Russian T-80U MBT. TRUMPETER 09525

Assembly plastic kit of a Russian T-80U MBT.

The T-80U main battle tank is a further development of the T-80. It entered service with the Soviet Army in 1985. The T-80U has a welded hull and cast turret. Armor of this MBT was improved comparing with the previous version. It features composite armor and is fitted with built-in Kontakt-5 ERA blocks. This main battle tank is also fitted with automatic fire suppression and NBC protection systems. The T-80U is armed with a fully-stabilized 125 mm smoothbore gun, fitted with an autoloader. It fires armor-piercing, APDS, HEAT and HE-FRAG rounds. The tank can also launch 9M119M Refleks (Western designation AT-11 Sniper-B) anti-tank guided missiles in the same manner as ordinary projectiles. These missiles have a maximum range of 5 km and can target low-flying helicopters. Secondary armament consists of 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and 12.7 mm machine gun, mounted on top of the roof. The T-80U MBT was originally produced with a GTD-1000TF gas turbine engine, developing 1 100 hp. Tanks produced in the early 1990s were fitted with a more powerful GTD-1250 gas turbine engine, developing 1 250 hp.