T-72, T-80 or T-90?

[tflash]

Now that we're into tank battles, I wonder what are the pro's and cons of the T-72/T-90 vs. T-80 ?

 

There is some bad press on the T-80 from the Chechnya war, but little usefull info on the use of tanks in the Georgia/Abchazia war, where as I understood it the Russian tank assault was quite succesful?

[nscode]

Bad statistics in Chechnya were mostly the result of bad tactics. Tanks aren't any good for street fighting. That lesson was learned the hard way, but no doubt is remembered for later on.

[VAOZoky]

pro: they are really small target

con: they are really small

 

:lol:

[Alfa]

Now that we're into tank battles, I wonder what are the pro's and cons of the T-72/T-90 vs. T-80 ?

 

The T-72 followed the traditional approach of Soviet tank designs starting with the T-34 during WWII - i.e. a lot of firepower on a relatively simple platform that is easy to mass produce and operate by a large conscript army. The T-80 follows a different philosophy(IIRC starting with the T-64) of more technical complex design with the aim of making the individual tank more capable. The T-90(and other deep modifications of the T-72) was a mixture - i.e. combining the basic chassis and diesel engine of the T-72 with more sophisticated combat systems/armament.

 

There is some bad press on the T-80 from the Chechnya war, but little usefull info on the use of tanks in the Georgia/Abchazia war, where as I understood it the Russian tank assault was quite succesful?

 

As nscode said, I think that main problem with tanks in the Chechen war had more to do with the way they were being used rather than the performance of the tanks as such - i.e. trying to fight what was essentially "insurgence" with tanks(inside towns even). If by the "Georgian war" you are referring to the recent 2008 conflict, this was a more "traditional" army vs army conflict - the interesting thing was that the Russian forces didn't seem to use any modern tanks....all the footage I have seen showed T-72s, T-62s and even T-55s facing the same types on the Georgian side.

 

Anyway, apparently there were some reliability problems with the gas turbine engine(GTD-1000) of early T-80 variants. These seem to have been resolved with the GTD-1250 of the T-80U though.

 

As for pro's and cons - the gas turbine engine is more powerful, but is more complex(shorter service life and harder to fix), is more expensive to produce and has a much higher fuel consumption than diesel(piston) engines.

[eurofor]

(...)

 

There is some bad press on the T-80 from the Chechnya war, but little usefull info on the use of tanks in the Georgia/Abchazia war, where as I understood it the Russian tank assault was quite succesful?

 

There was no Russian tank assault in the 1992-1993 Abkhazia war. The separatists were however in possession of some tanks (possibly T-72, T-80) secretly supplied by Russia. Detailed information on this is hard to find.

 

(...)

 

If by the "Georgian war" you are referring to the recent 2008 conflict, this was a more "traditional" army vs army conflict - the interesting thing was that the Russian forces didn't seem to use any modern tanks....all the footage I have seen showed T-72s, T-62s and even T-55s facing the same types on the Georgian side.

 

(...)

 

As for the 2008 South Ossetia war. Georgia fielded equal and slightly more advanced tanks (T-72B, T-72 SIM-1) than Russia had available in the north Caucasus. This did however not determine the outcome as the tanks did not clash. Most of the losses were to RPG's or abandoned for different reasons.

[tflash]

Thanks for the info. Seems indeed RPG's are still a serious threat for this type of tanks, if we look at the latest incidents in Syria.

[JCamel]

Thanks for the info. Seems indeed RPG's are still a serious threat for this type of tanks, if we look at the latest incidents in Syria.

Which RPG are you talking about though? Some RPGs have greater RHA penetration that ATGMs.

 

http://world.guns.ru/grenade/rus/rpg-28-e.html

Edited July 22, 2012 by JCamel

[GGTharos]

Tanks are difficult to defeat from the front, but armor on the flanks, rear, and top is just about always significantly weaker. Military RPG teams tend to be trained to ambush armored vehicles from the flanks; further, it gives you a bigger target to hit, so, smaller chance to miss at longer ranges.

 

Thanks for the info. Seems indeed RPG's are still a serious threat for this type of tanks, if we look at the latest incidents in Syria.