T-80 Main Battle Tank

 

The T-80 retains the low silhouette of the earlier Russian tanks. The suspension consists of six forged steel-aluminum rubber-tired road wheels, drive sprocket at the rear, idler at the front, and five return road wheels. The rubber-tired road wheels are in two halves that are bolted together. The road wheel spacing is not identical and there are distinct gaps between the second and third, fourth and fifth, and fifth and sixth road wheels. The side skirt covers the return rollers. The rubber-bushed, double-pin track has rubber track pads and U-shaped track guides. The T-80 has a distinct oblong exhaust outlet in the hull rear. The driver's hatch is centered at the top of a sharply sloped upper glacis. Integrated fuel cells and stowage containers give a streamlined appearance to the fenders. The tank has a toothed shovel/dozer blade on the front of the hull beneath the glacis. There are attachment points beneath the blade for the KMT-6 mine-clearing plow. The low, rounded turret is centered on the hull. The commander's cupola is on the right side of the turret, the gunner's hatch is on the left side. The 125-mm main gun has a four section removable thermal shield. It has two sections in front of, and two sections to the rear of the mid-tube bore evacuator. A 7.62-mm coaxial machine-gun is mounted to the right of the mantlet. The infra-red searchlight is mounted on the right of the main armament. Banks of electrically operated smoke dischargers are mounted either side of the 125-mm gun/missile launcher, normally five on the left and four on the right. The T-80 has a GTD-1000 gas-turbine engine developing 1100 hp coupled to a manual transmission with five forward and one reverse gears. This is the first former Soviet operational tank to be powered by a gas-turhorns. The glacis plate is of the laminate type for improved protection against kinetic energy and HEAT attack and there is a dozer blade under the nose of the vehicle. The turret is steel with an inner layer of special armor; the gunner sits on the left and the tank commander on the right. The T-80 MBT uses the same 125-mm gun and horizontal ammunition system as the T-72 whereas the T-64 uses a 125-mm 2A26 gun with vertical ammunition stowage. The fire control system is an improvement over that fitted to earlier former Soviet tanks. This tank can fire either the AT-8 Songster ATGM or four types of separate loading ammunition, e.g., projectile and semi-combustible cartridge case. These four rounds are HE-FRAG (FS), HEAT-FS, APFSDS-T and Flechette. A total of six AT-8 Songster ATGMs are carried and these are identical to those launched by the T-64B MBT deployed some years ago. A 7.62-mm PKT machine gun is mounted coaxially to the right of the main armament and a 12.7-mm NSV machine gun is mounted on the commander's cupola. To extend the operational range of the T-80, additional fuel tanks can be mounted at the hull rear. These can be quickly jettisoned if required. Standard equipment includes snorkels for deep fording operations that are carried on the turret rear when not required, an overpressure type NBC protection system, night vision equipment for all three crew members, unditching beam carried across the hull rear and a laser warning device activated by laser rangefinders, laser designators or precision-guided munitions fitted with a laser guidance device. Mounted on the turret rear is a large circular container that carries two snorkels. The larger one is the snorkel for the gas-turbine, with another one being fitted onto the radiator grill by means of two adapters. This provides an air intake for the gas-turbine.

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Specifications
 Crew:	3 (commander, driver, gunner)
Introduced:	early 1980s
Length:	9.20 m
Width:	3.60 m
Height:	2.30 m
Weight:	42.0 tons
Engine:	V-12 1200 hp gas turbine
Max road speed:	60 km/h
Fuel capacity:	1000 liters
Road range:	350 km (500 km with auxiliary fuel tanks)
Trench crossing:	2.70 m
Vertical step:	0.80 m
Max gradient:	30°
Fording	5.5 m with snorkel
Armament
Gun caliber:	115 mm
Elevation:	-5° - +18°
Rate of fire:	6-8 rounds per minute
Ammo types:	Frag-HE (FS) HEAT-FS HVAP-FSDS
Max range:	20000+ m
Effective range:	2000 m
Basic load:	40 rounds
Secondary armament:	1 x 12.7 mm 1 x 7.62 mm

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