Pakistan has awarded a contract worth $85.6 million for modernising T-80UD battle tanks to Ukroboronprom, a state-owned association of major defence conglomerates of Ukraine.

According to reports, the contract is signed at the International Defense Exhibition (IDEX) 2021, being held in Abu Dhabi.

Zubaida Jalal, the minister for defence production, and the CEO of Ukroboronprom, Yuri Gusev, signed the contract. After signing the contract, the minister said that bilateral military-technical cooperation between Pakistan and Ukraine will increase in the future.

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The Ukroboronprom CEO said that Ukraine’s companies are constantly updating their production capacity and improving technologies to ensure high-quality work and products.

T-80UD tanks were first introduced in 1976. They have significant importance in the defensive arsenal of many countries to this day.

Besides Ukraine, China, Russia, South Korea, Kazakhstan, and Egypt, and Pakistan are a few of the countries which use T-80UD tanks to augment their defence. An estimated 6,000 of these tanks are present worldwide.

Weighing around 46 tonnes, the T-80UD tank is 9.6 meters long with gun forward, 3.6 meters wide, and 2.2 meters high. At least three crew members can fit into the modernised T-80UD tank which has a ground clearance of 0.44 meters and a top speed of 48km/h.