By 11 November 2016
Arrival of five Oplot-T MBT (photo : Defence Blog)
A new batch of Ukrainian-made Oplot-T main battle tanks has been delivered to Thailand.
According to local media, the five new Oplot-T main battle tanks has arrived in Thailand in accordance with the contract signed with the Ukrainian side. The batch of Oplots, which are produced by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau, arrived on board cargo ship.
Royal Thai Army has received a total of 20 Oplot-T main battle tanks. The RTA ordered 49 Oplots in 2011 for USD240 million, although the production of the Thai tanks has been subject to serious delays due to conflict in Ukraine in 2014 and 2015.
The Oplot-T or BM Oplot is an upgraded version of the T-84 Oplot MBT. The Oplot is armed with a KBA-3 125mm smoothbore gun, a KT-7.62 (PKT) coaxial machine gun and a KT-12.7 anti-aircraft machine gun. The main gun is fed by a loading system equipped with conveyor, automatic loader and control system. The ammunition includes high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG), armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding-sabot (APFSDS), high explosive anti tank (HEAT) and gun mount (GM) rounds.
(Defence Blog)
