Pakistan's armed forces today deploy some of the world's largest number of main battle tanks
most of which are of Chinese designs such as the Type 59 and Type 69 or Al Khalid tanks co-developed with China
In addition, Pakistan has a powerful tank from the Soviet Union, the T-80, which is now becoming the elite force in their armored units
The T-80, considered by many to be the most capable tank of the Cold War era, was never exported due to the sensitivity of the technology
It is surprising that Pakistan has these war machines
Despite Pakistan's long-standing hostility to the Soviet Union, including numerous clashes with Soviet forces in Afghanistan
the acquisition of the T-80 was made after the Soviet Union collapsed and Ukraine won the right to manufacture the T-80
The Pakistani tank, designated T-80UD, is a diesel variant manufactured in Ukraine
The tank was tested in Pakistan and in August 1996 Pakistan decided to buy 320 T-80UD tanks from Ukraine for $650 million
The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72
When it entered service in 1976, it was the second MBT in the world to be equipped with a gas turbine engine
after the Swedish Stridsvagn 103, and the first production tank to use it as a main propulsion engine
On the T-80UD, the gas turbine engine was replaced by a 1,000 hp diesel engine
Design of the T-80UD is similar to the T-80U except the powerplant.
Armour protection of the T-80UD includes composite armour with built-in explosive reactive armour blocks
The vehicle is fitted with NBC protection and automatic fire suppression systems
The main armament of the T-80UD MBT is a 125 mm 2A46 smoothbore gun as the T-72 with a horizontal ammunition stowage system
The gun can fire either the AT-8 ATGW or 125 mm ammunition of the separate loading type
The 125 mm smoothbore gun is stabilised in both elevation and traverse
Armament also includes a 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun and a 12.7mm air defence machine gun
One bank of 81 mm electrically operated smoke grenade dischargers are mounted on either side of the turret, five on the left and four on the right
During the Cold War, Pakistan was an enemy of the Soviet Union
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Pakistan immediately purchased the most modern Soviet tanks
the T-80UD, to equip the army
The T-80s had a much higher overall performance than the T-72s that were the backbone of neighboring India's tank units at the time
Although Pakistan's T-80s have not been able to equalize the number of Indian T-72 tanks
it is a "quality" addition from the "legacy" of the Soviet Union.
Pakistan's T-80 tank in service has surpassed its Indian rival's T-72s
but is increasingly considered obsolete when compared to the newer Indian T-90MS, which integrates technologies that are decades ahead
Therefore, the requirement is that Pakistan must upgrade their T-80 to the latest T-80BVM standard.