CNG T-80UK | Cyprus' red-eyed T-80UKs

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Cypriot National Guard T-80UK


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The T-80UK in Cypriot service

In Summary

The Cypriot Army were the first to buy the T-80U in 1996, along with its commander variant T-80UK that arrived in 1997. They are the first foreign operators of the T-80UK, and the last remaining operators too. Compared to the T-80UK in-game, it is near-identical, with the only identifiable difference between the 12.7mm PKT on the center-front mount rather than the rear-right mount.

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  • Yes, as part of another Tree
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The Cypriot T-80UK with its exposed crew during a parade. Note the Shtora-1 APS.

History

Our story unsurprisingly begins with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which resulted in the many Post-Soviet countries in the “transition period” to suffer tremendous GDP Decline (for Russia, around 40% over 7 years). As a result, the Russian state had many Soviet-era T-80Us that they could offer to other countries with their newfound reputation. They offered their T-80Us to many countries including Sweden (now represented in game as the “T 80 U” Squadron Vehicle), but also to the Cypriot government who were desperate to get rid of their aging armoured vehicles. At the time, the Cypriots had leftover T-34/85s from the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus, AMX-30/-30B2s from the French in 1987 and M48A5 MOLFs loaned from Greece. As a result, the Cypriots needed a modern, battle-proven MBT to spearhead their army. The Russians needed a quick buck, the Cypriots needed something to scare the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

So in 1996, the Cypriots received their first 27 Cypriot T-80Us, then their 14 T-80UKs in 1997. They also purchased a further 27 refurbished T-80Us in 2010 along with 14 T-80UKs to bolster their army and simplify logistics. The T-80UKs are not known to have received any upgrades throughout their service, unlike the T-80Us that got access to the Plisa system.

As of now, the Cypriot National Guard are planning to retire the T-80Us as Russian Sanctions have made it near-impossible to consistently maintain these MBTs for years to come. They’ve been eye-ing Israeli-made Merkavas, French-made Leclercs and Greek Leopard 2HELs. They have even offered giving Ukraine their T-80U and T-80UKs in exchange for Greek Leopard 2s.


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A Cypriot BMP-3 and T-80UK.


Specifications
Crew: 3 (Driver, Gunner, Commander)

Engine: GTD-1250 Gas Turbine Engine, 1250hp
Weight: 46 tons
      Max Speed: 90km/h Forward, 11km/h Reverse
      Power-to-weight ratio - 27.2hp/t
Dimensions;
      Length: 9.65 meters
      Width: 3.6 meters
      Height: 2.2 meters


Main Armament - “2A46M-1” 125mm Smoothbore Gun

  • ¬ Vertical Guidance - -5° to 15°
  • ¬ Vertical / Horizontal Rotation Speed - 4.4°/s | 24°/s
  • ¬ 45 Rounds total, 28 Rounds in Autoloader, 6s Autoloaded Reload
    • ¬ 3BM46 APFSDS
    • ¬ 3BM42 APFSDS
    • ¬ 3BK18M HEAT-FS
    • ¬ 3OF26 EDKV HE-TF
    • ¬ 9M119 ATGM

Anti-Aircraft armament: 12.7mm NSVT MG

  • ¬ 500 Rounds Total, 100 Rounds per Belt
  • ¬ Vertical Guidance - -5° to 60°
  • ¬ Vertical / Horizontal Rotation Speed - 90°/s | 90°/s
  • ¬ 700 Rounds per minute

Co-Axial Armament: 7.62mm PKT MG

  • ¬ 1250 Rounds Total, 250 Rounds per Belt
  • ¬ 700 rounds per minute

Equipment;

  • 2-Axis stabilisation
  • Laser Rangefinder
  • Laser Warning System
  • Shtora-1 Softkill APS
  • 2nd Gen. Thermal Imager for Gunner (2.7x to 12.0x Zoom) [Plisa]
  • Night Vision devices for Commander and Driver (1.0x to 8.0x Zoom)

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An older Cypriot T-80U with a flashlight and a Cypriot T-80UK during an exercise.



Sources

Archived from Deagel.com, showing that Cyprus received 27 T-80Us and 14 T-80UKs prior to 2010
https://defenceredefined.com.cy/t-80u-25-years-of-service-in-the-national-guard-and-its-upgrade-options-infographics-video/
Archived Report from 2008 showing that Cyprus had 41 T-80U/UKs total
France Positions to Equip Cyprus with Leclerc Tanks and Mistral Missiles in Response to Turkish Ambitions → Offer from France to replace T-80Us with Leclerc
SIPRI Arms Transfers Database → T-80Us supplied by Russia to Cyprus
International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2025
Kolekcja Czołgi Świata [Collection of Tanks of the World]
Steven Zaloga’s T-80 Standard Tank: The Soviet Army’s Last Armored Champion
Τ-80 U/UK: H ασπίδα της Κύπρου | Defencegreece
https://www.army-technology.com/projects/t80/

More Images

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Thank you very much to @Pipimer for giving me so many images of the Cypriot T-80U and T-80UKs that I’ve used for this suggestion!

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