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The T-80UD "Bereza" (Береза, "Birch") is a development of the famous T-80U main battle tank. The T-80U was intended to be a high-tech, high-performance MBT for the Soviet ground forces, featuring advanced fire control systems, strong protection, and high mobility courtesy of a compact but powerful gas turbine engine. However, the latter proved to have notable flaws in service such as poor fuel efficiency, and Soviet planners were interested in an alternative model with a diesel engine. The T-80UD emerged in 1985 with a 1,000 hp 6TD opposed-piston diesel engine originally designed as an upgrade for the T-64 and entered service alongside its turbine sibling before the fall of the Soviet Union. After 1991, as the design bureau and factory responsible for the T-80UD were located in the former Ukrainian SSR, the T-80UD served as the basis for a number of new tank designs in the Ukrainian T-84 family.

Introduced in Update "Alpha Strike", the T-80UD is effectively a downgraded T-80U. It looks nearly identical from the front aside from minor details such as the mudflaps and the arrangement of the turret roof ERA, but from the rear it's clear that the engine compartment takes after the fellow opposed-piston-engined T-64s. The replacement of the GTD-1250 turbine results in a noticeable drop in mobility from 27 hp/ton to about 22, not even matching the older T-80B, but it's still more mobile than the T-72B. It also has not been provided thermal optics or the top 3BM46 "Svinets" APFSDS. In other regards it is essentially still a T-80U, and its lower battle rating puts it on par with the T-72B where its strong armour, fast reload, and decent mobility make it a competitive option for the battlefield.

The T-80UD's armour scheme is generally quite similar to the original T-80U. The turret has been slightly revised compared to the original T-80U but aside from better coverage of Kontakt-5 on the roof, it is currently modeled in-game with identical composites and armour layout. The turret has strong kinetic protection in general and is virtually immune to contemporary APFSDS. However, note that the space occupied by the IR searchlight to the right of the gun does not have Kontakt-5, and there is no thermal upgrade as on the T-80U that would replace it with an extra section of ERA. Since the composite armour alone doesn't have amazing chemical protection, ATGMs with at least 600 mm of penetration can punch through that spot and knock out the commander.

The frontal hull has few external differences from the T-80U, but a look in the X-Ray viewer shows that the composition of the composite armour is a 50-30-35-30-50 stackup of alternating HHRA and textolite, compared to the normal T-80U's 50-30-50-30-50. It provides somewhat less protection as a result, but still holds up well given the decreased battle rating. Just be more cautious during full uptiers or if battle damage has stripped away the Kontakt-5.

Typical Soviet MBT weakspots still apply; LFP, driver's viewport, etc. Fuel tanks are prone to exploding when hit. The small number of crew (3 crew members) drastically reduces the tank's survivability as a shot through the driver's viewport is likely to knock out the driver and one turret crew. The autoloader is located right underneath the turret crew and ammo detonation is very likely when a round penetrates. Side armour is negligible with small pockets of Kontakt-5 near the front offering protection against weaker HEAT rounds and miniscule protection against kinetic rounds.

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The T-80UD's mobility is a few steps back from the T-80U, and even the earlier T-80B given the 25% loss in engine horsepower. The new power-to-weight ratio of 21.7 hp/ton (about the same as the T-90A) is still quite good when compared to the likes of the T-72B (1989), Challenger Mk.2, and ZTZ96A, but a new drawback is that it also doesn't use the standard T-80 transmission with up to -11 km/h in reverse. Instead, it has a pitiful -5 km/h reverse speed just like the T-72s and T-64s.

The T-80UD still uses the standard 125 mm 2A46M-1 cannon, but a nice perk is that it retains the faster 6.5 second reload of the T-80U as opposed to the 7.2 second reload of the T-72s, T-64s, and T-80B. It also keeps the comfortable optics and commander override, which are nice quality of life and survivability improvements.

Besides lacking the top 3BM46 Svinets APFSDS, the T-80UD has access to the remainder of the T-80U's arsenal, putting it on par with the T-72B but enjoying a speedier reload. As a premium vehicle, all ammunition types are unlocked from the start and generally the most worthwhile choices are the standard 3BM42 Mango APFSDS for general anti-armour duties and the 9M119 Refleks gun-launched ATGM for special cases. The single-charge 9M119 can't boast especially high penetration and can often be blocked by NATO composite armour, but its 5.72 kg explosive mass actually exceeds that of the 3OF26 HE shell. It's useful for cleaning up light targets, harassing nearby (within 4 km) helicopters, and splashing enemy MBTs with overpressure damage when the opportunity arises. However, it may not always detonate on CITVs and other peripherals as consistently as the HE shell would and targets might notice the missile in flight.

The T-80UD loses many of the main selling points of the T-80 family in terms of mobility and access to thermal sights, but it also brings many of the T-80U's strengths down to a lower battle rating. It can be compared and contrasted to its closest stablemate, the T-72B (1989). The two Soviet tanks have the same ammunition and are both protected with Kontakt-5 ERA, but the elite T-80UD is advantaged in mobility (~22 hp/ton vs ~19 hp/ton), reload speed (6.5 seconds vs 7.2 seconds), gunner optics (low and high zoom levels versus fixed 8x magnification), and fire control (proper commander sight with override vs a simple periscope). Surprisingly, where the humble T-72 has a slight edge is in hull protection. The T-72B upper glacis design, nearly entirely made of spaced steel plates, offers more kinetic defense than the T-80UD's steel and textolite sandwich, and the horizontal autoloader is less likely to be hit by incoming fire than the T-64/T-80 arrangement. But on both tanks, the combination of Kontakt-5 and composite is enough to stop almost all contemporary darts anyway and it's more likely that damaging hits would have gone through weak points.

With both good forward mobility, solid protection, and good optics, the T-80UD can be used for both rushing attacks and sniping. In either case, keep an eye on the battlefield when leaving cover and be careful not to overextend — the standard T-80 reverse speed of -11 km/h could never have been considered fast and the T-80UD's -5 km/h is less than half of that. T-64 and T-72 veterans will obviously be familiar with this drawback, but the T-80UD's imbalance of forward versus backward mobility normally isn't seen in the tech tree until the T-90A. In addition, the lack of thermal sights can be a handicap on maps with lots of cover and foliage when most tanks of other nations have them as standard; the T-72AV (TURMS-T) is a contemporary of the T-80UD despite being grossly inferior in many respects specifically because of its great gunner and commander thermals. The T-80UD's armour allows it to charge straight into combat with less concern than most other tanks but it pays to maintain situational awareness, as there are more than a few vehicles that can send an overconfident or unsuspecting "Bereza" back to the hangar: for all its strengths, Kontakt-5 doesn't mean much to a tandem-warhead ATGM.

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