Commanders!
The AS90 contract is slowly coming to an end and will be replaced in September by another featuring a new vehicle. This time, you’ll have the opportunity to obtain the Ukrainian T-64BV Model 2017 Main Battle Tank.
As usual, a bit of history first. This Main Battle Tank is one of the latest upgrades of the Soviet era T-64BV, which was roughly an equivalent in combat value to the T-72B. However, where the T-72 series was generally available for export (or license production), the T-64s remained in internal service only. The T-64B was also upgraded with an ERA kit, hence the letter V in its name.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a large number of T-64s as they were produced in Kharkov (and nowhere else). With the tooling and production available, it made perfect sense for them to keep them in service.
The T-64BV Model 2017 Main Battle Tank is a modernized version of the T-64BV MBT. The tank was gradually upgraded with several major overhauls developed in the 2000s but the general lack of funding has always prevented Ukraine from adopting expensive modernizations or new MBTs (such as BM Bulat or the Oplot MBT) en masse. Instead, gradual and more affordable improvements to the T-64B MBT were introduced with Model 2017 being one of the main ones.
The main upgrades include the Nizh ERA fillers (said to be effective even against kinetic rounds) replacing the old Kontakt series, new thermal imager, new satellite navigation system, new radio and several other improvements.
The production of this model was launched in 2017 and roughly 100 tanks of this type were delivered to the Ukrainian military between 2017 and 2019 (Ukraine being the only user of this model aside from several captured pieces in Russian service). The production is ongoing with the estimates ranging from 120 to 150 built to date. Performance-wise, the T-64BV Mod.2017 remains the workhorse of the Ukrainian military despite having the same vulnerabilities to drone and ATGM attacks as the other Soviet-era MBTS and the subsequent heavy losses.
In Armored Warfare, the T-64BV Mod.2017 will be a Tier 7 Premium Main Battle Tank.
Gameplay-wise, it’s a classic “Eastern” Main Battle Tank with Generation 3+ ERA (Nizh) replacing the older Kontakt-1. The ERA-covered parts will therefore be better protected than on the counterparts of the same Tier but the baseline armor will not be very thick.
The firepower will consist of an automatically loaded 125mm 2A46M-1 cannon that can fire the usual rounds for its Tier (3VBM17 APFSDS, 3VBK10 HEAT and 3VOF22 HE) but also gun-launched guided missiles – namely the Kobra and Kombat (the latter being a tandem HEAT ATGM available as an upgrade for completing contract missions).
Due to its relatively low weight and a powerful 700hp 5TDF diesel engine (which can be upgraded even further to 850hp 5TDFM), the vehicle will be fairly mobile, significantly surpassing the T-72B3 in its top configuration.
In short, it’ll be an assault tank. Frontally it’ll be relatively well-protected due to its advanced ERA kit. Flanking attacks will destroy it quickly but if you play your cards right (or, rather, your MBT), the enemy will never get a chance to do that due to T-64BV’s superior mobility. While the vehicle does not offer any particular special abilities, even its stock characteristics will make it a feared opponent on the battlefield.
We are naturally also working on other contract prizes including a number of Ukrainian camouflages, but we'll tell you about those a bit later.
See you on the battlefield!