Image Source: Photo: Bravery2004
At the end of the 80s, the USSR once again tried to create a new generation tank, which was supposed to successfully fight not only with existing Abrams and Leopards, but also with promising equipment that could appear in the West both in the 90s and later.
However, something went wrong with the designers from Kharkov from the very beginning - their brainchild was too complicated and expensive.
Therefore, it is not surprising that other design bureaus have their own proposals and views on the future. For example, in Leningrad, they were going to install a modified turret with a 152-mm gun on the T-80.
The tests of the Object 292 carried out soon (the prototype became known as that) demonstrated that the usual chassis of the "eighties" is quite suitable for such a super-gun, which turns the tank into a real killer of any NATO heavy equipment.
The resulting option would be much simpler, and accordingly, not as expensive as the "Hammer" of the Malyshev plant.
At that time, 1500-horsepower gas turbines were already created, which significantly increased the mobility characteristics.
As people who participated in this project said, most likely, the T-80 would have retained its name, perhaps a new letter was simply added to it, and with proper funding, everything could have been completed in just three years.
