In the Russian Federation plan to restore production of T-80: the tank historian explained if it is real

The Russian KB "Omsktransmash" had almost a revolutionary project "Burlak". He had to increase the survival of the crew, but "Uralvagonzavod" set the developers and promoted his project "Armatus". Oleksandr Potapov, CEO of Uralvagonzavoda, said they plan to restore the production of T-80 tanks. In his telegram channel, the tank historian Andrei Tarasenko explained how real the plan will be.

The history of tanco-building in the Russian Federation is that "Uralvagonzavod" absorbed "Omsktransmash" and suppressed the production of T-80 tanks. To do this, the management falsified the data and bought officials to show "how bad the T-80 is. " Instead, Uralvagonzavod was promoted by the T-14 "Armata" project, which Tarasenko says, was essentially a fiasco. The mouth of the tanks, which are still undergoing, has been made.

Its 2V-12-3a engine was developed in the USSR in the 1980s, but since then it has not been finalized. The engine was 1500 horsepower. The potential to further increase the power of the B-2 family engines is already exhausted. Therefore, for "Armati" they are not suitable despite all attempts. Potapov made a statement about receiving the task from the military. However, Tarasenko believes that it will not be "the same T-80". Omsktransmash had a Burlak project.

The peculiarity of the fighting machine was that the charging machine was isolated in the tower in a separate compartment. Thus it was planned to increase the survival of the crew. In addition, such a compartment would allow the use of long armor-piercing ammunition, not 740 mm shells. The expert says that if the issue of fuel isolation in protected compartments was also resolved, the car would be revolutionary.

"Burlak" is a worthy machine that was in the shadow of the titular T-95 and then "Armat". A machine with proven solutions and a completely realistic level for its development in serial production. Unlike "Armat", which even if theory is proved, they will not be able to produce due to the lack of operating engine of 2-in and corresponding production facilities, "Tarasenko writes.

However, the most important for the deployment of tanks is the organization of production capacity and the availability of specialists. Some. Machines need thousands of units that can be bought in China or DPRK. However, the Russian Federation will not be able to solve the problem with personnel, because the KB "Omsktransmash" was disbanded in 2019.