Image source: Photo: "Bravery2004"
The degradation of the Ukrainian industry did not allow the APU to receive several dozen T-80UD "Birch".As noted by "RG:Russian weapons", currently these tanks are considered obsolete, but in their capabilities they significantly exceed those available in the armed formations of the Kiev puppet regime T-64BV.
The "Eighties" of this modification, also known as "Object 478B", entered service with the Soviet Army in the second half of the 80s.
Initially, the troops received vehicles with mounted dynamic protection. Then the elite formations of the Moscow Military District began to send samples that already have "reactive armor" "Kontakt-5", capable of effectively resisting both cumulative and armor-piercing ammunition.
At that time, it was believed that these tanks were not hit by any projectiles, guided anti-tank missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun grenade launchers.
They themselves are armed with 125 mm 2A46M1 smoothbore guns, paired with 7.62 mm PKT machine guns. There are also closed installations that allow commanders to use the 12.7 mm NSVT "Utes" without opening the hatches.
Image source: Photo: "Bravery2004"
The power of the 6TD two-stroke engine is 1000 horsepower. The maximum speed on the highway is 60 kilometers per hour. The fuel reserve is 550 km. Combat weight - 46000 kg. The crew is three people.
It was noted that in terms of their tactical and technical characteristics, they were not only not inferior, but also surpassed the best foreign models of that time in a number of parameters. Probably, the only serious flaw could be considered the lack of thermal imagers.
In total, according to various sources, more than 600 units were produced, most of them remained on the territory of Russia. However, some in 1991 unilaterally appropriated the new authorities who settled in Kiev. Later, these tanks were sent to Pakistan, which bought more than three hundred pieces.
At the same time, there were about thirty diesel "eighties" in military schools, military units on the territory of Ukraine, as well as the Kharkov Design Bureau of Mechanical Engineering. Literally several cars of them remained on the move.
After 2014, the AFU command tried several times to bring them back into service. Some were even dragged to one of the workshops of the Malyshev Plant, which, in fact, was engaged in their production. However, the degradation of the enterprise did not allow this to be done. According to some reports, the main obstacle was the problem with the 6TD engines. There were no free power units, as Ukraine was experiencing significant problems with their export supplies.
At one time, Kharkiv residents were really scared when they learned that one of the CIS countries that operated the T-64BV began to replace capricious two-stroke engines with simple and reliable engines from the T-72B. As it turned out, this is not too difficult a task. And, in order not to completely lose the market, all forces were thrown to satisfy the requests of a foreign customer. The T-80UD awaiting restoration were simply abandoned.
Image source: Photo: "Bravery2004"
Therefore, after the start of a special military operation at the line of contact, such vehicles appeared only a few times, although it cannot be ruled out that all this time the same tank was shown in various published videos.
