T-80UD

This page is about the Soviet medium tank T-80UD. For other versions, see T-80 (Family).

T-80UD

T-80UD

USSR

VII Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
10.3	10.3	10.3

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:9 270

Description

The T-80UD "Bereza" (Береза, "Birch") is a development of the famous T-80U main battle tank. The T-80U was intended to be a high-tech, high-performance MBT for the Soviet ground forces, featuring advanced fire control systems, strong protection, and high mobility courtesy of a compact but powerful gas turbine engine. However, the latter proved to have notable flaws in service such as poor fuel efficiency, and Soviet planners were interested in an alternative model with a diesel engine. The T-80UD emerged in 1985 with a 1,000 hp 6TD opposed-piston diesel engine originally designed as an upgrade for the T-64 and entered service alongside its turbine sibling before the fall of the Soviet Union. After 1991, as the design bureau and factory responsible for the T-80UD were located in the former Ukrainian SSR, the T-80UD served as the basis for a number of new tank designs in the Ukrainian T-84 family.

Introduced in Update "Alpha Strike", the T-80UD is effectively a downgraded T-80U. It looks nearly identical from the front aside from minor details such as the mudflaps and the arrangement of the turret roof ERA, but from the rear it's clear that the engine compartment takes after the fellow opposed-piston-engined T-64s. The replacement of the GTD-1250 turbine results in a noticeable drop in mobility from 27 hp/ton to about 22, not even matching the older T-80B, but it's still more mobile than the T-72B. It also has not been provided thermal optics or the top 3BM46 "Svinets" APFSDS. In other regards it is essentially still a T-80U, and its lower battle rating puts it on par with the T-72B where its strong armour, fast reload, and decent mobility make it a competitive option for the battlefield.

General info

Survivability and Armour

ERA

Effective action against the cumulative ammunition

Composite armour

Balanced protection against all types of ammunition

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

ESS

Creation of a smoke screen in the direction of movement of the vehicle

Self-entrenching equipment

Creation of ramparts and trenches in soft ground

Armourfront / side / back

Hull105 / 80 / 50

Turret180 / 160 / 65

Crew3 people

Visibility79 %

The T-80UD's armour scheme is generally quite similar to the original T-80U. The turret has been slightly revised compared to the original T-80U but aside from better coverage of Kontakt-5 on the roof, it is currently modeled in-game with identical composites and armour layout. The turret has strong kinetic protection in general and is virtually immune to contemporary APFSDS. However, note that the space occupied by the IR searchlight to the right of the gun does not have Kontakt-5, and there is no thermal upgrade as on the T-80U that would replace it with an extra section of ERA. Since the composite armour alone doesn't have amazing chemical protection, ATGMs with at least 600 mm of penetration can punch through that spot and knock out the commander.

The frontal hull has few external differences from the T-80U, but a look in the X-Ray viewer shows that the composition of the composite armour is a 50-30-35-30-50 stackup of alternating HHRA and textolite, compared to the normal T-80U's 50-30-50-30-50. It provides somewhat less protection as a result, but still holds up well given the decreased battle rating. Just be more cautious during full uptiers or if battle damage has stripped away the Kontakt-5.

Typical Soviet MBT weakspots still apply; LFP, driver's viewport, etc. Fuel tanks are prone to exploding when hit. The small number of crew (3 crew members) drastically reduces the tank's survivability as a shot through the driver's viewport is likely to knock out the driver and one turret crew. The autoloader is located right underneath the turret crew and ammo detonation is very likely when a round penetrates. Side armour is negligible with small pockets of Kontakt-5 near the front offering protection against weaker HEAT rounds and miniscule protection against kinetic rounds.

Armour type:

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	___ mm	___ mm Top ___ mm Bottom	___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Turret	___ - ___ mm Turret front ___ mm Gun mantlet	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm	___ - ___ mm
Cupola	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm	___ mm

Notes:

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB67 / 5 km/h

RB and SB60 / 5 km/h

Number of gears7 forward

1 back

Weight46.0 t

Engine power

AB1 908 hp

RB and SB1 000 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB41.5 hp/t

RB and SB21.7 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	67	5	46	1,550	1,908	33.7	41.48
Realistic	60	5		884	1,000	19.22	21.74

The T-80UD's mobility is a few steps back from the T-80U, and even the earlier T-80B given the 25% loss in engine horsepower. The new power-to-weight ratio of 21.7 hp/ton (about the same as the T-90A) is still quite good when compared to the likes of the T-72B (1989), Challenger Mk.2, and ZTZ96A, but a new drawback is that it also doesn't use the standard T-80 transmission with up to -11 km/h in reverse. Instead, it has a pitiful -5 km/h reverse speed just like the T-72s and T-64s.

Modifications and economy

Repair cost

AB3 363

RB3 260

SB3 794

Crew training10 000

Experts1 160 000

Aces2 100

Research Aces2 150 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

2 × 150 / 200 / 250 %

2 × 232 / 232 / 232 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Suspension Brake System Filters Transmission Engine	Improved Parts Dozer Blade Improved FPE Smoke grenade Crew Replenishment ESS	Horizontal Drive 125mm_ussr_APDS_FS_ammo_pack Adjustment of Fire Laser rangefinder Elevation Mechanism 125mm_ussr_ATGM_ammo_pack Artillery Support

Armaments

Laser rangefinder

Reduces the error and increases the maximum measurable distance of the rangefinder

Main armament

125 mm 2A46M-1 cannon

Two-plane stabilizer

Reduces the swing of the gun in two planes while moving

Autoloader

Automatically feeds projectiles into the breech. The speed does not depend on the skills of the loader

Ammunition45 rounds

First-order28 rounds

Reload6.5 s

Vertical guidance-5° / 15°

The T-80UD still uses the standard 125 mm 2A46M-1 cannon, but a nice perk is that it retains the faster 6.5 second reload of the T-80U as opposed to the 7.2 second reload of the T-72s, T-64s, and T-80B. It also keeps the comfortable optics and commander override, which are nice quality of life and survivability improvements.

125 mm 2A46M-1					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Autoloader
Arcade	45	-5°/+15°	±180°	Two-plane	22.8	31.6	38.4	42.5	45.2	6.50
Realistic					14.3	16.8	20.4	22.6	24.0

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
3BK18M	HEATFS	550	550	550	550	550	550
3OF26	HE	42	42	42	42	42	42
3BM42	APFSDS	457	454	445	431	419	406
9M119	ATGM	700	700	700	700	700	700

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
3BK18M	HEATFS	905	19	0.05	0.1	2.79	65°	72°	77°
3OF26	HE	850	23	0.3	0.1	5.24	79°	80°	81°
3BM42	APFSDS	1,700	4.85	-	-	-	78°	80°	81°

Missile details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Range (m)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg)	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
9M119	ATGM	445	4,000	16.5	0.05	0.1	5.72	80°	82°	90°

Besides lacking the top 3BM46 Svinets APFSDS, the T-80UD has access to the remainder of the T-80U's arsenal, putting it on par with the T-72B but enjoying a speedier reload. As a premium vehicle, all ammunition types are unlocked from the start and generally the most worthwhile choices are the standard 3BM42 Mango APFSDS for general anti-armour duties and the 9M119 Refleks gun-launched ATGM for special cases. The single-charge 9M119 can't boast especially high penetration and can often be blocked by NATO composite armour, but its 5.72 kg explosive mass actually exceeds that of the 3OF26 HE shell. It's useful for cleaning up light targets, harassing nearby (within 4 km) helicopters, and splashing enemy MBTs with overpressure damage when the opportunity arises. However, it may not always detonate on CITVs and other peripherals as consistently as the HE shell would and targets might notice the missile in flight.

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
45	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

12.7 mm NSVT machine gun

Ammunition450 rounds

Belt capacity150 rounds

Reload5.0 s

Fire rate700 shots/min

Vertical guidance-3° / 66°

Horizontal guidance-40° / 55°

7.62 mm PKT machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition1 250 rounds

Belt capacity250 rounds

Reload8.0 s

Fire rate700 shots/min

12.7 mm NSVT
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	450 (150)	700	-3°/+66°	-40°/+55°

7.62 mm PKT
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	1,250 (250)	700	-	-

Usage in battles

The T-80UD loses many of the main selling points of the T-80 family in terms of mobility and access to thermal sights, but it also brings many of the T-80U's strengths down to a lower battle rating. It can be compared and contrasted to its closest stablemate, the T-72B (1989). The two Soviet tanks have the same ammunition and are both protected with Kontakt-5 ERA, but the elite T-80UD is advantaged in mobility (~22 hp/ton vs ~19 hp/ton), reload speed (6.5 seconds vs 7.1 seconds), gunner optics (low and high zoom levels versus fixed 8x magnification), and fire control (proper commander sight with override vs a simple periscope). Surprisingly, where the humble T-72 has a slight edge is in hull protection. The T-72B upper glacis design, nearly entirely made of spaced steel plates, offers more kinetic defense than the T-80UD's steel and textolite sandwich, and the horizontal autoloader is less likely to be hit by incoming fire than the T-64/T-80 arrangement. But on both tanks, the combination of Kontakt-5 and composite is enough to stop almost all contemporary darts anyway and it's more likely that damaging hits would have gone through weak points.

With both good forward mobility, solid protection, and good optics, the T-80UD can be used for both rushing attacks and sniping. In either case, keep an eye on the battlefield when leaving cover and be careful not to overextend — the standard T-80 reverse speed of -11 km/h could never have been considered fast and the T-80UD's -5 km/h is less than half of that. T-64 and T-72 veterans will obviously be familiar with this drawback, but the T-80UD's imbalance of forward versus backward mobility normally isn't seen in the tech tree until the T-90A. In addition, the lack of thermal sights can be a handicap on maps with lots of cover and foliage when most tanks of other nations have them as standard; the T-72AV (TURMS-T) is a contemporary of the T-80UD despite being grossly inferior in many respects specifically because of its great gunner and commander thermals. The T-80UD's armour allows it to charge straight into combat with less concern than most other tanks but it pays to maintain situational awareness, as there are more than a few vehicles that can send an overconfident or unsuspecting "Bereza" back to the hangar: for all its strengths, Kontakt-5 doesn't mean much to a tandem-warhead ATGM.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Strong Kontakt-5 ERA provides great protection
• Better mobility and reload speed than contemporary Soviet MBTs
• Great gunner and commander optics, with commander override
• Wide variety of ammunition
• Deadly 3BM42 APFSDS round

Cons:

• Lack of thermal sights
• Weaker hull armour than the original T-80U
• Lowest mobility of all T-80s, although not the worst going forwards

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.