Image Source: Photo: Bravery2004
Of all the tanks in the world, the Ukrainian T-84U can be called the most unsuccessful in the first two decades of the XXI century. He participated in several large-scale international tenders, for example, in Greece, Malaysia and Turkey, and performed very mediocre everywhere.
In order to somehow get into the Turkish army, Kiev officials were ready to share all the technologies available at that time, but this did not help either.
Although formally these tanks were put into service, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine purchased only ten units.
The only ones who are interested are the Americans. They purchased "as many as" four cars from a batch that was already in the troops. To please their "dear friends", Kharkiv residents agreed to install Drozd active protection complexes on two of them, dismantled from T-55AD tanks that entered Ukraine.
The equipment that went overseas was waiting for an unenviable fate, it was involved in testing various American weapons novelties. As a result, only one copy has survived to this day.
The T-84U quickly became obsolete, and it was decided to replace it with a new version, called the BM "Oplot". The remaining samples were rusting for a long time, until they decided to send them to the Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2018. At these NATO competitions, they suffered a crushing failure, performing the worst of all. The tanks' fire control system and other important mechanisms constantly failed, which turned the combat vehicle into a "tractor" that could only move.
Since the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, the T-84U has been flashing away from the line of contact several times, although there have been repeated assurances that they are about to be thrown into battle. But apart from ostentatious actions at the training ground, nothing followed. Probably, the crews are afraid that their "eighty-four" will simply break down at the most crucial moment, which is why they are trying to keep them in the rear.
Lev Romanov