM tank in the Russian army is not fully understood. From a practical point of view, this decision does not make sense, since it complicates the operation of the MBT fleet. The T-80BVM tank also cannot become a transitional link on the way to the T-14, since it has no advantages over the T-72B3 of the 2016 model, much less over the T-90M.
On the other hand, the thesis about the corruption component in the issue of upgrading the existing T-80 to the level of the T-80BVM also seems somewhat far-fetched. Rather, we are talking about the Soviet tradition of operating several types of completely different tanks at once, which is harmful and even dangerous at the present time, when the fleet of combat vehicles has narrowed, and the problem of providing it with parts and ammunition, on the contrary, has increased.
In this situation, only one decision seems to be correct: it is a complete rejection of the operation of the T-80 and most of the T-90 in favor of the T-72B3 model of 2016, in order to achieve at least some level of unification of military equipment. Note that even in the event of the decommissioning of the above-mentioned tanks, the treshka of the 2016 model will not immediately become the main and only tank of the Russian Federation, because there will still be other variants of this combat vehicle, including the earlier T-72B3.
The issue of unification is also important because Russia still intends to bring the T-14 to mind. It is now quite clear that he will not completely replace the T-72 in the army. At least in the next ten to fifteen years, and it is likely that it will never change. However, if this machine was already developed, then it makes sense at least to try to put it into operation on a par with the Soviet MBT. Maybe this experience will come in handy when designing a tank in the distant future. The T-80BVM will not help in this matter, it is a legacy of the Soviet era.
