Editing T-80 (section)

==History==
Class: Main Battle Tank</br>
Developed: 1968-1976</br>
Service: 1976-1990s</br>
Vehicles Built: cca 250</br>
Operators: Soviet Union

While not as iconic as the ubiquitous T-72, the T-80 Main Battle Tank was an important part of the Soviet war machine. Even though the two tanks share typical Russian tank looks to the point that they look the same to a layman's eye, they are two different beasts entirely. After all, unlike the T-72, the T-80 was intended for Soviet use only and was only issued to elite units.

In the 1960s, the Soviets were undisputed leaders in tank technology. No mass-produced western tank could match the armor and firepower of the T-64. The Soviets, however, realized that a response from NATO would not be that far away, leading them to develop something even better. One way to achieve that was to significantly improve tank mobility by introducing a new type of engine to Soviet tank forces, a gas turbine.

The origins of the T-80 can be traced back to the Kharkov-built T-64T prototype from 1963, equipped with a turbine engine. It took more than half a decade to find appropriate solutions to these issues. On April 16, 1968, the SKB-2 design bureau of the Kirov Plant in Leningrad was tasked by the USSR government with building an improved T-64 variant and one of the requirements was for it to have a turbine engine. This resulted in a prototype called Object 219SP1 from 1969. Further improvements to both mobility and other combat characteristics were needed, resulting in a prototype designated Object 219SP2. The vehicle kept the T-64A 125mm gun and its automatic loader mechanism, but the suspension was overhauled. Around 127 early Object 219SP2 pre-series vehicles were built and thoroughly tested. The process took nearly seven long years, before the vehicle was accepted into service on June 6, 1976 under the designation of T-80.

The original T-80 was produced by the Kirov Plant between 1976 and 1978 and with approximately 250 built, it became the world's first mass-produced tank powered by a gas turbine. Thanks to its new individual torsion bar suspension, which resembled the T-72 more than the T-64A, and its modified turret, western militaries at first confused the T-80 with the T-72, to which it was superior. This early model was never exported and apart from some minor engagements during the breakup of the Soviet Union, the first and only major combat use of the T-80 tanks happened during the First Chechen War.