Russia starts production of upgraded tank recovery vehicle

Russian tank maker Uralvagonzavod says it has completed testing of an upgraded BREM-80 armored recovery vehicle that lets its crew hook up and tow damaged tanks without leaving the vehicle, a change the company says came directly from combat experience in Ukraine.

The company, part of Russia’s state-owned Rostec corporation, announced the end of the test cycle on Oct. 6. It said serial production is already underway and the vehicles are being delivered to Russian troops. Uralvagonzavod did not say how many have been built or delivered.

Armored recovery vehicles drag disabled or stuck tanks off the battlefield so they can be repaired. The job usually means getting close to where a tank was hit, and crews have traditionally had to climb out to attach heavy tow cables by hand. Uralvagonzavod said recovering damaged vehicles has proven to be one of the most dangerous tasks in the war in Ukraine.

The main change on the upgraded BREM-80 is a mechanized coupling device, which connects the tow to the damaged vehicle from inside. The company said this cuts the risk of crew injuries several times over. During testing, engineers ran the coupling under heavy loads while towing armored vehicles across rough terrain, the company said.

Uralvagonzavod said the vehicle also has reinforced armor against shaped-charge warheads, drones and artillery fragments. It carries what the company calls sixth-generation radio equipment, which it said was tested for resistance to jamming under active electronic warfare conditions.

The BREM-80 is built on the chassis of the T-80 tank and keeps the T-80’s gas turbine engine. According to the company, the vehicle can start at minus 40 degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahrenheit) within minutes. Uralvagonzavod said its pulling power lets it tow several tanks at once, including heavier Western-made armored vehicles. At the Rembat-2018 competition, the company says, a BREM-80 towed six coupled T-80 tanks with a combined weight of more than 270 tonnes (about 298 tons).

The vehicle also carries hydraulic winches, a crane and a dozer blade that clears paths and anchors the vehicle in place while it pulls. Earlier manufacturer data for the BREM-80U put the crane’s lifting capacity at up to 18 tonnes.

The upgrade has been in the works for some time. A version shown at the Army-2024 exhibition near Moscow in August 2024 carried explosive reactive armor on the front of the hull and an electronic warfare counter-drone system built into a cage over the top. In February 2026, Rostec said Uralvagonzavod had delivered a batch of modernized BREM-80s to the Russian Ministry of Defense and had begun serial production.

Russian ground forces operate T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks in Ukraine, and the T-80 chassis allows the BREM-80 to keep pace with T-80 units.