page_title: T-72
section_title: Combat history
hierarchical_section_title: T-72 / Service / Combat history
context_page_description: The T-72 is a family of Soviet main battle tanks that first entered production in 1971. About 20,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refurbishment has enabled many to remain in service for decades. The T-72A version introduced in 1979 is considered a second-generation main battle tank. It was widely exported and saw service in 40 countries and in numerous conflicts. The T-72B3 version introduced in 2010 is considered a third-generation main battle tank.
context_section_description: 1980–1988: Iran–Iraq War (Iraq)
  1982: Lebanon (Syria)
  1982: 1982 Ethiopian-Somali Border War (Ethiopia)
  1987–1990: Sri Lankan Civil War (India)
  1988–1994: Nagorno-Karabakh War (Armenia and Azerbaijan)
  1988–1993: Georgian Civil War
  1992–1997: Civil war in Tajikistan (Russia, Tajikistan)
  1990–1991: First Persian Gulf War (Iraq, Kuwait)
  1990–2002: Sierra Leone Civil War (Executive Outcomes)
  1991–2001: Yugoslav Wars (Yugoslavia)
  1991: Ten-Day War (Yugoslavia)
  1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence (Yugoslavia, Krajina Serbs, Croatia and Republika Srpska)
  1998: Kosovo (Yugoslavia)
  2001: 2001 Macedonia conflict (Macedonia)
  1991–2002: Algerian Civil War (Algeria)
  1994: Rwanda Civil War (Uganda)
  1994–1996: First Chechen War (Russia, Chechnya (limited)) First known case of using tank-launched missiles, which effectively destroy targets at 4 km range.
  1999–2009: Second Chechen War (Russia)
  2003: Invasion of Iraq (Iraq)
  2008: War in South Ossetia (Russia and Georgia)
  2011: 2011 Libyan civil war (Gaddafi Government and Anti-Gaddafi forces)
  2012: Syrian Civil War – Government forces using T-72 tanks. Opposition forces using captured government's tanks
  2013: South Sudanese conflict
  2014–present: Conflict in Ukraine (Ukraine and Russia)
  2014–2017: Iraqi Civil War (2014-2017) (Iraq)
  2015: Boko Haram insurgency (Nigerian Armed Forces)
  2016: 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes (Armenia, Azerbaijan)
caption: Iraqi T-72M in 2006
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