T-80B
Contents
Description
The T-80B is a Rank VII Soviet medium tank
with a battle rating of 10.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.81 "The Valkyries".
The T-80B is visually similar to the T-64B, it retains the same rounded turret, sloped frontal armour and skirted sides, as well as the same jacketed 125 mm smoothbore gun. The turret bears different kit, however, such as the use of rounded storage bins and a snorkel tube. The same NSVT 12 mm machine gun is fitted, but this time it is used with 150-round boxes instead of the 100-round boxes found on the T-64B. The T-80B retains the same rubber-mesh screens covering the upper portion of the tracks. The frontal glacis has an additional 30 mm plate of HHRA welded onto it. This replaces the regular V-shaped “splash plate” found on the T-64B. The primary difference between the T-80B and its predecessor is the significantly improved engine which offers increased mobility.
General info
Survivability and armour
The T-80B encounters the same weaknesses and strengths as the T-64 line does - extremely strong turret cheeks, an average upper front glacis with a large weak spot around the driver's port, and a lack of composite on the lower front plate. It's also vulnerable to the same incoming fire as the T-64B - turret shots will often disable the gun breech; penetrating shots on the hull will often detonate the ammunition in the carousel.
As with the T-64B, the T-80B is best used in hull-down positions where only the turret is exposed - and unlike the T-64B, it has an acceptable reverse speed for utilising cover.
Mobility
The T-80B has a turbine engine which produces significantly more power than the T-64B's diesel - top speed and maneuverability are both improved thanks to this but the most significant change is the acceleration - the T-80B is able to achieve reasonable speeds both off- and on-road and maintain them much better than the T-64B. More importantly, the reverse speed is nearly doubled from the measly 4km/h on the T-64B to 7km/h - still not ideal but a big improvement.
Thanks to the improvements, the T-80B is a much better match for the Abrams/Challenger/Leopard series - it's still not the fastest but it's a much closer race.
Armaments
Main armament
Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: {{main|Name of the weapon}}. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.
Additional armament
Some tanks are armed with several guns in one or more turrets. Evaluate the additional weaponry and give advice on its use. Describe the ammunition available for additional weaponry. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage. If there is no additional weaponry remove this subsection.
Machine guns
Offensive and anti-aircraft machine guns not only allow you to fight some aircraft, but also are effective against lightly armoured vehicles. Evaluate machine guns and give recommendations on its use.
Usage in battles
The T-80B should be played like a T-64B, using your powerful gun and decent armor to pick off enemies in the distance. When needed, the T-80B can perform flanking runs with its decent speed. However the T-80B should not be played like an M1 Abrams, as the tank will explode when anything penetrates your armor.
When playing in large maps such as "Kursk" and "Maginot Line" use the mobility of the T-80B to get into a hull-down position and make use of the T-80B's armament as well as its phenomenal turret armor to pick-off faraway enemy tanks. When playing in small maps such as "Normandy" and "Poland", use the mobility of the T-80B to flank enemy tanks as you would with the "M1 Abrams" or similar western MBT.
Some threats to be worried about:
- Type 90 can penetrate any part of your tank and any plausible range. So don't get hit by it. The same goes for AMX-40
- An ATGM will result in a ammo detonation or crew kill. It is extremely important to get the Kontact-1 ERA modification as soon as possible, because those ERA blocks will save you from helicopters. If you do not have the ERA modification, pay attention to the skies, try to maintain some sort of cover, as you will usually have 1-3 seconds of reaction time from detecting an ATGM and getting hit by one.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Very good composite armour.
- Powerful main gun with great stabilizers and accuracy.
- Very good mobility
- Small vehicle
- Decent reverse speed of 12 km/h
- Autoloader like the T-64.
- Good chemical munitions protection with the ERA upgrade
Cons:
- Same autoloader as the T-64, same rate of fire and weakspot.
- 3 crew member makes it hard to survive on the battlefield.
- Bad gun depression, the generic trouble of Soviet tanks.
- Not a very fast turning turret.
- Lower frontal hull armour devoid of composite armour.
- Breech is easily damaged.
History
Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the ground vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an 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>, as well as adding them at the end of the article.
Media
Skins and camouflages for the T-80B from live.warthunder.com.
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
| USSR medium tanks | |
|---|---|
| T-28 | T-28 (1938) · T-28 · T-28E |
| T-34-76 | T-34 (Prototype) · T-34 (1940) · T-34 (1941) · T-34 (1st Gv.T.Br.) · T-34 (1942) · T-34E STZ · T-34E |
| T-34-57 | T-34-57 · T-34-57 (1943) |
| T-34-85 | T-34-85 (D-5T) · T-34-85 · T-34-85E |
| T-34-100 | T-34-100 |
| T-44 | T-44 · T-44-100 · T-44-122 |
| T-54 | T-54 (1947) · T-54 (1949) · T-54 (1951) |
| T-55 | TO-55 · T-55A · T-55AM-1 · T-55AMD-1 |
| T-62 | T-62 · T-62M-1 |
| T-64 | Object 435 · T-64A (1971) · T-64B |
| T-72 | T-72A · T-72AV (TURMS-T) · T-72B · T-72B (1989) · T-72B3 · T-72M2 Moderna |
| T-80 | T-80B · T-80U · T-80UD · T-80UK · T-80UM2 · Т-80U-Е1 · T-80BVM · Object 292 |
| T-90 | Т-90А · T-90M |
| Trophies/Lend-Lease | |
| Germany | ▂T-III · ▂T-V |
| Great Britain | ▂МК-IX "Valentine" |
| USA | ▂M3 Medium · ▂M4A2 |
