SPMBT Patch Post 2018/2019 Part 3
This I think will be the last 
MBT resubmission from that same Thread. 
First the depth some of us go to, 
too test and or 
verify our thoughts, 
sources and 
concerns. I would like to demonstrate that, as is the case here, for just one MBT. That being Ukraine’s 
OPLOT-M. I was seeing in game play a 
3:1 kill ratio in favor of the T-72B3M/B4 against the 
OPLOT-M. This would be an 
incorrect conclusion based on everything we know about these tanks in the end. 
From 
Page 85 Post 842. 
A. Para 1 “I relied on my evaluations from the recent testing done, looked at the feedback I received from others, rechecked old refs and found new ones and checked my conclusions against its peer Russian 
T-90A UNIT 050, its main rival 
T-72B3M/B4 when I play the against the 
AI.”
B. Para 3 “As with the two already listed these next where also used to evaluate my numbers for 
STEEL/HEAT/ERA & STABILISER as submitted below. They are (The ones I've 
submitted or 
changed will have "
*" by the name.) 
THAILAND *OPLOT-M (T) UNIT 019, UKRAINE T-84 UNIT 059, RUSSIAN *T-80BMV UNIT 046, SWEDEN *STRV-122A UNIT 358 (This tank was chosen because it is my 
firm belief there is no better "
TOP" protected tank in the world. Acted as a check against me as the others did. This came about from tests conducted on their stock of Russian tanks with 
STRIX which 
proved devastating to them. Also these 
LEOPARD tanks were 
made to order for 
SWEDEN and 
NOT stock tanks. The "
STEEL" for the 
turret hatch alone was 
increased just shy of 
2 feet thick which means the 
surrounding "TOP" area has to be even thicker as 
all hatches are recessed to avoid such issues as 
over pressurization etc. no different than on a 
Submarine and verified by my co-worker "
JAKE" (Helped us on some 
BRADLEY issues we were looking into in the past.) the 
ABRAMS/BRADLEY Driver/Gunner extraordinaire. For further see the 
FB Patch Thread "Patch Post #2 for the 2013/2014 Campaign"), 
USA M1A2 SEP V1 UNIT 318, 
M1A1HA+ UNIT 484, 
*MIA2 SEP V2 UNIT 517, and 
*M1A2 SEP V3". 
C. All the Test and Assessment Posts can be found below. 
“From the 
tests the average 
Kill RATIO stands at 3:1 win favoring the 
T-72B3M/B4. All the issues have already have been covered with the solutions to help counter the situation and acknowledged.
PG. 82 Posts 813/814/815 (Last Para) and 816.
PG. 83 Posts 824 and 830
PG. 84 Post 832.”
D. To “my” testers, John (
Imp), 
Aeraaa, 
zovs66 and 
jivemi. 
I THANK YOU!! 
NOW TO BUSINESS...
From 
Page 84 Post 837 This was just one of those issues that just 
came up out of nowhere…
Well I have an issue I believe, I've sorted out, maybe. It concerns the Russian 
T-80 Series. One will be an "
ADD" the other a "
CHANGE" of the "
START" as it's at 
least a year early. The issue is that the Russian 
T-80B/BV/U tanks received an 
upgrade. As the 
T-80BV is a real tank and is already in the game, I purpose that the upgraded tank be entered as the 
T-80BV1.
NOW THE ABOVE WILL BE 
LIMITED TO DATE CHANGES FOR THE FOLLOWING 
3 TANKS AFTER 
DEEPER RESEARCH AND RE-READING THE ARMY REC. REFS. (THE WORDING WAS A 
LITTLE CONFUSING AT FIRST.) (An obvious EDIT "
on the fly" at that time. 
2/25/2020.)
CHANGE/RUSSIA/T-80B/UNIT 621/END DATE 12/1992 VICE 12/1985//
All T-80B tanks in service were 
upgraded to the 
T-80BV until 
production ceased on that tank in 
1992. I 
cannot find any reference to the 
existence of the T-80B1/UNITS 622 & 676 as entered in the game of which 
I believe are redundant to the T-80B. 
DELETE/RUSSIA/T-80B1/UNITS 622 & 676/CANNOT VERIFY THEY EXIST//
As 
noted above and as indicated by the refs shown and others in a deeper web search.
http://www.military-today.com/tanks/t80b.htm
CHANGE/RUSSIA/T-80BV/UNIT 039/END DATE 12/2025 VICE 12/1992//
I can't seem to 
find anything to say these tanks are 
no longer in service. I 
fully understand a great many of them are in 
storage, but again the refs provided for this tank and others seem to indicate many 
are still operational and they are the platform from which the 
T-80BVM are derived from. View "
Variants" section of 
ref. 1. 
Ref. 2 shows Russia still using them 
at bottom of ref. "
Users" section.
http://www.military-today.com/tanks/t80b.htm
https://www.armyrecognition.com/russ..._13007173.html
CHANGE/RUSSIA/T-80BVM/UNIT 046/START DATE 10/2018 VICE 06/2017//
Date based on following from 
ref. 1 "Russia’s 
T-80BV main battle tank has been 
upgraded to T-80BVM standard to feature the 
capability of firing depleted uranium shells, the 
Defense Ministry said in the bulletin ‘
The Russian Army in Comparison’ published on 
20 December." Also note 
last para from 
ref. 1 which addresses some of what I submitted above. 
Ref. 2 production begins in 
March 2018.
Ref. 3 Dated 
02 July 2018, identifies the first units to be 
equipped with the T-80BVM.
https://www.armyrecognition.com/dece...um_shells.html
https://www.armyrecognition.com/weap..._t-80_mbt.html
https://www.armyrecognition.com/july...he_arctic.html
Others on the 
T-80...
http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/USSR/T-80.php
http://id3486.securedata.net/fprado/armorsite/T-80U.htm
(For the above see 
production chart on first page.)
THE NEXT IS DONE.
From 
Page 85 Post 842
UKRAINE/OPLOT-M/UNIT 064/CHANGE/STEEL/HF 75 vice 72/HR 10 vice 8/TOP 10 vice 7/HEAT/110 vice 104/HS 45 vice 40/TR 20 vice 18/ERA/HF 20 vice 15/HS 18 vice 15/TF 20 vice 15/TS 18 vice 15/TOP 20 vice 15/STABILISER 6 vice 5// My key tanks here where the 
T-84, 
OPLOT-M (
T), 
T-90A, 
T-72B3M/B4, 
T-80BMV and 
STRV-122A. We 
know or 
should know the following by now, the 
T-90A is it's peer tank, the tank was 
RESET to the "
-M" with the 
Hull strengthened and the 
Turret was 
newly built for this tank, 
ERA is better than the
 T-90A and the 
KBA3 MG has a 
first round hit probability tested to 
at least 94%. All this was 
born out in the evaluations during 
testing from the refs supplied in the posts and more as described above.
THAILAND/OPLOT-M/UNIT 019/CHANGE/NAME/OPLOT-T vice OPLOT-M/STABILISER 4 vice 3/STEEL-HEAT-ERA to match UKRAINE OPLOT-M UNIT 064 AS REVISED ABOVE// Though at the time, 
OPLOT-M was primarily used in referring to this tank, I'm assuming to avoid confusion. The refs. are using 
OPLOT-T now as has the 
THAI Army for some time now. The only difference between these tanks were a small handful of internal issues i.e. 
AC (Ukraine would add this feature to based on 
THAI feedback to theirs.) and other 
tropical related matters. I believe the lesser 
FCS related numbers are probably good assuming the 
Ukrainians didn't clear them (
And they haven't. 2/25/2020.) to receive the 
full FCS to the level of 
their own "home" tanks. This is 
not an unusual practice in the arms trade. That being said, if it's decided to fully match the hopefully revised Ukrainian OPLOT-M then I see no real issue there either. 
(This MBT is fine as already corrected. If I was to 
change one thing however, it might be to reduce 
VISION TI/GSR 45 vice 
50 currently. I leave this to you to decide. 
2/25/2020.)
From 
Page 85 Posts 844/845
USA/M1A2 SEP V3/UNIT 538/CHANGE/START DATE 06/2020 vice 10/2017/MBT IS CURRENTLY STILL IN FIELD/OP EVAL TESTING// The date currently entered is when the 
first six production models came off the line. These would eventually (And more obviously.) and as the refs are showing, went to the 
USA units assigned to test it. The significance of the 
DID entry I pointed to makes sense as it indicated the 
first 45 of these tanks would be completed, I believe it was in March this year. You'll note the rest of the upgrade completion dates go beyond my "
recommended" one above. The test and Prototypes would fill a unit by then or maybe a little earlier. I've already deleted all the refs. before I realized we had a problem here, so you'll have to use my last post and those refs supplied as a start point. Due note the 
latest is from the 
Army website as are 
2 others. 
https://www.army.mil/article/172984/...ound_at_a_time https://www.army.mil/article/214733/...proving_ground 
https://www.army.mil/article/214733/...proving_ground
From 
Page 86 Posts 858/860 (
Note: I have 
already edited the original data to reflect the correction made in Post 860* for the 
DELETION, to 
UNIT 649* vice 
UNIT 640. 2/24/2090.)
USA/CHANGE/RESET/M1A2 SEP/UNITS 316 & 647/CHANGE/M1A2 SEP MCRS/UNITS 653 & 654/ALL TO/START OCT 2008/END DEC 2025/TI/GSR 50 vice 40/FC 55 vice 50/STEEL HF 70 vice 65/HS 18 vice 12/HR 10 vice 9/HEAT TF 150 vice 147/TS 50 vice 48// Unlike the 
M1A1 FEP, the 
M1A2 SEP received a 
3rd GEN armor upgrade this includes 
a D/U pkg. as well. I "threaded the needle" for 
FOC based on the 
conflicting data. However it 
should be noted it's 
NOT out of line based on what I posted concerning the 
M1A2 SEP V3 almost being 3 yrs. into its OPEVAL as we speak. Also the last order placed for the 
SEP was in mid/late 2005. That being said, I leaned a little more on the following from 
DID (Last Ref.) entries 
AUG 29/08 and 
JUN 20/05. Overall the 
SEP program to date must viewed as incremental improvements in all areas. And I really like the picture, things should be seen doing things.
USA/DELETE/M1A2 SEP V1/UNITS 318 & 649*/SAVE THE PICTURE WE HAVE LATE MODEL ABRAMS "FLOATING IN THE SKY" THAT CAN USE IT// For the reasons stated above and below within the Refs. I have seen Refs to indicate the 
M1A1 AIM being 
tagged with V1 and 
V2 attached to the name. Also 
M1A1 AIM were all 
REMANUFACTED tanks for the record. 
USA/CHANGE/M1A2 SEP V2/M1A2 SEP 2-T/UNITS 517 & 537 RESPECTIVLY/FC 55 vice 50/BASED ON M1A2 SEP V3 FC 60/NOTE I MISSED UNIT 537 WHEN I SUBMITTED REVISED START FOR UNIT 517 (06/2020 I BELIEVE FROM POST 845) SHOULD MATCH// Again we see the progression more 
clearly now between the variants. 
http://www.benning.army.mil/armor/eA...une1996web.pdf
(In 
1996 the plan, 
pg. 11 and 
see Fig. 3 pg. 14.)
http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/...rmy/99m1a2.pdf
(In 
2000 testing issues and 
failures experienced 
during and 
beyond 1999.)
http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/...amsM1A2SEP.pdf
https://asc.army.mil/docs/pubs/alt/2...est_200101.pdf
(
2001 Another 
overview and 
analysis.) 
(In 
2002 testing continues with 
minor issues, progress being made.) 
https://www.forecastinternational.co...DACH_RECNO=534
(
2003 Commanders CITV. Cap. & 
Production Plan.)
https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/wsh/22.pdf
(2005 Conversion moves on it will be seen 
FOC not until Units are in "
PROGRAM STATUS" are 
fully equipped.)
https://www.gd.com/news/press-releas...oved-sep-reset
(
2006 Last of 
M1 tanks to be 
upgraded to SEP expect 
2009 final delivery to units for FOC.)
http://id3486.securedata.net/fprado/...ite/abrams.htm
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...updated-02834/
(After a 
3rd/4th time or more, I've got a 
little more clarity on the 
date issue (Above 
2 Refs in particular.) and I believe the 
M1A2 SEP V1 as noted under the 
M1A2 SEP V2 section. I'm starting to think what 
really happened here with 
most not reporting this version while a 
SMALL handful do is 
the program (
M1A2 SEP V1) 
started and went straight into the M1A2 SEP V2 program. It is the 
only thing that makes sense here.)
USA/CHANGE PICTURE/M1A2/UNIT 637/REPLACE WITH UNIT 318 PICTURE//I personally enjoyed that when Don let me get all those 
USN SKYHAWK pictures replaced mostly in 
Australia and 
Israel, 
F-105 for the 
Swiss. Also 
helos for 
Australia, 
Switzerland and 
all the countries that used the 
French SAR/SPEC OP helo we just updated a year or two ago with the missing MG's. That's 
almost relaxing compared to the rest!
From 
Page 85 Posts 852/857 (
Only showing the submission from 
Post 857. This demonstrates 
HOW FAST things can change 
based on newer data. 2/24/2020.) Also note I have to use the 
M1A2 SEP V2 for 
balance against the next two tanks as well. I don't know what data was used for them, however, we had a lot of data to work from for the 
M1A2 SEP V2 when it was 
submitted and except for the 
date change I submitted for the M1A2 SEP V3 that tank looks good at present. 
USMC/CHANGE/M1A1HC FEP VARIENTS/UNITS 467, 468 & 469/START 10/2009 vice 01/2008/TI/GSR 50 vice 45/STABILISER 7 vice 6/UNIT 468 MRAP 7 vice SURVIBILITY 6/SAME MBT AS UNITS 467 & 469// The 
FEP was a 
major upgrade to the 
M1A1 tanks the 
USMC operated. The contract was awarded on 
FEB 05, 2005 for the manufacture and installation of the subsystems making up the 
FEP package. The 
FOC was reached as submitted above. I 
cannot find any information to support any other date but, it should be noted however, I found enough to 
change the date when 
first submitted in 
Post 852 after 
digging deeper (
Updated this last sentence for 
clarification. 2/25/2020), I will gladly in this instance "
eat a little crow" concerning that last submission that "
I didn't see it before 2010..." at least based on the 
data I had then.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a608067.pdf
(
Pg. 6/Para B. Note they used 
JANE's 2013 ref.))
http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/index.php?item=156
(
Para 4)
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/art...-(dec.-6).html
Paras 1 & 6)
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com...1-tanks-01874/
(Covers 
both programs as of 
2006.)
https://www.heritage.org/military-st...s-marine-corps
https://www.heritage.org/military-strength
(
For context only. One of the very few "
think tanks" that grade militaries and 
specifically are the only to do so for ours. The second will get you to the other branches.)
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/issues...ets-new-sight/
(This last ties in the 
FEP and 
SEP programs. And as normal 
USA first.)
From 
Page 87 Post 862 (
My Pic) and 
Post 868 (
Dons edit of my Pic. It’s a beautiful thing!)
USA/CHANGE/M1A2 SEP V2/UNITS 517 & 537/M1A1 AIM/UNIT 636/M1A1 SA/UNIT 886/DELETE CURRENT PICTURES/REPLACE WITH PICTURE AS SUBMITTED BELOW//
REALITY: From changes for the 
ABRAMS SEP and looking at the refs, I ended 
Post 858 with:
“A final note did 
anyone notice a 
pattern with the 
Refs? Just from what I posted, it was 
12 yrs. for SEP to 
get into the field. Not bad when you consider 
ARJUN Mk I took 
over 30yrs. to get there! 
These things take time!” 
This is why 
I’m pessimistically, optimistic about 
equipment dates!!
I don’t think I missed anything for the 
MBT’S for the 
2018 – 2019 Campaign put back here where they should've 
started from in the first place. 
Don and I have 
already addressed for the 
2019 - 2020 Campaign the following MBT issues...
Posts 235 – 238 this Thread, covers South Korean 
K2 PIP (START Chg.).
T-80ROK UNIT 029 and 
BMP-3ROK UNIT 061 both retired last year, I believe we settled on 
 END DEC 2019.
. 
K2 UNIT 032 got a very 
INTERESTING ammo change. 
Also Ukraine to get an 
improved T-64 BULAT 17 
And finally I also submitted changes to the 
ARJUN Mk-1A for India (Now there's a surprise!!). 
All 
DONE already by Don these 
last three and I think 
most from higher above.
Those will be grouped together and submitted to the 
MBT Thread at a 
later date.
Didn't feel like going back to work today, when a 4 day work week was a better option. 
I'm done with MBT's! For now.
Time to 
not waste the rest of this "
gift" of being home with you know whom!
Regards,
Pat
