Many people were looking forward to the BM Oplot-T prior to Tusk Force as it would be the first ‘true’ Ukrainian vehicle in-game, and Gaijin has obviously let us down as a community and I’ll explain why.
The protection for the BM Oplot-T is mediocre for modern top tier standards, the UFP can be somewhat reliably penetrated by most shells at around 12.0 (e.g. M829A1, DM53 and M338) whilst lacking the firepower to do the same in return. BTA4 simply doesn’t cut it, this is mainly a issue with the fact Ukraine is very limited with what types of APFSDS munition it can export (that usually being 3BM42) but the fact it also has poor gun elevation speed and horrid gun depression in-game becomes a catalyst to this issue.
There has been major controversies about the protection duplet/nizh should provide and I do believe this is something worth mentioning. Gaijin claims that two stacks of duplet should provide around 280mm of RHA protection equivalency whilst relict provides around 250mm - this is simply incredibly hard to believe.
According to ARC_Convoy_77 and from readily available images online, the UFP of the Oplot-T is missing a 50mm plate between the upper and lower layers of ERA. This is pretty significant as it would provide 133mm of RHA equivalency due to the angle of the plate - Gaijin however either doesn’t think it exists or believes it to be apart of the ERA dampeners, which is nothing short of ridiculous.
If modelled this would increase the average protection of the UFP from 577mm of RHA equivalency to 710mm, a sizable increase and would fix most of the protective issues with the tank (for the most part).
Some parts of duplet/nizh are also lazily grouped together defeating the entire purpose of multi-layered duplet/nizh, this is something inexcusable and should immediately be fixed, it creates nothing but a major weakspot for the vehicle.
This obviously had to include the side ERA coverage of the vehicle because only Russian vehicles may succeed in life (I’m joking).
The performance of duplet and nizh has reportedly also been underperforming in-game as well, tests and reports show that 3BM42 would be degraded by 78% by duplet, that being 356mm of RHA equivalency - and in some cases, 90% depending on what type of kinetic munition was fired at it. In-game however, two stacks of duplet only provide 280mm of RHA equivalency, significant below that 356mm figure.
If duplet/nizh was modelled correctly, it would alongside the composite UFP of the BM Oplot-T provide sufficient enough protection when compared to other 12.0 vehicles (e.g. T-80BVM, Leopard 2A7V and T-90M). The firepower most likely wouldn’t change as that’s a issue with the nation exporting it, not Gaijin mismodelling something - what can change is the adjustment of gun elevation.
Many sources vary on the elevation speed of the BM Oplot-T, what I’m sure about is the fact that it isn’t the same as the base T-80UD, Gaijin at first thought it was 1°/s (slower than the T-80UD) which showcases the mishandling/interpreting of primary sources.
What can be said for sure is that, Gaijin has butchered the BM Oplot-T, it had the potential to be the best vehicle in-game and especially in the protection department but potential bias/ignorance caused this not to be the case (Russian vehicles will obviously always prevail).
- They did a great job
- They did a okay job
- They did a bad job
Credits to ARC_Convoy_77, I wouldn’t of found some of this information without stalking some of his posts (my bad for stalking you gng)
