The T-80U is an improved version of the legendary Soviet T-80 main battle tank, featuring a more powerful engine, increased mobility, and improved protection. Being introduced to War Thunder as part of update 1.87, the T-80U will be the first vehicle awaiting Soviet tankers at the brand new seventh rank, coming to ground forces in the next major update!

In War Thunder, the T-80U will be among the first vehicles awaiting tankers at the brand new seventh rank, coming to the Soviet ground forces tree with update 1.87. Unlike the T-80B, which is already familiar to some tankers, the T-80U features greatly improved protection over its predecessors and also received minor improvements to its firepower.

Compared to earlier versions of the T-80, the T-80U features a new turret and an improved, cellular type of composite armour being used in both its turret and hull. Apart from that, the T-80U is fitted with an integrated second generation Soviet ERA, called “Kontakt-5”. Unlike the preceding ERA, Kontakt-5 is not just effective against chemical rounds , but also against kinetic ones as well.

As a result, the T-80U becomes quite a tough nut to crack, even for some of the more modern shells in the game. With Kontakt-5, the armour on the T-80U is able to absorb up to 620mm of penetrating power from kinetic and up to 1000mm from chemical rounds. However, it’s worth noting that Kontakt-5 remains a type of reactive armour, meaning that it’s a single-use only and won’t provide any additional protection once it’s already been activated. Additionally, it has a much smaller overlap than Kontakt-1, resulting in more vulnerabilities.

As far as firepower is concerned, the T-80U continues to use the already familiar 2A46M 125mm smoothbore cannon, found on several contemporary Soviet MBTs. As a result, the ammunition selection remains virtually the same as with the preceding T-80B. An exception to this, however, is the new armour-piercing shells and addition of the slower moving, but higher penetrating, 9M119 “Refleks” ATGM to the T-80U’s arsenal.

To counter the weight increases resulting from the additional armour fitted to the T-80U, Soviet engineers decided to mount a slightly more powerful gas turbine engine to the vehicle, producing 1,250 horsepower. The powerful modern engine not only compensates for the increased weight of the tank, but also increases its mobility.

The T-80U will arrive to War Thunder as part of the upcoming update 1.87 and will become one of the first vehicles to occupy rank VII of the Soviet ground forces tree. In the meantime, make sure to stay tuned to the news for more information regarding the next major update. Until then, happy hunting tankers!

Previous devblogs :