Historical Notes:

In the 1973, the T-34-85M1s were facing a new threat coming from the west: the Leopard 2, and the failed prototype MBT-70/KPz-70, these MBTs were a massive threat to the Soviet T-34s, the USSR made a upgrade package that can reinforce the T-34s in some ways, one drawing of a armor upgrade package actually features a 12.7mm NSVT machine gun for AA purposes but it never made it to the final design. The MBT-70/KPz-70 was very weak when it comes to encountering the T-64s, but the Leopard 2 on other hand, had a very thick composite armor that even the most advanced soviet APFSDS shells cannot penetrate, to counter these threats, the Soviets came up with a solution, the solution was to add some form of applique armor and a ERA, in this way, the tank would withstand the hits from the HEATFS shells, but it cannot stop even the weakest APFSDS shell made by USA.