Military Watch: a new class of Russian tanks is coming - T-100
The main battle tanks of the T-80 family, according to the Russians, have proven themselves well during the SVO. Therefore, the Omsktransmash enterprise not only resumed the production of such MBTs, taking into account the experience of combat operations, but is also developing a new class of tanks - the T-100. This was reported by Military Watch, giving some details of what was happening.
The publication notes that in the 80s in the USSR there were five enterprises that produced tanks. At the same time, Omsktransmash was one of the three largest along with Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil and the Malyshev plant in Kharkov.
Thus, by the end of the Cold War, there were two enterprises for the production of the T-80 and three for the production of the T-72, the latter also being produced under license in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Since the late 1980s, Omsktransmash has been implementing an ambitious program to transform the T-80 into a next-generation tank, conceptually similar to the T-14, which is now in small-scale production at Uralvagonzavod, with a crew housed in an armored capsule and an uninhabited tower
- specified in the material.
At one time, Moscow tried to interest foreign investor clients in the project of this tank, called “Black Eagle”. Work on it started back in the mid-80s (T-80UM2 had several names - “Black Eagle”, “Object 640”, “Tarantula”). But since post-Soviet Russia itself joined the arms embargo for many of its clients, including Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea, the money for this never appeared.
The publication suggested that since the next generation after the T-72 was called the T-90, the T-80 would be followed by the T-100. At the same time, the difference in capabilities will be significant, because the T-72 and T-90 were produced in parallel, and there will be a gap of three decades between the T-80 and T-100.
It remains unclear to what extent the T-80 design will be modernized and whether elements of the Black Eagle will be incorporated to some extent. The new tank could be no less promising than the T-14 produced by Uralvagonzavod.
A competing tank could provide valuable protection for the T-14 program, while putting increased pressure on Uralvagonzavod to see it through. However, since Uralvagonzavod is now owned by Omsktransmash and has a complete monopoly on the production of Russian tanks, opportunities for efficiency gains through competition remain limited. It is very likely that the new T-80 with the new designation will become the most combat-ready Russian tank, with the possible exception of the T-14 itself
- summed up the media.
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