Production of the T-80 has been completed at Leningrad and the other T-80 plant, Kharkov, is now in Ukraine. The T-80 is also used by the Republic of Korea, this country bought 33 T-80U. These were delivered from stock as the only remaining T-80 plant in Russia, at Omsk, has a significant number of T-80U MBTs built for the Russian Army but not delivered because of a shortage of funds. In 1996, Cyprus ordered a batch of 41 T-80 series MBTs for its National Guard with all vehicles delivered by early 1997. They are similar in superficial appearance, but the T-80 is based on the earlier T-64 while incorporating features from the T-72, which was a complementary design. They are the products of different design bureaus the T-80 is from the SKB-2 design bureau of the Kirov Factory (LKZ) in Leningrad while the T-72 is from the Uralvagonzavod factory in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. The T-80 was confused with the Soviet T-72 by some Western analysts, but the T-80 and T-72 are mechanically very different. The T-80 is a development of the Russian main battle tank T-64, the T-80 was the first Russian-made main battle tank motorised with a gas turbine engine. The T-80 is a main battle tank designed and manufactured at the Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) under the direction of Nikolai S Popov, with the prototype being designated the Obiekt 219.
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