- Yes!
- No!
In 1978 the T-72 was introduced into the NVA as their new MBT, which, even if it was an export-model of the T-72 Ural, was vastly superior to the until now, best MBT the NVA could muster, the T-55AM. The T-55AM on it’s own was a modernisation of the by now obsolete T-55A, however, that wasn’t enough and the GDR was quick to order a new modernisation-program for the T-55AMs. This was done out of two major reasons, first, upgrading existing tanks is cheaper and easier to acomplish, than to buy and import vast numbers of T-72s. With one T-72 unit costing as much as 4,5 million Mark, while upgrading a T-55AM to T-55AM-2B specifications, costs around 2 million Mark.
The second reason is, that the European theatre is filled with hills and valleys; terrain, which does not favor the restricted cannon-movement of the T-72, which had an elevation of +15° and a depression of -5° with a maximum vertical movement-speed of 3,5°/s, while any variant of the T-55 used by the NVA had an elevation of +17° with the same -5° depression of the T-72, however, the vertical movement-speed of the cannon was 4,5°/s this minor advantage of the T-55, coupled with the cheaper price of the modernisation was reason enough for the GDR to initiate the upgrade program of the T-55AM.
For the sake of having a better overview, I will list all of the upgrades of the T-55AM-2B, compared to a standard T-55A. This way, we can better see in what aspects the T-55AM-2B was improved, rather than comparing it to the already upgraded T-55AM.
The tracks were replaced with rubber-reinforced steel-tracks, which reportedly lasted two times longer than the original pure steel-tracks.
Standardised compartments for crew-belongings.
Reinforced exhaust-system.
Reinforced planetarly steering-system with 17 plates.
Fire-control and laser-warning system KLADIWO.
Thermal sleeve for the 100mm D-10T2S cannon.
IR-floodlight L-4 with a range of max 1200m.
Smoke-launching system TUTSCHA 902B (8 barrels).
Add-on composite armor on frontal hull and turret-cheeks.
Reinforced hull for improved mine protection.
Rubber-mesh side-skirts.
Improved protection from napalm and other incindiary agents.
Improved fire-extinguishing system and more hand-held fire-extinguishers.
Stronger W-55U engine.
R-173 tank-radio.
ATGM-complex “BASTION”.
1 WS TNP-165 gun-sight.
Stabilizer STP-2A.
Laser-rangefinder.
Overall, these are just the major improvements and show, that the T-55AM-2B is basically a new tank, sadly only 35 T-55AM-2Bs were fully upgraded when the NVA fell. It was truly the best T-55 of the NVA and with it’s ATGM firing-capabilities, it was able to rival the T-72 in terms of firepower.
Specifications:
Crew: 4
Lenght: 9m
Widht: 3,27m
Height: 2,35m
Engine: W-55U (615HP)
Elevation: +17° / -5°
Armament: 1x 100mm D-10T2S main-cannon (43 RPG), 1x 12,7mm DschK AA-MG (500 RPG), 1x 7,62mm PKT coaxial-MG (2250 RPG)
Ammo:
3BM25 - APFSDS
3BK17M - HEAT-FS
BR-412D - APCBC
9M117 - ATGM
OF-412 - HE
I personally think the T-55AM-2B would be an excellent 8.7 MBT for the German tech-tree, mainly because the east-German T-55AM-2B would be incredibly similar to the T-55AM-1 we have in War Thunder already, be it with Warsaw-pact match-maker, or not.
Thanks for reading!
If you spot a mistake, or want to correct something, just let me know.
Cheers! 
Sources
Kampfpanzer T-55AM2 und T-55AM2B | Panzerregiment4 der NVA
Das Panzerdetail - Feuerleitanlage des T-55AM2
“Kampfpanzer der NVA” by Jörg Siegert and Helmut Hanske
