Production
The main tank factory was established by decree nr.514 in December 1978 at FMGS division (Fabrica De Maşini Grele Speciale - Special Heavy Machinery Factory) of the 23rd August plant (now known as FAUR) in Bucharest. The construction of this tank factory was finalized in 1980. The factory was a militarized zone and was top secret, requiring a special permit to enter. By 1983, the FMGS tank factory could produce 210 tanks per year. The TR-85 tank was produced between 1986 and 1990 at rate of approximately 100 tanks per year.
The TR-85 tank was soon found to be mechanically unreliable. Teething problems included high fuel and oil consumption, engine and transmission problems and chronic oil leakage. Furthermore, the Ciclop fire control system was unreliable because of the poor quality of electronics. The laser rangefinder was not integrated with the daylight aiming system and only a limited number of corrections could be inserted in the ballistic fire-control computer. Problems were made worse when Nicolae Ceaușescu decided to cancel in July 1982 all imports of special equipment for the arms industry. At one point, Ceaușescu threatened to stop tank production altogether because of the poor manufacturing quality. The initial teething problems were not corrected until after the fall of communism in Romania when the Romanian engineers used foreign parts to improve TR-85's reliability.
Read more about this topic: TR-85
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