The reports being received in the western military following the various conflicts in the Middle east was that the tanks supplied to the Arabs were somewhat short of the refinements that could be expected in Soviet tanks. The old warsaw pact forces were in a similar situation. Things like night vision equipment, ranging gear, advanced communications equipment, were generally left out of the export models because there were bottlenecks in the Soviet production systems and this stuff was considered sensitive.
However the Israelis were also not always provided with the most up to date gear either. So I have my doubt just how valid it is to make special allowances for the Arab equipment. Much of it was captured by the Israelis and re-used, showing the basic tanks were all quite workable.
The T-64 has greater mobility than the T-62. The 5-cyllinder, opposed-piston, diesel engine has an estimated output of 700 to 750 hp. Although the engine is smaller than that of the T-72, the lighter (38 mt) T-64 is believed to have approximately the same road speed and cruising range as the T-72. Two 200-liter auxiliary fuel drums can be fitted on the rear of the hull.
The T-64 possessed better armor protection than the T-62. The hull and turret are of cast and welded steel armor incorporating both conventional steel armor and ceramic inserts, called Combination K, which provide superior protection against HEAT attack. Besides having greatly increased frontal armor protection due to the use of improved layered armor, the T-64 was also able to attach track protection plates or full-length skirts. According to the reports received at the time, it possessed low- flash fuel storage which offered some protection against fuel ignition. The front-mounted hull shovel enables the tank to dig itself in within a few minutes and also increases the armor protection of the lower hull front when it is folded upwards.
As standard fit the AFV carried the PAZ radiation detection system and an antiradiation liner. The T-64 also has a collective NBC filtration and overpressure system.
The T-64 has the same integral smoke generating capability as earlier T-54/55/62 tanks, and variants have the same type of turret-mounted smoke grenade projectors as have been observed on the T-72 and T-80.
The main armament comprises a 125mm smooth bore gun which power-elevates from -6º to +14º in a powered turret capable of traversing throughout 360º. The 125-mm smoothbore main gun fires a hypervelocity, armor-piercing, fin-stabilized, discarding-sabot (HVAPFSDS) round which is now known to have a muzzle velocity of over 1,750 meters per second and an effective range of at least 2,000 meters. Importantly it did not have this range at night, due to the limits of its night ranging equipment. During the 1st gulf War, Tp64s were both outranged and oputgunned by the much more capable Abrams fitted with advanced targetting and IR gear.
The 40-round basic load of the T-64 was the same as the T-62, and would typically include 12 HVAPFSDS rounds, 6 HEAT rounds, and 22 HE rounds. The cartridges were semi-combustible with stub-cases which may have been copied by the West. An automatic loader allows the crew to be reduced to three (commander, gunner, and driver), and an automatic spent-cartridge ejection system similar to that of the T-62 is employed.
The 125-mm gun also fires the AT-8 Songster ATGM, and normally carries six AT-8 Songsters plus 36 rounds (projectile and charge) of 125-mm ammunition.
It has an automatic loader, similar to that installed in the T-72, which delivers eight rounds a minute. The incorporation of this innovative automatic loader allowed for a three-man crew. Problems remained, however, and there are reports of the autoloader system still tryoing to load members of the crew at various times.
The commander is capable of operating all weapons in the tank from his position, a great improvement over the T-62. . The T-64 has an improved, integrated fire control system compared to the T-62, but it still is far short of western elctronics. . It was fitted with an onboard computer, and some variants may have a laser rangefinder.
The use of an automatic loader retained many of the problems of the T-62, but it allowed the Soviets to reduce the number of crewmen. The soviets did not take the opportunity to rectify the space problem for their basic turret design with this design. In fact the turret size was reduce, so in the end the significant cramped nature Soviet tanks was retained. . The space available in the turret for each crewman was not significantly increased, and the ability to upgrade the tank severely curtailed. . The ability to depress the main gun (-5°) is still limited. When using the mast antenna, the command variant is immobile, since the mast must be anchored in the ground.