The Russian tank T-80BVM was seriously upgraded. In particular, he had a modified weapon stabilizer and loading mechanism. After all these procedures, the tank can fire projectiles with tungsten carbide cores 3БМ59 Lead-1 and depleted uranium 3БМ60 Lead-2.
Significantly improve the armor-piercing characteristics of the guns of the T-80BBM tank will help his new projectiles with tungsten carbide and uranium cores.
As reported in open sources, the difference between these types of shells is hefty - up to about 1 cm in the armor-piercing category. In particular, "Lead-1" has a tungsten carbide core, "Lead-2" - a core with a uranium alloy. "Lead-1" is able to penetrate 700-740 mm of uniform armor at a distance of 2 km, "Lead-2" - 800-830 mm at the same distance.
As reported in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the upgraded T-80BVM began to enter service with the Russian army in 2018.
According to experts, the use of shells with dinner uranium does not violate international law. The US Army also has tank shells with a core of depleted uranium. Ability to shoot them has one of the modifications of the tank "Abrams". Their armor penetration is 650 to 700 mm of armor at a distance of 2 km.
