Ukraine to Upgrade Pakistani T-80 Tanks: IDEX 2017 News

[Saifullah Sani]

Ukraine, Pakistan sign first contracts to upgrade Pakistani T-80UD tanks

Ukraine and Pakistan start the practical implementation of the agreements in defense industry aimed at expanding cooperation in armored vehicle production under the Pakistani T-80UD tanks upgrade program.

State-run enterprise Ukrspecexport said that at the 13th International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2017 (the United Arab Emirates), the top managers of the Ukrainian enterprise met with representatives of Armed Forces of Pakistan. Ukraine and Pakistan signed two contracts to overhaul first five T-80UD tanks of the Pakistani Armed Forces (a pilot project) and to supply 88 tank sights to Pakistan.

The contracts were signed as part of agreements confirmed in the memorandums of cooperation signed at the IDEAS 2016 (Pakistan) in November 2016 with the participation of Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, the press service said.

The IDEX 2017 was held from February 19 through February 23 in Abu-Dhabi. It is the only international defense exhibition and conference in the MENA region demonstrating the latest technology across land, sea and air sectors of defense.

At the IDEAS 2016 International Defense Exhibition in November 2016 Ukrspecexport and Heavy Industries Taxila (Pakistan) signed a memorandum of understanding to expand defense cooperation in repair and modernization of armed vehicles of Pakistan. The agreements achieved envisage the $600 million defense contract for Ukrainian production facilities.

http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/407144.html

 

[syed_yusuf]

I am not sure how come Ukraine can upgrade t80 ud to t84 oplot m.

Does any body have any insight

 

[BHarwana]

Ukraine will supply tanks sights and overhaul the Pakistan Army’s fleet of T-80UD MBTs as part of a bilateral agreement.

Ukraine and Pakistan have started implementing a bilateral agreement for the upgrade of the Pakistan Army’s T-80UD Main Battle Tank (MBT), according to Ukrainian media reports.

Ukraine’s Interfax news agency reveals that representatives of Ukraine’s largest state-run defense contractor have met with Pakistan defense industry officials at this year’s International Defense Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) in Abu Dhabi in late February and concluded a number of agreements.

According to two signed contracts, Ukraine is slated to supply 88 tank sights and kick off a pilot project for the overhaul of an initial batch of five Pakistan Army T-80UD MBTs, which, depending on Islamabad’s satisfaction with the upgrade work on the first five tanks, will extend to the army’s entire inventory of around 300 T-80UD MBTs.

Interfax reports that the implementation of the agreements has begun this month, although no details were given as to the specific timeframe of the pilot project nor a delivery date supplied for the tanks sights.

The T-80UD, an improved variant of the Soviet-made T-64 MBT, was first introduced into service with the Pakistan Army in the late 1990s in order to counter the Indian Army’s newly acquired T-90 MBT. From 1997 to 2002, Pakistan received a total of 320 tanks from Ukraine.

Unlike their Russian counterparts, the Ukrainian version is powered by a diesel engine, features a new welded turret, and is armed with the KBA3 125 millimeter smoothbore gun, a Ukrainian version of the Russian 125 millimeter 2A46M-1 cannon originally manufactured for the T-64 MBT.

Pakistan’s T-80UD tanks could be upgraded to the standards of the T-84 ‘Oplot-M’ MBT, a much improved variant of the T-84 (which in turn is an improved version of the T-80), featuring a larger turret mounting sophisticated sensors and, among other things, a panoramic thermal-imaging system.

In November 2016, Pakistan’s Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) and Ukraine’s Ukrspecexport signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering prospective agreements with an approximately total worth of $600 million for the modernization of Pakistan’s tank force.

Among other things, Ukraine and Pakistan agreed to the sale of 200 Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building (KMDB) 6TD-2 engines for the Pakistan Army’s al-Khalid MBT, jointly developed by Pakistan and China in the 1990s.

The Pakistan Army currently operates around 350 al-Khalid MBTs and is expected to substantially expand its MBT force in the years ahead. According to some sources, Pakistan is working on an upgraded variant of the MBT, dubbed al-Khalid II, and plans to build as many as 600 tanks of this improved variant.

Given the recent uptick in Ukraine-Pakistan defense cooperation, Ukrainian technical support for the al-Khalid II program may appear likely.

http://thediplomat.com/2017/03/ukraine-and-pakistan-move-forward-with-armor-deal/

 

[Hassan Guy]

Thats good.

 

[syed_yusuf]

upgrading 320 odd t-80ud to t-84 oplot-M is a good decision if only it can be done. may be add couple of hundred more examples as previously envisioned.

 

[ali_raza]

we should order 300 new oplets and upgrade all t80 to that standard

 

[MystryMan]

upgrading 320 odd t-80ud to t-84 oplot-M is a good decision if only it can be done. may be add couple of hundred more examples as previously envisioned.

It means army has selected oplot as the all haider tank?

 

[Rocky rock]

It means army has selected oplot as the all haider tank?

Nope Al-haider is separate next gen program. This is just to upgrade existing T-80UD's to keep them active till next decade.

 

[CHI RULES]

Nope Al-haider is separate next gen program. This is just to upgrade existing T-80UD's to keep them active till next decade.

The case may be that PA brings T80 UD to standard of Oplot and then starts production of Oplot obviously with changes as per our own requirements under Alhaider.

 

[Rocky rock]

The case may be that PA brings T80 UD to standard of Oplot and then starts production of Oplot obviously with changes as per our own requirements under Alhaider.

Nope that ain't goona happen! it's just to upgrade ageing T-80's. For Al-haider Pakistan would surely choose state of the art next gen Tank.

 

[CHI RULES]

Can any one clarify that do PA AKs and AZ along with T80's being armed with ATGMs as they are capable to fire them.

Further as per general understanding 125 mm gun appears to be having lesser muzzle velocity and ammo is also generally less effective against western MBTs. What steps in next gen MBTs Pak should take to increase range, penetration and accuracy.

We have clear example in 90s where Iraqi MBTS even upgraded one performed poorly against Western MBTs.

 

[Rocky rock]

This is how they'll look after upgradation.

 

[Dazzler]

Can any one clarify that do PA AKs and AZ along with T80's being armed with ATGMs as they are capable to fire them.

Further as per general understanding 125 mm gun appears to be having lesser muzzle velocity and ammo is also generally less effective against western MBTs. What steps in next gen MBTs Pak should take to increase range, penetration and accuracy.

We have clear example in 90s where Iraqi MBTS even upgraded one performed poorly against Western MBTs.

Alkhalids, Alzarrars, t-80uds, and type-85IIAP can fire atgms. Army has stocks of Kombat and Reflex atgm missiles in inventory.
The KBA-3 in UD and Alkhalid/ Alzarrar main guns offer much higher gun chamber pressures, which means the fired she'll travels at close to 1800m/s velocity. At this speed, even a baseline apfsds shell can penetrate decent armour parked 2000 meters away from 0 to 30° obliquity. POF, ARDE have been developing new penetrators with "enhanced" penetration.

Lastly, the Iraqi MBTs were not upgraded, rather further downgraded copies of an already downgraded monkey model, the t-72M1. They developed the Asad Babil, the so called ultimate local t-72 by mishmashing parts and armour from t-55, 69 MBTs. At best, they could fire obsolete ammo from their guns, which were just baseline 2a46-1s from 1970s.
The Soviets played the hardball with Saddam for whatever reason, rest is Saddam's own fault. No matter what the west claims about the superiority of Saddam's armour, there was no comparison between top line M1A1 HA, and Challengers and Asad Babil etc.

 

[Blue Marlin]

Alkhalids, Alzarrars, t-80uds, and type-85IIAP can fire atgms. Army has stocks of Kombat and Reflex atgm missiles in inventory.
The KBA-3 in UD and Alkhalid/ Alzarrar main guns offer much higher gun chamber pressures, which means the fired she'll travels at close to 1800m/s velocity. At this speed, even a baseline apfsds shell can penetrate decent armour parked 2000 meters away from 0 to 30° obliquity. POF, ARDE have been developing new penetrators with "enhanced" penetration.

Lastly, the Iraqi MBTs were not upgraded, rather further downgraded copies of an already downgraded monkey model, the t-72M1. They developed the Asad Babil, the so called ultimate local t-72 by mishmashing parts and armour from t-55, 69 MBTs. At best, they could fire obsolete ammo from their guns, which were just baseline 2a46-1s from 1970s.
The Soviets played the hardball with Saddam for whatever reason, rest is Saddam's own fault. No matter what the west claims about the superiority of Saddam's armour, there was no comparison between top line M1A1 HA, and Challengers and Asad Babil etc.

id image this upgrade would bring them to the oplot spec. if so would they get the engine upgrade too in this deal, or would they use the new engines as signed for last year?

 

[Viking 63]

600 million for upgrades !! If I remember correctly when Pakistan bought these in 1994 they paid 620 million for all 320 Tanks??