Oleksandr Potapov, the General Director of Russian main battle tank (MBT) manufacturer Uralvagonzavod has stated that the company plans to restart the production of the T-80 MBT at the request of the Russian Ministry of Defence.
It appears that the decision to resume production of the T-80 MBT may have been influenced by its performance during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The T-80 demonstrated certain strengths that could be beneficial to the Russian Armed Forces.
However, the decision may also be an attempt to address the fact that Russia suffered significant losses in the conflict, including 624 T-80 tanks out of a total of 2,309 confirmed tanks lost, according to Open Source Intelligence sources.
Potapov stated that the company’s management is now working on issues related to the production of the tanks.
“We are also working on these issues with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, because this requires, accordingly, new capacities,” Potapov explained.
