T-84 Ukrainian main battle tank

[Ukro Turk]

Service historyIn service 1999–presentUsed by See UsersWarsWar in Donbass[citation needed]Production historyDesignerKMDBDesigned 1993–1994ManufacturerMalyshev FactoryProduced 1994–presentSpecifications (T-80[1])Weight 46 tonnesLength 7.086 m (23 ft 3 in)Width 3.775 m (12 ft 5 in)Height 2.215 m (7 ft 3 in)Crew 3
Elevation +13°, -6°
Armour Steel, composite, ERA
Main
armament
125 mm smoothbore KBA-3 cannon (43 rds)
Secondary
armament
7.62 mm KT-7.62 Coaxial machine gun
12.7 mm KT-12.7 anti-aircraft machine gun
EngineKMDB 6TD-2 6-cylinder diesel
1,200 hp (890 kW)Power/weight 26 hp/tonne
SuspensionTorsion-bars, hydraulic dampers
Ground clearance 0.515 m (1 ft 8.3 in)
Fuel capacity 1,300 l (290 imp gal; 340 US gal)
Operational
range
540 km (340 mi

)Speed 65 km/h (40 mph) – 70 km/h (43 mph)


The T-84 is a Ukrainian main battle tank (MBT), a development of the Soviet T-80 main battle tank. It was first built in 1994 and entered service in the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 1999. The T-84 is based on the diesel-engined T-80 version, the T-80UD. Its high-performance opposed-piston engine makes it one of the fastest MBTs in the world, with a power-to-weight ratio of about 26 horsepower per tonne (19 kW/t). The T-84 Oplot is an advanced version incorporating an armoured ammunition compartment in a new turret bustle; ten of these entered Ukrainian service in 2001. The T-84-120 Yatagan is a prototype model intended for export, mounting a 120 mm gun capable of firing standard NATO ammunition and guided missiles.

• Design

The BM Oplot is a further development of the previous Oplot, which is based on the T-84 main battle tank. The tank has a conventional layout with the driver's compartment at the front, fighting compartment in the middle and engine at the rear, accommodating a crew of three members.

The driver sitting in the centre is provided with a single-piece hatch cover that opens to the right. The commander on the right and the gunner on the left have single-piece hatches.

Tank has a length of 9.7 m (including the forward-facing gun), a width of 3.4 m without removable side skirts, and a height of 2.8 m. The combat weight of the tank is 51 tons.

• Armament

The Oplot MBT is armed with a 125 mm smoothbore KBA-3 cannon, a KT-7.62 (PKT) Coaxial machine gun and a KT-12.7 anti-aircraft machine gun. The main gun is fed by a loading system equipped with conveyor, automatic loader and control system. The ammunition includes high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG), armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding-sabot (APFSDS), high explosive anti tank (HEAT) and gun mount (GM) rounds.

The main gun can also fire a laser guided missile against battle tanks, armoured vehicles and hovering helicopters within the range of 5,000m. The missile can be fired on the move against travelling targets. The tandem warhead fitted on the missile can defeat targets equipped with explosive reactive armour and advanced spaced armour.

The Oplot has 46 rounds of ammunition for the main gun, of which 28 rounds are placed in the automatic loader. Other ammunition types carried are 1,250 rounds for KT-7.62 machine gun, 450 rounds for KT-12.7 machine gun and 450 rounds for AKS submachine gun.

• Fire Control

The vehicle has three forward-facing periscopes in front of the driver's cupola. The centre periscope can be replaced with a night driving device.

The fire control system includes a gunner's day sight, PNK-6 commander's panoramic sighting system, PTT-2 thermal imaging sight, anti-aircraft sight and anti-aircraft machine gun control system. Detection range of targets for thermal sighting system is up to 8 km.

The tank is also equipped with LIO-V ballistic computer, armament stabiliser and other systems.

The advanced fire-control system enables the gunner or commander to lay and fire the main armament on the move. The stationary and moving targets can be hit with a high first round hit probability.

• Protection

The protection system includes multilayer passive armour, Duplet explosive reactive armour, Zaslon active protection system, Varta optronic countermeasures system and other tank protection means.

Built-in new generation Duplet anti-tandem-warhead explosive reactive armour protects against APFSDS, (HESH) or high-explosive plastic (HEP) and HEAT-type projectiles.

Duplet ensures protection against:

• hand anti-tank grenades, hand-held and stationary grenade launchers and recoilless guns (including ammunition with tandem warheads)
• anti-tank missiles of TOW-2, MILAN and Shturm-S type
• HEAT projectiles fired by 125 mm tank smoothbore guns
• APFSDS projectiles fire by 125 mm and 120 mm tank guns

Both sides of the driver's compartment are fitted with explosive reactive armour panels for extended protection. The hull sides are hinged with large rubber skirts to withstand the attacks of man-portable anti-tank weapons. The modular explosive reactive armour package can be easily replaced or upgraded according to the future requirements.

Oplot features a Varta optronic countermeasures system for deceiving incoming missiles and anti-tank guided weapons. The system integrates laser warning sensors, infra-red jammer and smoke / aerosol screen laying system. The optronic countermeasure system provides:

• confusing of the guidance systems of ATGM by putting out laser jamming covering the horizontal plane of ±18° relative to the main gun tube and ±2° in the vertical plane
• jamming of the ATGM guidance systems that use laser illumination of targets, semi-automatic laser guided homing projectiles as well as artillery systems equipped with laser range-finders by activating the remote fast-deploying aerosol screens in a sector of ±45° relative to the main gun tube

Crew's collective protection system ensures protection of the crew and interior equipment against effects of nuclear explosions, radioactive substances, toxic agents and biological warfare agents, as well as detection and suppression of fires in the crew compartment and power pack compartment.

The Oplot tank can withstand an explosion of up to 10 kg trinitrotoluene (TNT) under the tank track and up to 4 kg TNT under the driver's compartment. The vehicle has overpressure-type NBC protection system and can be fitted with track mine-clearing systems.

• Mobility

BM Oplot is powered by a 6TD-2E 6-cylinder turbocharged liquid-cooled engine, which delivers 1,200 hp (882 kW). It is improved and more environmentally friendly version of the previous 6TD-2 diesel engine, used on the T-84 MBT. Also tank would be powered by a more powerful 6TD-3diesel, developing 1,500 hp. Both engines could use diesel, jet engine fuel, petrol or any mixtures of them.

The engine provides a maximum on-road speed of 70 km/h and a range of 500 km with additional fuel tanks. The battle tank is also equipped with a diesel-electric auxiliary power unit (10 kW) to supply power to onboard systems when the main engine is turned off.

BM Oplot is equipped with torsion bar type suspension. Either side of the six dual rubber-tyred road wheels are provided with idler at forward, drive sprocket at the rear, and track support rollers.

The first, second and sixth road wheel stations are fitted with hydraulic shock absorbers. The tank can negotiate a gradient of 320 and side slope of 250. Equally, the tank can ford a water depth of 5m using deep water fording equipment.

T-84 Oplot-T"BM Oplot-T" is an export version for Thailand It has some minor modifications to meet local requirements, such as different radio, air conditioner and so on. Thailand ordered 49 of these main battle tanks. Originally it was planned that all of these MBTs will be delivered by 2014. However due to ongoing military conflict in Ukraine by 2017 only 25 of these tanks were delivered.