#OTD June 22, 1978 – By Order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR No. 0114, the T-80B tank was adopted into service with the Soviet Army. It was developed by the design bureau of the Leningrad Kirov Plant under the leadership of N. S. Popov. The T-80B tank was a T-80 fitted with a weapons suite unified with that of the T-64B, featuring enhanced armor protection and a GTD-1000TF gas turbine engine. In total, from 1978 to 1984, 1,606 T-80B tanks were produced at plants in Leningrad and Omsk. P.S. The above are the standard "historical phrases" — developed in Leningrad by Popov… but if you dig into the archives, you'll see that it was actually developed in Kharkiv – regarding how the T-80B came to be, the same document on the subject NV7-159-74 refers to it under the unusual designation "T-64B on T-80 chassis," and all these efforts were carried out by the Kharkiv Design Bureau. See also – From the history of the T-64B and the "Kobra" guided weapon system. (t.me/btvt2019/22418) From the history of the T-64B and the "Kobra" guided weapon system 2. (t.me/btvt2019/22437)

#OTD April 14, 1966. The BMP-1 was adopted into service. By Decree No. 269-86 of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers, the BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle ("Object 765") was accepted into service. Pursuant to this decree, the USSR Minister of Defense issued Order No. 0120 on June 2, 1966. This was the first amphibious combat vehicle of its kind, featuring a front-mounted engine compartment and a rear-mounted troop compartment. It was developed between 1961 and 1965 by the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (ChTZ) design bureau under the leadership of P. P. Isakov. Serial production at ChTZ, and from 1967 at the Kurgan Machine-Building Plant, continued until 1979, with over 12,000 BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles delivered. Today, the BMP-1 (and BMP-2) is often criticized, but its creators, constrained by contradictory and strict weight limitations, could hardly have imagined it would remain in service 59 years later. Its replacement, the BMP-3, is in some respects inferior—it abandoned the front-engine and rear-troop layout, and is equipped with 42 rounds of 100 mm ammunition (22 in the autoloader). Could the BMP-1 have been designed differently in the early 1960s? Without time travel or hindsight, it would have been challenging. The Americans at the time faced similar issues—placing fuel tanks between troop seats and requiring firing ports in the sides (t.me/btvt2019/13396). The alternative to the 73 mm Grom gun in the USSR was perhaps only the KPVT. Building a larger, better-protected vehicle was hindered by the lack of modern, compact engines.

#OTD December 27, 1987, the last T-64 type tank (T-64BV) left the assembly shop. A rally was held. It was a farewell to a whole epoch that left a great mark in tank manufacturing.