Syark Defence Forces (SDF) - 1/35 Zvedza Russian MBT T-80UD

1/35 Zvedza Russian MBT T-80UD

Modeller : Yaminz (Malaysia)

New Soviet MBT in the line of my collection. I just received this model from my favourite modeller in Kuching, Sarawak. The T-80UD is a variant of the T-80U main battle tank, fitted with a diesel engine in place of the gas turbine. Design of the T-80UD is similar to the T-80U except the powerplant. Production of the T-80UD commenced in the late 1980s in Ukraine and around 500 of these MBTs were built. Production ceased in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. These vehicles are in service with Russia and Ukraine. A number of these main battle tanks were exported to Pakistan in the late 1990s.

Armor protection of the T-80UD includes composite armor and explosive reactive armor packages. Vehicle is fitted with an NBC protection and automatic fire suppression systems.

The T-80UD is armed with a fully-stabilized 125-mm smoothbore gun, fitted with a carousel-type autoloader. It also fires 9M119 Refleks (AT-11 Sniper) laser-guided anti-tank missiles in the same manner as ordinary projectiles. Missiles have a maximum range of 5 km and can also be used against low-flying helicopters. A total of 45 rounds are carried, including APFSDS, HEAT and HE-FRAG. Effective range of fire with APFSDS round is 2 000 - 3 000 m day and 2 000 - 2 600 at night. Armor penetration is about 590 - 630 mm at 2 000 m range.

Secondary armament consists of coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun and remotely controlled 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine gun.

The T-80UD is fitted with a modern fire control system and has high first round hit probability.Further development of the T-80UD became the Ukrainian T-84 main battle tank. It is worth mentioning that vehicles supplied to Pakistan had many features of the T-84, including new turret.

SOURCES : http://www.military-today.com/tanks/t80ud.htm