As reported April 4, 2018 on his page on www.facebook.com President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, State Concern "Ukroboronprom" began serial production of combat vehicles "Athlete" . In fact, judging from common photo and video, we are talking about making the PE "Kharkov Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau" (KMDB) of two armored repair tracked vehicles (BREM) "Athlet" on the basis of MBT "Oplot-T" tank within the framework of the well-known contract for the delivery of "Oplot-T" The manufacture of the two the BREM Athlet for Thailand, completes, finally, this long-suffering contract.
Back to the contract number USE-18.2-356-D / K-11 worth more than $ 240 million was signed by SC Ukrspetsexport on September 1, 2011 and provided for the supply of the army of Thailand with 49 new tanks MBT Oplot-T and two armored repair- evacuation vehicles "Athlet" on their base, with a deadline for the execution of the contract by the end of 2014. Thailand was actually the starting customer for MBT Oplot tanks developed by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau, which represents the further development of the T-80U/UD family of tanks, and the Athlet ARM, developed at the same base.
The agreed schedule for the delivery of BM Oplot-T under the contract was as follows: December 2012 - five cars, August 2013 - 15 vehicles, December 2013 - 15 vehicles.
Implementation of the contract "Kharkiv SE Plant named after VA Malyshev" began in April 2012 and the enterprise faced significant difficulties in the resumption of tank production after more than a decade of interruption. Under the terms of the contract, the first five tanks were to be delivered to the customer in December 2012, then the date of delivery of the first five tanks to the Thai side was called May 2013. Actually, the first five Oplot-T tanks manufactured under this contract were demonstrated in Kharkiv only on October 15, 2013, sent to Thailand with a declared customs value of $ 4.45 million each on December 20, 2013 and delivered by sea to Thailand (port Sattahip) on February 4, 2014.
The second batch of five Oplot-T tanks was manufactured by the Malyshev Plant by the beginning of 2015 and delivered to Thailand on May 31, 2015. The third batch of five Oplot-T tanks was completed by the end of 2015 through April 2016 and delivered to Thailand on May 21, 2016. The fourth batch of five Oplot-T tanks was delivered to Thailand on November 11, 2016, the fifth batch of five Oplot-T tanks was delivered to Thailand on June 12, 2017, the sixth batch of MBT Oplot-T's six tanks was was delivered to Thailand in October 2017, and the seventh batch of five tanks was delivered to Thailand on December 12, 2017.
Thus, by the beginning of 2018, Thailand received 36 MBT "Oplot-T" tanks and the remaining 13 tanks and both "Athlet" BREM will be delivered to Thailand as early as this year. The eighth of six MBT Oplot-T tanks was sent from Kharkov on December 27, 2017. On March 26, 2018 GC "Ukroboronprom" reported on the completion of the manufacture of all 49 MBT "Oplot-T" tanks for Thailand, and now announced the construction of both BREM "Athlet". It should be noted that, unlike the MBT Oplot-T tanks, the BREM Athlet, the serial manufacturer, is the KMDB itself, and not the Malyshev Plant.
BREM "Athlet" based on the T-80UD tank was developed by KMDB under the BREM-84 index ("Object 478BP") back in the 1990s, the only "demonstration model" that existed until recently was built in 1997. On November 24, 2008, this BREM was formally accepted for service by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2014, the only sample built in 1997 was transferred to the faculty of military training of the National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute."
(BMPD)