As proven by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, tanks are still playing a major role in war. Since the onset of the military intervention, Moscow has lost somewhere between 40-50% of its fleet of armored vehicles. Some MBTs were left behind in battle, others were doomed by anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), and more were not adequately modernized or maintained. The Russian tanks used in Ukraine, including the T-62, T-64, T-80 and T-90 armored vehicles have also shown to provide little adaptability. Ukraine on the other hand is benefitting from an influx of more sophisticated Western MBT shipments in the upcoming months, including the M1 Abrams, Challenger 2 and Leopard 2 vehicles. The country’s first homegrown MBT, the T-84 Oplot, has also made headlines for its formidability.
The Oplot was derived from a Soviet-era tank
These powerful MBTS were developed from the Soviet Union’s T-80 UD program during the Cold War. After the USSR collapsed, Ukraine was left with thousands of T-80 MBTs that required components from the newly installed Russian Federation.
Ukraine decided to create its own indigenous armored vehicle at this time based off the T-80 platform. While the T-84 is a modern tank, Ukraine was not able to fund its large-scale production due to budget constraints and a lack of prioritization.
Around two decades ago, a Kharkiv-based factory produced 10 copies of the Oplot to complement Ukraine’s functional fleet of Soviet T-64 MBTs. Only six T-84s remain following the sale of four tanks to the U.S. for evaluation.
What makes the T-84 special?
Although the MBT is derived from the Soviet T-80 armored vehicle, the Oplot hosts significant improvements. The T-84 features blow-out panels for safer ammunition storage, a welded turret and high-performance diesel engine that makes the hefty tank one of the fastest in the world. In fact, the engine enables the T-84 to realize 1,200 horsepower and a power-to-weight ratio of 26 horsepower per ton.
The tank’s armament, however, is similar to the T-80, including its 125mm smoothbore main gun, a KT-7.62 Coaxial machine gun and a KT-12.7 anti-aircraft machine gun. Various ammunition can be loaded into the main cannon, including high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds) and armor piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot. A 6TD-2 turbocharged diesel engine provides 1,200 horsepower to the Oplot.
According to Sofrep, the survivability of the T-84 tank is said to be “much more improved over the T-80, utilizing the latest generation NOZH explosive reactive armor package and Duplet anti-tandem-warhead explosive reactive armor, which gives it more protection against APFSDS and HEAT projectiles.
More so, this armor was fitted to the hull and the turret, providing it more survivability against modern anti-tank weapons.
Though, we have yet to see the reality of how it performs as no word from the field has been reported of a Ukrainian T-84 being destroyed by Russian anti-tank weapons.”
Moscow recently claimed that its Kornet anti-tank missile could take out a German-made modern MBT. The Kremlin is clearly gearing up to acquire more ATGMs before Ukraine’s influx of Western armored vehicles occurs.
Ukraine’s singular platoon of Oplot tanks have a better chance of surviving a Russian barrage than its less advanced counterparts.
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Maya Carlin, a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
