Black Eagle ( tank ) The Black Eagle tank ( , or " Obyekt 640 " ) was a presumed prototype main battle tank produced in the Russian Federation . It was thought to have been developed by the KBTM design bureau in Omsk in the late 1990s . A production version of this tank has never been publicly demonstrated . The Black Eagle tank has been cancelled , and all production and development halted . The company that was developing the tank , Omsk Transmash , has subsequently gone bankrupt . Development . Development started during the 1980s , when the design bureau of the Leningrad Kirov Plant ( LKZ ) developed a new design based upon the stretched T - 80 U chassis . Later , when the bureau closed , the documentation was transferred to KBTM in Omsk . A mock - up of the Black Eagle was first demonstrated at the VTTV arms exposition in Omsk , in September 1997 , making a single brief pass , far from the reviewing stands . The tank appeared to be a standard T - 80U hull , topped by a very large turret and gun , obscured by camouflage netting and canvas . The turret later turned out to be a crude mock - up . An early prototype was shown at an arms exposition in Siberia , in June 1999 . This tank had an elongated hull with seven pairs of road wheels instead of the T - 80 ' s six , and a turret still mostly obscured by camouflage netting . The tank is based on a lengthened T - 80U hull , with an extra pair of road wheels and a brand new turret . It appears to have very thick front armour and new - generation " Kaktus " explosive reactive armour on the hull and turret . The turret has a very large , box - shaped turret bustle instead of the traditional dome shape of previous Soviet and Russian main battle tanks . According to Russian reports , the Black Eagle design has abandoned the carousel - style autoloader in the fighting compartment for an autoloader mounted in the large western - style turret bustle , which incorporates a blow - out armoured ammunition compartment for crew safety , like the U . S . M1 Abrams tank . The prototype has a 125 mm tank gun , but it has been stated that it may accommodate a larger 152 mm gun ( compared to the 120 and 125 mm - calibre guns of main battle tanks in service ) . There is debate about whether the Black Eagle will incorporate the Drozd or Arena Active Protection System . Halted . Recent information seems to suggest that the Black Eagle program has been halted . Development of the Black Eagle was halted due to the terrible performance of the T - 80 , upon which the tank was modelled , in the second Chechen war . The T - 80 performed so poorly that General - Lieutenant A . Galkin , the head of the Armor Directorate , convinced the Minister of Defence after the conflict to never again procure tanks with gas - turbine engines . This included the Black Eagle , which was promptly cancelled . The manufacturers , Omsk Transmash , attempted to appeal the decision , but were unable to pursue the appeal after filing for bankruptcy in 2002 . As of July 2008 , the Russian army plans to adopt a new Uralvagonzavod tank after 2010 , possibly to be designated T - 95 . However , development of the T - 95 tank was also cancelled , in May 2010 . Col . Vladimir Voitov , head of research at the Main Directorate of the Armored Troops , denied the existence of the tank in an interview with the Echo Moskvy radio in September 2009 . " There was no such project . . . and those 20 - year - old pictures show a mock - up of a futuristic tank which remained just a product of someone ' s imagination , " . . . " the turret of the vehicle did not have anything inside . "