The Russian armoured forces entered the 21st century with a large number of very diverse vehicles, the most advanced of which was the T-80 family. The best among them was the T-80UD, but their continued operation proved problematic due to difficulties servicing their KhKBM-produced diesel engines on domestic territory, while the T-80BV was already obsolete both in protection and firepower. As a cheap way to raise the technical level of the tank fleet, it was decided to remove turrets from decommissioned T-80UDs and install them on T-80BV hulls. The vehicles were also modernised by fitting a second-generation thermal imager, modifying the autoloader to allow the use of lengthened APFSDS rounds, installing Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour on the hull, and fitting a more powerful engine. The modernised vehicle, designated T-80UE-1, was accepted into service in 2005; no more than a hundred units were produced.

The T-80UE-1 was introduced in Update 2.37 “Seek & Destroy”. Its gun offers a wide selection of ammunition, from APFSDS rounds with good penetration and tandem ATGMs to high-explosive fragmentation shells with a large explosive charge, while its autoloader is somewhat slower than manual loading on NATO tanks but does not depend on the condition of the crew. A significant advantage compared with other Soviet tanks is the second-generation thermal imager and the faster turret traverse. Otherwise, like other tanks of the series, it has fairly strong frontal armour and good mobility, but low survivability due to its dense internal layout and low reverse speed.