M-84 - Development and Production

Development and Production

The M-84 is based on the Soviet T-72 but with several improvements, including: a domestic fire-control system, improved composite armor, and a 1000-hp engine. The M-84 entered service with the Yugoslav People's Army in 1984. The improved M-84A version entered service a few years later.

There were about 240 Yugoslav factories which directly participated in the production of the M-84 and about 1,000 others which participated indirectly. The main factories were:

  • Đuro Đaković, Slavonski Brod, final tank production
  • FAMOS, Pale, engine
  • Iskra Fotona, Ljubljana, lasers and electronics
  • Zrak Sarajevo, Sarajevo, optics
  • Slovenske Železarne, Ravne, steel and armour
  • Prvi Partizan, Užice, ammunition
  • Pretis, Vogosca, ammunition
  • Prva Petoletka, Trstenik, hydraulics
  • 21 Maj, Rakovica, manual turret traverse
  • Bratstvo, Travnik, main gun
  • Metalski zavodi Tito, Skopje, multiplicator
  • 11 oktomvri, Prilep
  • Ruen, Kočani
  • Rudi Cajevec, Banja Luka, electronics
  • Sever, Subotica, autoloader
  • Jugoturbina, Karlovac
  • Radoje Dakic, Podgorica
  • Industrija lezajeva Kotor, Kotor

In the late 1980s, a project for a replacement tank called the M-91 Vihor (Whirlwind) was started. Unlike the M-84, the Vihor was not a copy of a Soviet tank, but a new design from scratch. Two prototypes were created by 1991. One was completely finished, but the factory refused to deliver it to the Yugoslav People's Army. The second prototype only had its body completed. Due to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the M-91 project was paused until the end of the civil war in Croatia. After 1994, the second tank body was fitted with a new turret and the entire project was renamed Croatian main battle tank M-95 Degman. The M-95 Degman is still in prototype/experimental/technological-testbed phase.

Croatia also created an M-84D Degman upgrade package for the M-84. The Croatian army planned to upgrade its 75 M-84 tanks to the M-84D revision, but due to the economical crisis, the upgrade was postponed.

The latest Serbian version of the M-84 is the M-84AS, unveiled in 2004. It features a new fire control system, Kontakt-5 ERA armor, AT-11 Sniper anti-tank missiles, Agava-2 thermal sight, and the Shtora defensive suite. It is very similar to the Russian T-90S, both in appearance and in capability.

About 150 M-84 tanks were exported to Kuwait. The disintegration of Yugoslavia in the 1990s prevented further exports of the M-84.

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