Nikolay Sergeyevich Popov (; 14 December 1931 – 4 February 2008) was a Soviet engineer who went on to be the main designer of the Soviet

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

, the

T-80 The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union and manufactured in Russia. The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72 and changing the engine to a gas turbi ...

Early life and career

Popov was born in

Ust-Labinsk Ust-Labinsk () is a town and the administrative center of Ust-Labinsky District of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. Geography The town is situated in the central part of Krasnodar Krai, at the confluence of the Kuban and Laba rivers, 62 km to the ...

of the

North Caucasus Krai North Caucasus Krai (, ''Severo-Kavkazskiy kray'') was an administrative division (''krai'') within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union. It was established on 17 October 1924. Its administrative center was Rost ...

. His main contribution to Soviet military development came in 1976 when the first productions of the T-80 began. Popov was the main designer of the tank, and the T-80 ended up looking a lot like the previous

T-64 The T-64 is a Soviet tank manufactured in Kharkiv, and designed by Alexander Morozov. The tank was introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served in tank divisions, while the T-62 supported i ...

and became the main battle tank of the Soviet Union due to its advanced design, being the first tank with a turbine, multi-fueled engine and still used by the Russian army today in its elite tank units, with over 5,404 being built until its production was terminated in 1992 by the new Russian Federation. Popov died on 4 February 2008 in

Sestroretsk Sestroretsk (; ; ) is a municipal town in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the Sestra River and the Sestroretskiy Lake northwest of St. Petersburg. Po ...

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Chief designer of the T-80 tank dies
1931 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Russian engineers People from Ust-Labinsky District Members of the Central Auditing Commission of the 25th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Members of the Central Committee of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Heroes of Socialist Labour Recipients of the Lenin Prize Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the USSR State Prize State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates Russian inventors Russian mechanical engineers Soviet inventors Soviet mechanical engineers Weapon designers from the Soviet Union {{Russia-mil-bio-stub