T-64

The T-64 is a Soviet tank manufactured in Kharkiv, and designed by Alexander Morozov. The tank was introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served in tank divisions, while the T-62 supported infantry in motor rifle divisions. It introduced advanced features including composite armour, a compact engine and transmission, and a smoothbore 125-mm gun equipped with an autoloader to allow the crew to be reduced to three so the tank could be smaller and lighter. In spite of being armed and armoured like a heavy tank, the T-64 weighed only 38 tonnes (42 short tons; 37 long tons).
These features made the T-64 expensive to build, significantly more so than previous generations of Soviet tanks. This was especially true of the power plant, which was time-consuming to build and cost twice as much as more conventional designs. Several proposals were made to improve the T-64 with new engines, but chief designer Alexander Alexandrovich Morozov's political power in Moscow kept the design in production in spite of any concerns about price.
The T-64 formed the design basis of the Soviet T-80, which entered service in 1976. The tank is in use in a few nations or regions as of 2023. The T-64 is undergoing significant factory overhauls and modernization in Ukraine.
The T-64 was conceived at the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau, as the next-generation main battle tank by Alexander A. Morozov, the designer of the T-54 (which, in the meantime, would be incrementally improved by Leonid N. Kartsev's Nizhny Tagil bureau, by the models T-54A, T-54B, T-55, and T-55A).
The T-64 was the first Soviet tank to use an autoloader for its 125-mm gun, allowing one crew member's position to be omitted and helping to keep the size and weight of the tank down. Tank crewmen would joke that the designers had finally caught up with their unofficial hymn, Three Tankers, a song written to commemorate the crewmen fighting in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, in 3-man BT-5 tanks in 1939.
The T-64 also pioneered other Soviet tank technology: the T-64A model of 1967 introduced the 125-mm smoothbore gun, and the T-64B of 1976 would be able to fire an anti-tank guided missile through its gun barrel. Soviet military planners considered the T-64 the first of the third-generation tanks and the first main battle tank.
The T-64 design was used as basis by LKZ for the gas turbine-powered T-80 main battle tank. The T-64A turret was adopted for early T-80 tank models, with its main gun and automatic loading mechanism, and upgraded armour.
The T-64 was only supplied to the Soviet Army and its successors. It was never exported before 1991, unlike the T-54/55. The tank equipped elite and regular formations in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, the T-64A model being first deployed with East Germany's Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG) in 1976, and some time later in Hungary's Southern Group of Forces (SFG). By 1981, the improved T-64B began to be deployed in East Germany and later in Hungary. While it was believed that the T-64 was reserved for elite units, it was also used by much lower level "non-ready formations", for example, the Odessa Military District's 14th Army.
With the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, T-64 tanks remained in the arsenals of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Uzbekistan. In mid-2014, nearly 2,000 of the former Soviet inventory of T-64 tanks were in service with the military of Ukraine and about 4,000 were out of service and awaiting destruction in Russia.
Studies for the design of a new battle tank started in 1951. The KB-60M team was formed at the Kharkiv design bureau of the Kharkiv transport machine-building factory No. 75 named for Malyshev (Russian: конструкторское бюро Харьковского завода транспортного машиностроения №75 им. Малышева) by engineers coming back from Nizhniy Tagil, with Morozov at its head.
A project named obyekt 430 led to three prototypes which were tested in Kubinka in 1958. Those vehicles had characteristics that were going to influence and radically alter the design of tanks on this side of the Iron Curtain. For the first time, a compact opposed-piston engine was used: the 4TD, designed by the plant's engine design team. The transmission system comprised two lateral gears on each side of the engine. Those two innovations yielded a very short engine compartment with the opening located beneath the turret. The engine compartment volume was almost half that of the T-54. An improved cooling system and a new lightweight suspension was fitted, featuring hollow metallic wheels of a small diameter and caterpillar tracks with rubber joints.
The tank would be armed with the D-54TS and would have frontal armour of 120 mm. As it did not present a clear superiority in combat characteristics when compared to the T-55, which was entering active service, Morozov decided that production was not yet ready given the project's drawbacks. However, studies conducted on the Object 430U, featuring a 122 mm gun and 160 mm of armour, demonstrated that the tank had the potential to carry the firepower and armour of a heavy tank on to a medium tank chassis. A new project was consequently started, the Object 432.
The gun fitted on this new tank was a 115 mm D-68 (2A21). This was a potentially risky decision to replace the human loader by an electro-hydraulic automatic system, since the technology was new to Russian designers. The crew was reduced to three, which allowed a considerable reduction in internal volume and external visible silhouette, and consequently in weight, from 36 tonnes (obyekt 430) to 30.5 tonnes. The height dropped by 76 mm.
The arrival of the British 105 mm L7 gun and the US M68 variant of it, fitted to the Centurion and M60 tanks, forced the team to adopt composite armour. The recently created process was called "K combination" by Western armies: this protection consisted of an aluminium alloy layer between two high strength steel layers. As a consequence, the weight of the prototype rose eventually to 34 tonnes. But, as the engine was now a 700 hp (515 kW) 5TDF (also locally designed), its mobility remained superior to that of the T-62. The obyekt 432 was ready in September 1962 and production started in October 1963 in the Kharkiv plant. On 30 December 1966, it entered service as the T-64.
Even as the first T-64s were rolling off the assembly lines, the design team was working on a new version, named Object 434, which would allow it to maintain firepower superiority. The new 125 mm D-81T gun, from the Perm weapons factory, was fitted to the tank. This gun was a scaled-up version of the 115 mm smoothbore cannon from the T-62. The larger size of the 125 mm ammunition meant that less could be carried inside the T-64, and with a fourth crewman loader taking up space as well, the tank would only have a 25-round capacity. This was unacceptably low for the Soviet designers, but strict dimensional parameters forbade them from enlarging the tank to increase interior space. The solution was to replace the human loader with a mechanical autoloader, cutting the crew to three and marking the first use of autoloaders in a Soviet MBT. The 6ETs10 autoloader has 28 rounds and can fire 8 shots per minute; the stabiliser, a 2E23, was coupled to the new TPD-2-1 (1G15-1) sight. Night driving was also supported with the new TPN-1-43A periscope, which would benefit from the illumination of an infrared L2G projector, fitted on the left side of the gun. The shielding was improved, with fibreglass replacing the aluminium alloy in the armour, and small spring-mounted plates fitted along the mudguards (known as the gill skirt), to cover the top of the suspension and the side tanks. They were extremely fragile and were often removed. Some small storage spaces were created along the turret, with a compartment on the right and three boxes on the front left. Snorkels were mounted on the rear of the turret. An NBC protection system was fitted and the hatches were widened.
Prototypes were tested in 1966 and 1967 and, as production began after the six hundredth T-64, it entered service in the Soviet Army under the designation T-64A. Chief engineer Morozov was awarded the Lenin Prize for this model's success.
Designed for elite troops, the T-64A was constantly updated as available equipment was improved. After three years in service, a first modernisation occurred, comprising:
A derived version appeared at the same time, designed for the commanding officer and named T-64AK. It comprised a R-130M radio with a 10 m telescopic antenna, which could be used only in a static position as it required shrouds, an artillery aiming circle PAB-2AM and TNA-3 navigation station; all of these could be powered by an auxiliary petrol generator.
In 1976, the weapons system was improved by mounting a D-81TM (2A46-1), stabilised by a 2E28M2, supplied by an automatic 6ETs10M. The night sight was replaced by a TNPA-65 and the engine could accept different fuels, including diesel fuel, kerosene or petrol. The production, first carried on the B variant, stopped in 1980.
The majority of T-64As were further modernised after 1981, by mounting a six smoke grenade-launcher 81 mm 902A on each side of the gun, and by replacing the gill plates by a rubber skirt for a longer life. Some of them seem to have been fitted with reactive bricks (as the T-64AV) after 1985, or even with laser TPD-K1 telemeters instead of the optical TPD-2-49 optical coincidence rangefinder (1981). Almost all T-64s were modernised into T-64R, between 1977 and 1981, by reorganising external storage and snorkels, similar to the T-64A.
The design team was carrying on its work on new versions. Problems with the setup of the 5TDF engine occurred as the local production capacity was proven to be insufficient against a production done in three factories (Malyshev in Kharkiv, Kirov in Leningrad and Uralvagonzavod).
From 1961, an alternative to the Object 432 was studied, with a 12 V-cylinder V-45 engine: the Object 436. Three prototypes were tested in 1966 in the Chelyabinsk factory. The order was to develop a model derived from the 434 with the same engine given to the Object 438, later renamed as the Object 439. Four tanks of this type were built and tested in 1969, which showed the same mobility as the production version, but mass production was not started. They served as a basis for the design of the T-72 engine compartment.
At the beginning of the 1970s, the design team was trying to improve the tank further. The T-64A-2M study in 1973, with its more powerful engine and its reinforced turret, served as a basis for two projects:
For the latter, the order was given to start its production under the name T-64B, as well as a derived version (which shared 95% of its components), the Object 437, without the missile guidance system for cost reasons. The latter was almost twice as much produced under the designation T-64B1. On 3 September 1976, the T-64B and the T-64B1 were accepted for service, featuring the improved D-81Tm gun (2A46-2) with a 2E26M stabiliser, a 6ETs40 loader and a 1A33 fire control, including:
Its ford capacity reaches 1.8 m without equipment. The T-64B had the ability to fire the new 9M112 "Kobra" radio-guided missile (NATO code "AT-8 Songster"). The vehicle then carries 8 missiles and 28 shells. The missile control system is mounted in front of the commander's small turret and has many changes. The T-64B1 carries only 37 shells and has 2,000 7.62 mm rounds, against 1,250 for the T-64B.
They were modernised in 1981 by the replacement of the gun by a 2A46M1, the stabiliser by a 2E42, and the mounting of a 902A "Tucha-1" smoke grenade launcher in two groups of four, on each side of the gun. Two command versions exist, similar to the T-64AK: the T-64BK and the T-64B1K.
The decision in October 1979 to start production of the 6TD engine, and its great similarity to the 5TDF engine, allowed it to be fitted in versions B and B1, but also A and AK, yielding the new models T-64AM, T-64AKM, T-64BM and T-64BAM, entering service in 1983.
Production of all versions ended in 1987. Total production reached almost 13,000.
After the dissolution of the Soviet regime, Ukraine carried on the development of T-64 modernisation, as the original and main factory was in this country. As a result, modernised variants of the T-64 had become the most common tank in the Ukrainian inventory by 2022. Two different upgrade packages were developed in 1999:
The two variants are also protected by Kontakt-5 modular reactive armour, able to resist kinetic energy projectiles, as opposed to the first models which were efficient only against high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) shaped charge ammunition. Those two variants could also be fitted with the 6TDF 1,000 hp (735 kW) engine.
In 2010, the Kharkiv Malyshev Factory upgraded ten T-64B tanks (originally produced in Kharkiv in 1980) to T-64BM Bulat standard, and a further nineteen were delivered in 2011. These twenty-nine tanks were upgraded under a ₴200 million ($25.1M) contract signed in April 2009. As of October 2011, the Ukrainian Army has 76 T-64BM Bulat in service. According to Malyshev Factory chief engineer Konstantin Isyak, the T-64BM Bulat is armoured to the level of modern tanks. It has Nizh (Knife) reactive armour, and Varta active protection system. The Bulat weighs 45 tonnes (44 long tons), and with its 850 hp (630 kW) 5TDFM multi-fuel diesel engine can travel at 70 km/h (43 mph), with a range of 385 km (239 mi). It retains the 125 mm smoothbore gun with an autoloader for 28 rounds, some of which can be guided missiles. It has a 12.7 mm AA machinegun, and a 7.62 mm coaxial machinegun.
A 2019 modernization program with TPN-1TPV thermal sight, 1A43U fire-control system, 1H46M sight for the Kombat ATGM, Lybid-2 radios, Basalt battlefield information system, raised turret ring, improved KhSChVK Nizh reactive armour, armour shield above the commander's cupola, 12 mm armour for external fuel tanks, anti-RPG screens beside the engine compartment, and new 1000-hp 6TD-1 engine and transmission (new 5TD engines were no longer manufactured). This was conducted at the Kharkiv Armoured-Vehicle Plant (KhBTZ), with the engine compartment enlarged for the new engine by the Malyshev Factory (ZIM). Upgraded tanks were field tested in April 2021, and several were paraded in the August Independence Day parade.
In 2019, Ukroboronprom reported that the Kharkiv Armoured Plant (KhBTZ) had delivered over 100 updated tanks to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The upgraded tanks included new thermal imaging for all crew, remove Luna infrared searchlight, include TPN-1-TPV Ukrainian night sight in place of TPN1-49-23, Nizh reactive armour modules designed for bolt-on replacement on T-64BV turrets, SN-4215 networked satellite navigation unit, and Lybid K-2RB digital radio (under license from Motorola) providing secure communications with a 70 km range. In August 2019, Ukroboronprom announced the Lviv Armoured Plant (LBTZ) had also started modernizing T-64s to the 2017 standard.
In early 2022 Ukroboronprom was reported to be testing another modernization of the T-64BV, ordered by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. The tank has "new third-generation surveillance and sighting units" and is equipped with a new 12.7mm Snipex Laska K-2 heavy machine gun. It features "new up-to-date radio stations" and additional "navigation, internal and external communication systems which fully meets NATO standards." The exterior fuel tanks are now also protected by 12mm steel plates.
Sources differ on the initial production date of the tank that is set between 1963 and 1967, but it is established that the T-64 formally entered service with the Soviet army in 1967 and was publicly revealed in 1970. The T-64 was KMDB's high-technology offering, intended to replace the IS-3 and T-10 heavy tanks in independent tank battalions. Meanwhile, the T-72 was intended to supersede the T-55 and T-62 in equipping the bulk of the Soviet tank and mechanised forces, as well as for export partners and east-block satellite states.
The T-64 introduced a new autoloader, which is still used on all T-64s currently in service, as well as all variants of the T-80 except the Ukrainian T-84-120. T-64 prototypes and the first several hundred examples produced had the same 115 mm smoothbore gun as the T-62; the T-64A and subsequent full-scale production variants had the 125 mm gun.
While the T-64 was the superior tank, it was more expensive and physically complex, and was produced in smaller numbers. The T-72 is mechanically simpler and easier to service in the field, and its manufacturing process is correspondingly simpler. In light of Soviet doctrine, the superior T-64s were kept ready and reserved for the most important mission: a potential outbreak of a war in Europe.
In Soviet times, T-64 was mostly in service with units stationed in East Germany opposing the Chieftain-equipped units of the BAOR. No T-64s were exported. Many T-64s ended up in Russian and Ukrainian service after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
T-64
T-64A, T-64AK
T-64B, T-64B1, T-64BK, T-64B1K
The T-64 entered service in 1967 with the 41st Guards Tank Division in the Kiev Military District, the suggestion being that this was prudent due to the proximity of the division to the factory, and significant teething problems during induction into service that required constant presence of factory support personnel with the division during acceptance and initial crew and service personnel training on the new type. It appears that the tank remained secret to the West for some years between its entry into production in the early 1960s and the official acceptance in the Soviet Army in 1967.
The T-64A began deployment to the Soviet Union's western military districts during the 1970s, and was gradually deployed to first line units in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany in East Germany and Soviet troops in neighboring Warsaw Pact states. The first GSFG unit to receive the T-64A was the 14th Guards Motor Rifle Division at Jüterbog, which became the 32nd Guards Tank Division in 1982. When NATO detected the new tank after it was first deployed to East Germany, it was initially misidentified as the T-72. The T-64 mainly served with Soviet tank units in northern East Germany that were part of the 2nd Guards Tank Army, the 3rd Army, and the 20th Guards Army, although it began to be phased out and replaced by the newer T-80BV/T-80U before Soviet troops were withdrawn from Germany in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, when the Soviet troops withdrew from Germany, two divisions and the 6th Separate Guards Motor Rifle Brigade still operated the T-64.
In September 1990, the Soviet Union had 3,982 T-64s in service west of the Urals, with 2,091 of these in Ukraine. 1,386 of these were T-64As, 220 T-64AKs, 1,192 T-64Bs, 159 T-64BVs, 420 T-64B1s, 27 T-64B1K/BV1K, and 578 T-64Rs. During the Soviet period, the T-64 was never exported.
It is normally reported that the T-64 was not used in the Soviet–Afghan War since the 40th Soviet Army that was deployed there used T-54/55 and T-62 tanks, possibly due to the limited usefulness of tanks in mountain warfare. A few T-64 tanks were tested in Afghanistan during January 1980, but were quickly withdrawn without seeing combat because their engines did not perform well in the high altitude necessary for Afghan operations.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the new Russian Ground Forces decided to standardise the tank fleet with the T-72 and the T-80, and the T-64s were gradually put in reserve storage or scrapped.
In June 1992, 18 former Soviet T-64BV tanks from the Odesa Military District's 59th Guards Motor Rifle Division were taken over by the Transnistrian Army, fighting in the Transnistria War. Two T-64s were disabled by Moldovan Ground Forces troops near Bender during Transnistrian counterattacks, one of which was knocked out by an MT-12 100mm anti-tank gun. These actions were the first combat use of the tank.
Ukraine deployed its T-64s during the initial outbreak of the war in Donbas. About 300 Ukrainian T-64s were reported lost to enemy action in 2014. At least 20 were abandoned during disorderly withdrawals and subsequently captured by pro-Russian separatists of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. In June 2014, Russia began reactivating T-64s from its reserve stocks and donating them to the separatists as well. Donating surplus T-64s to the separatists was seen as cost-effective and deniable because the Russian military no longer had any use for the tanks and they could be passed off as individual examples captured from the Ukrainian Army. US intelligence officials noted that "Russia will claim these tanks were taken from Ukrainian forces...[but] we are confident that these tanks came from Russia." Separatist T-64s donated by Russia could be distinguished by their lack of Ukrainian markings and upgrades. By early 2022, the separatist armies collectively operated a little over 100 T-64s of various marks and configurations.
There were around 40 T-64BVs stationed in Crimea in February 2014. Russia initially seized these tanks following its annexation of the peninsula, although they were returned to the Ukrainian government in June.
T-64s are used by both Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Amidst the early phases of the invasion, Russian forces captured some Ukrainian T-64s, which they passed on to the separatists. By the end of 2022, the Ukrainian Army had lost 276 T-64s either captured or destroyed. Pro-Russian forces had also lost 50 T-64s in 2022. As of January 5th 2025, Ukraine has lost 516 T-64s of various variants, with Pro-Russian losses standing at 98.
The crews of T-64s have been called upon to act as artillery leading to shortages in 125 mm ammunition. Crews of the T-64 tanks rely on attack helicopters and drones; after firing at a target they move positions and fire again. If the Russian forces send infantry directly onto the battle field then the T-64 crews are required to directly support the infantry. On 21 December 2022 the Biden administration announced an aid package with an extra 100,000 rounds of 125 mm tank ammunition for the first time.
Five T-64s were delivered to UNITA forces during the Angolan Civil War. The origin of these tanks is not clear, but some of them were also captured by MPLA forces. According to video evidence, at least one was destroyed in combat.
The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo received 25 T-64B1M from late 2016. They were seen in mid-2017 patrolling in Kasaï during the Kamwina Nsapu rebellion.
A rather unconventional design, the T-64 had several features which set it apart not only from previous tanks, but from the visually similar T-72, many related to its higher mechanical complexity:
While having smaller tank crews (three vs. the usual four) is advantageous since more tanks can theoretically be fielded using the same number of soldiers, there are also serious downsides. Tanks require frequent maintenance and refueling, and much of this is physically demanding work that several people must work together to accomplish. Most of the time, these duties are also performed at the end of a long day of operations, when everyone in the tank is exhausted. Having one less crewman for these tasks increases the strain on the remaining three men and increases the frequency of botched or skipped maintenance. This problem worsens if the tank's commander is also an officer who must often perform other duties such as higher-level meetings, leaving only two men to attend to the tank. All of this means that tanks with three-man crews are more likely to suffer from performance-degrading human exhaustion, and mechanical failures that take longer to fix and that keep the tank from reaching the battlefield. These problems are exacerbated during prolonged time periods of operations.
Three men: