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The T-80 was the last Soviet light tank to enter production during the Second World War, but only 120 were built before it was cancelled, and the factory used to built the SU-76 self propelled gun instead.
The T-80 was designed by the N. Astrov design team based at Zavod Nr.38 at Kirov. It was generally similar to the T-70 light tank, with the same power train with two GAZ engines in line, five road wheels and three rollers on each side. The driver was located at the front-left, just behind the sloped front armour. The front armour was made 5mm thicker, but the side and rear armour was thinner than on the T-70. The T-80 was slightly longer, wider and higher than the T-70.
The main changes to the T-80 were that it had a new larger two man turret with electrical turret traverse, wider tracks and stronger suspension. The new turret was visibly larger, and had a hexagonal plan with sloped sides and two hatches in the roof. The turret had the same armour as the T-70. The new turret increased the weight of the T-80 to 11.6 tonnes, more than two tonnes heavier than the T-70. However it used the more powerful GAZ-203 engines introduced late in the production run of the T-70, so speed was unaffected.
The T-80 went into production in the autumn of 1942, but by this point in the war the Red Army didn’t really need more light tanks. Lend-lease tanks were available that could perform the same role, and Soviet production facilities were better used to produce more heavily armed vehicles that could cope with the later German tanks. As a result only 120 T-80s were built before production ended, and the production line switched to the SU-76, which used many of the same parts but carried a 76.2mm gun.
Production: 120
Hull Length: 14.5ft
Hull Width: 8.2ft
Height: 7.15ft
Crew: 3
Weight: 11.6 tonnes
Engine: Two 85hp GAZ-203 petrol engines for total of 140hp
Max Speed: 28mph
Max Range: 200 miles
Armament: 45mm/1.77in gun and 7.62mm/ 0.3in machine gun
Armour: 10-60mm
Armour
| Armour | Front |
Side |
Rear |
Top/ Bottom |
Turret |
60mm |
35mm |
35mm |
10mm |
Hull |
50mm |
25mm |
25mm |
10mm |