On 15 June, Captain Roman Bagaev, whose platoon is regularly declared to be the best tank platoon in Ukraine, told in an interview with a newspaper the Novynarnia about serious problems with the upgraded Ukrainian T-84 main battle tanks.

Ukraine’s tankmen with T-84s taken part in Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2018 annual training event designed to give participating nations a dynamic, productive and fun environment in which to foster military partnerships, form Soldier-level relationships, and share tactics, techniques and procedures. But in this year the Ukrainian team took the last place despite the use of the newest T-84 tanks.

Captain Roman Bagaev said that the cause of losing in Strong Europe Tank Challenge 2018 competitions lie in serious problems with T-84 combat vehicles, modernized and overhauled at the  SE “Kharkiv Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau” in Kharkiv.

The T-84 main battle tank has seen a number of problems. The big issue has been breakdowns that leave the tank without a weapon stabilization system.

The Novynarnia has released videos showing serious problems with T-84’s automatic loader for its 125-mm gun, fire control system and also problems related to insulated wiring.

Ukrainian tanks were unable to hit targets at a distance of more than 1 km due to problems with stabilization of the main armament.

“Each tank was given ten rounds, for all four tanks – forty. We were able to fire only 16 shells out of 40,” said Roman Bagaev.

Video showing problems with tank’s automatic loader.

Video showing problems with tank’s main armament.

Video showing problems with tank’s sensors.

Video showing problems with tank’s insulated wiring.

Also, he noted that at other stages of the competition, Ukrainian team scored a lot of points, but the firing gave up, and that was the most important thing.

For its part, representatives of the plant accused the crew of the tanks in poor preparation. They at first did not even believe in problems with tanks and refused to accept comments about critical defects.

According to the Malyshev Tank Factory, the T-84 is a modern vehicle, developed by the SE “Kharkiv Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau”. The T-84 has the latest gunner’s sight, detecting the target “tank” up to 3500 meters, and “infantryman” type target – up to 2,200 meters. Taking into account the 125-mm gun with a loader that allows firing at a rate of 8 rounds per minute, it ensures effective destruction of targets in a minimum amount of time.

The main battle tank T-84 is more advanced, compared with the T-64BV, used by Ukrainian crew during international competitions in 2017.

Needs to be noted that last year, the Ukrainian tankmen in ageing T-64BV tanks took 4th place out of five teams, placing ahead of the Polish team in their Leopard 2A5 vehicles.