Ukrainian paratroopers recently captured a particularly unusual Russian main battle tank. Model of the car – T-80 – doesn’t look special, but the way it’s decorated gives some food for thought.
Ukrainian military journalist Anatonii Shtefan posted images of the T-80 main battle tank online. Here are two interesting things that caught his attention.
At first, this car seemed almost new. Primary inspection showed that its engine had only been operating for 900 hours. For this type of Russian military vehicle, the aforementioned parameter is as low as possible – the average for an already actively used tank, engine hours range from 20,000 to 40,000.
The video below illustrates the captured vehicle (in Ukrainian):
Next is the overall appearance, namely the paint style. In the image, it can be clearly seen that the wheels of this T-80 tank are painted white. This, according to Shtefan, indicates that the tank is not a simple unit, but that it is drawn directly from the reserves of the Russian army “ritual”, in other words, it is used for inspection.
White painted rollers show this tank on display during an official celebration but instead in the hands of Ukrainian soldiers / Screenshot: Anatolii Shtefan via Defense Express
The T-80 main battle tank first entered service in 1976 and was last produced in 2001. In the Russian army, these tanks are considered “nearly new”. For comparison, their forces also use vehicles that could easily be called ‘vintage exhibits’, such as the T-62M, or tank with “Brezhnev’s eyebrows”.
It is a bit difficult to draw precise conclusions based on this single catch. But the possibility is two. Either the Russians are planning a victory parade somewhere in Ukraine, or maybe they have used the last of their reserves of machinery to make up for what they have lost on the ground. battlefield.
