The Malyshev Kharkov Plant, which is part of Ukroboronprom, will manufacture the Oplot tank. According to Defense Express, the corresponding contract was signed in January with one of the concern's special exporters.
It is specified that the agreement provides for the creation of only one sample of the tank in a short time. The publication indicates that Oplot should be ready for the parade on August 24, 2021, then it will be used at international exhibitions.
“Considering that the import substitution program for Oplot, which now has a significant part of Russian-made components, calculated until 2023, this tank will have nothing to do with a real production model,” writes Defense Express.
According to the portal, the price of the contract is also in question. The fact is that the cost of “Oplot” when using Western components exceeds $ 5 million, and the agreement includes an amount of only $ 3.5 million. In addition, the actual production time for one tank is at least eight months, which does not give any chance to make a full-fledged tank from scratch, the newspaper notes.
In June 2019, it was reported that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine during the presidency of Petro Poroshenko did not order Oplot tanks for the army. Experts noted the high cost of these tanks – one “Oplot”, according to experts, will cost the amount for which six T-64s can be upgraded.
“Oplot” is a Ukrainian modification of the Soviet T-80 tank. It differs from its predecessor T-84 with a new fire control system, a commander's sight, an original welded turret, side screens, built-in reactive armor and the Varta optical-electronic countermeasures system.
