DTN News: Russians Say Many Tanks Sat Derelict For Months

DTN News: Russians Say Many Tanks Sat Derelict For Months Source: DTN News / AP (NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW, Russia - March 3, 2010: 200 Russian tanks found abandoned in forest, residents of a Russian village say scores of modern battle tanks sat abandoned for months on the edge of a snowy forest, but the Russian military insists they were just in transit to a new base and had been guarded the whole time. Amateur video footage posted on Russian Web sites over the weekend showed curious civilians clambering unhindered over the tanks and caught national attention. The Kremlin has announced major military cutbacks and some officials say the army doesn't need half of its 20,000 tanks. Observers wondered if this meant the tanks had simply been left to rust next to a railroad station in the obscure Urals village of Kamishlovsk. But Lt. Gen. Dmitry Burdakov, a spokesman for Russia's Volga Military District, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the tanks had arrived by rail in January and were awaiting pickup by trucks for delivery to a military base, which he said would be completed by mid-March. He said the tanks were not dangerous because they contained no ammunition. Burdakov also disputed contentions by locals who claimed in the videos that they had unhindered access to the tanks, which they said had been present since November. He also declined to say how many tanks there were. The videos said there were between 70 to 200 tanks.

Locals in a nearby village said the tanks had been sitting there for almost four months covered in snow. The armoured vehicles were identified as a mixture of T-80 and T-72 battle tanks, the workhorses of the Russian army. One Web site, life.ru, also showed footage of fenced-off tanks being guarded by military officers. The site said officers arrived to protect the vehicles after the initial media reports surfaced.

DTN News: Cyprus to Purchase Russian T-80U Tanks / Greek-Cypriots To Purchase Russian T-80U Tanks

DTN News: Cyprus to Purchase Russian T-80U Tanks / Greek-Cypriots To Purchase Russian T-80U Tanks

(NSI News Source Info) NICOSIA, Cyprus - June 8, 2009: The government of the Greek-dominated portion of Cyprus plans to purchase new armored vehicles for its armed forces.

The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union. A development of the T-64, it entered service in 1976 and was the first production tank to be equipped with a gas turbine engine for main propulsion (the Stridsvagn 103 only used a supplementary gas turbine by 1971). The T-80U was last produced in a factory in Omsk, Russia, while the T-80UD and further-developed T-84 continue to be produced in Ukraine. The T-80 and its variants are in service in Belarus, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, and Ukraine. The chief designer of the T-80 was the Russian engineer Nikolay Popov.

The T-80 main battle tank has been in production since the late 1970s. KBTM of Omsk, Russian Federation, manufactures the T-80U for general use in infantry and tank units and the T-80UK command tank and XKBM, Kharkov, Ukraine, manufactures the T-80UD and the T-84. 320 T-80UD tanks have been ordered from Ukraine by Pakistan, and are being delivered. In August 2002, it was announced that South Korea is to purchase from Russia a number of T-80 tanks.

Cyprus is the first foreign country to officially obtain T-80 tanks. Russia sold 27 T-80U and 14 T-80UK for $174 million to Cyprus. The tanks arrived in two batches. The first one consisting of 27 T-80U MBTs arrived in 1996 while the second one consisting of 14 T-80UK MBTs arrived in 1997. This significantly reinforced the army of this country the best tank of which up until then was AMX-30B2. New tanks also gave the Cypriot National Guard the edge in a possible confrontation with Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. As of now Cypriot government is interested in buying Ukrainian T-84 MBTs as, in the eyes of Cyprus, the Russians have demanded too much money for their T-80 tanks.

The Greek-Cypriot government will soon conclude a deal to acquire Russian-built tanks. Under this contract, Russia will deliver an unspecified number of T-80U tanks to the Greek-Cypriot National Guard.

The T-80U tanks are built by Omsk Transport Machine-Building Bureau. The island of Cyprus is divided into Greek and Turkish controlled sections.

T-80UD Main Battle Tank Developed By Kharkiv Morozov KMDB

T-80UD Main Battle Tank Developed By Kharkiv Morozov KMDB

(NSI News Source Info) April 15, 2009: The T-80UD main battle tank was developed by the KMDB at the beginning of the 1980s and entered series production at the State Enterprise Malyshev Plant in 1985.

Armament: The T-80UD MBT armament includes a 125mm gun, 7.62mm coaxial machine gun and 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun. The tank crew is also equipped with sub-machine guns, hand grenades and a signal pistol. The main armament comprises a 125mm KBA3 smoothbore gun fed by a carousel-type automatic loader and fitted with a thermal sleeve and fume extractor (bore evacuator). The main gun has a quick-replacement barrel which can be changed under field conditions without the need to remove the gun from the tank.The number of rounds that T-80UD could carry is 45 two-piece rounds (projectile and charge), of which 28 rounds are placed in the automatic loader, with the remainder being stored at the driver's station and in the fighting compartment. Types of ammunition that can be fired by the gun include APFSDS (armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot), HEAT (high explosive anti-tank), HE-FRAG (high explosive fragmentation) rounds and laser beam-riding guided missiles.

Fire Control System: The T-80UD is fitted with an advanced fire control system, and either the gunner or commander can lay and fire the main armament at stationary and moving targets while the tank is stationary or moving with a high first round hit probability. The fire control system comprises a gunner's 1G46 day sight, gunner's TO1-KO1E night vision system, commander's PNK-4S observation and sighting system, PZU-7 anti-aircraft sight, 1ETs29 anti-aircraft machine gun mount control system, 1V528-1 ballistic computer with input information sensors, 2E42 armament stabiliser and other devices.

Protection: The armour protection of the T-80UD, which includes advanced multi-layer armour and explosive reactive armour package for the turret and chassis, provides to the T-80UD a high level of battlefield survivability. The T-80UD can disguise itself on the battlefield by laying a smoke/aerosol screen. Mounted on either side of the turret is a bank of four electrically operated smoke grenade launchers.

Mobility: The T-80UD is powered by a model 6TD-1 6-cylinder diesel engine developing 1,000 hp. The air inlet of the engine allows air to be ducted from the least dusty quarter and enables water obstacles to be crossed to a water depth of 1.8 m without preparation. There are two parts to the air filtration system, the centrifugal pre-cleaners and the air cleaner casing. This enables the tank to be operated in hot and dusty conditions for up to 1,000 km without a change of filters and to carry out combat under radioactive conditions.

Production: After the break-up of the Soviet Union, KMDB, with the Malyshev factory, became the main tank design and manufacture enterprise in Ukraine, but was still highly dependent on manufacture of components in Russian facilities, especially the Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil. In 1996, Ukraine and Pakistan signed a $650 M contract for delivery of 320 T-80UD tanks. Deliveries were hampered by supply problems, including politically-motivated ones. Ukraine was forced to develop new manufacturing capabilities, and the contract was concluded in 1999. KMDB also supplies Pakistan's Al-Khalid tanks with power packs (engine and transmission), and is helping to upgrade their Al-Zarrar tanks. The T-84 entered service with the Military of Ukraine in 1999, and the more advanced Oplot version in 2001. The tank is actively marketed for export, and can incorporate Russian countermeasures systems and a French fire-control system. The T-84-120 and Yatagan has been developed employing an auto-loaded 120mm tank gun which fires NATO ammunition as well as ATGMs. Versions have seen trials in Greece, Turkey, and Malaysia. KMDB also produces military tractors, trainers and simulators, and upgrade packages for Soviet tanks and APCs.