It was superior to these tanks in most qualitative terms, until the introduction of the T-72B model in 1985. The T-64 would be used only by the Soviet Army and never exported, unlike the T-54/55. The turret of the T-64B would be used in the improved T-80U and T-80UD, and an advanced version of its diesel engine would power T-80UD and T-84 tanks built in Ukraine.

The T-64 design was further developed as the gas turbine-powered T-80 main battle tank. The T-64 also pioneered other Soviet tank technology: the T-64A model of 1967 introduced the 125-mm smoothbore gun, and the T-64B of 1976 would be able to fire a guided antitank missile through its gun barrel. Tank troopers would joke that the designers had finally caught up with their unofficial hymn, 'Three Tankers'-the song had been written to commemorate the crewmen fighting in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, in 3-man BT-5 tanks in 1939. Kartsev's Nizhny Tagil bureau, in models T-54A, T-54B, T-55, and T-55A).Ī revolutionary feature of the T-64 is the incorporation of an automatic loader for its 125-mm gun, allowing a crewmember's position to be omitted, and helping to keep the size and weight of the tank down. Morozov, the designer of the T-54 (which in the meantime would be incrementally improved by Leonid N. The T-64 was conceived in Kharkiv, Ukraine as the next-generation main battle tank by Alexander A. 6.1 Tanks of comparable role, performance and era.

Russian main battle tank list