Lion of Babylon tank The Lion of Babylon tank or Asad Babil ( Arabic : اسد بابل ) was an Iraqi - built version of the Soviet T - 72 MBT ( main battle tank ) , assembled in a factory established in the 1980s near Taji , north of Baghdad . This project represented the most ambitious attempt by Saddam Hussein ' s regime to develop an indigenous tank production , triggered in part when some Western governments imposed an embargo in order to force a negotiated end to the Iran - Iraq war . Production history . According to Russian sources , an informal agreement was in place between the Iraqi government and a Polish company as early as 1982 . The deal comprised the assembly of 250 T - 72Ms from imported hulls , in order to avoid the embargo . However , the process actually consisted of final assembly of complete knock down kits , rather than a true production line . By September 1982 , the Soviet Union started to provide other T - 72 components covertly via Poland , to upgrade the Iraqi tanks . The Baath regime had also bought a handful of very basic T - 72B models from the USSR during president Bakr ' s last year in power ( 1979 ) ; the only T - 72s imported outright by the Iraqis . About 60 T - 72s were lost in the war with Iran . By the time of the beginning of the production in the Taji factory , several hundred T - 72s were in active service in the Iraqi Army . Nevertheless , the tanks were upgraded to T - 72M1A standards ( in the case of the few of basic model ) or ( in the case of the assembled from Polish hulls ) refurbished and modified in the Taji complex between 1989 and 1990 . The steel plant in Taji , built by a West German company in 1986 , manufactured steel for several military uses and met the standards to retrofit and rebuild tanks already on duty in the Iraqi Army , such as the T - 54 / 55 and T - 62 . The first locally - assembled T - 72 came off the production line in early 1989 , after a license agreement was achieved with a Polish contractor to provide essential parts . The United Nations imposed an arms embargo following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 , which soon limited the complex activity to the production of spare parts for the " Lions " and other tanks in the Iraqi arsenal . In most aspects , the Lion of Babylon is physically identical to the basic T - 72M . The Iraqi tank was upgraded to T - 72M1A features with the addition of laminated armor on the front slope and rear as protection against HEAT projectiles . A few examples featured a laser rangefinder for its 125 mm smoothbore main gun . American military intelligence believed some of them also featured Belgian - made thermal sights . These same sources claim the tank was also provided with a better track protection against sand and mud than the Soviet T - 72 , by reducing the original number of dampers . Some of them carried a crude detachable pipe device made by the Iraqis in order to use the exhausts to blow up sand or dust to dig - in the tank . It ' s widely known that the tank had some kind of electro - optical interference pods of Chinese origin . As secondary armament , the tank mounted either the NSV or the DShK 12 . 7 mm machinegun and the coaxial 7 . 62 mm PKT common to all models of T - 72 . Combat Performance . The " Asad Babil " was generally credited as being the most common tank in Iraqi service during the Gulf War ( 1990 – 91 ) , but that honor goes , in fact , to the Type 69 , produced in China but widely refitted by the Iraqis . Only Republican Guard divisions were equipped with Iraqi - modified T - 72s . The Lion of Babylon was utterly outclassed by the M1 Abrams , the Challenger and by any other contemporary Western main battle tank during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq . For example , a 120 mm depleted uranium ( DU ) APFSDS round from an M1 could kill an " Asad Babil " tank well beyond 3 , 000 m , An official document , shows a drawing describing the projectile path right through the tank hull , defeating the armor on both sides . There is a summary detailing Abrams B - 23 ' s damage . This text mentions two rounds hitting the Abrams , the first of them ( a shaped charge weapon ) being probably an AGM - 114 Hellfire missile blast through the rear grill doors , while the second ' unknown ' round is almost certainly that depicted in the ballistic ' s sketch . The damage taken from this second hit , as is described in this report , was catastrophic . Incidentally , other sources hint that , besides C - 12 , at least another tank was penetrated by APFSDS shells . A Delta company Abrams ( D - 24 ) was also hit by a HEAT round from an " Asad Babil " in the same skirmish , according to the tank commander , First Sergeant ( 1SG ) Anthony Steede . Indeed , the asserts that a small shaped charge ammunition struck the NBC exhaust duct , the . The MBT lost power and hydraulic pressure , becoming a mobility kill ( according to Scales , the round was a sabot ) . The about the incident shows the D - 24 loader testifying that some kind of rocket / missile hit the US tank , which supports the friendly fire theory . However , during a TV documentary interview some 10 years later Steede was adamant about the T - 72 HEAT theory . The impact threw the TC from his hatch and left the gunner seriously wounded by splinters . The presumed killer was quickly destroyed by sabot fire from another Delta company Abrams . Even if the US tank was not destroyed , the damage was enough to send it to a maintenance depot . The report about two hits in the rear turret suggests that the duffle bags in the tank ' s sponson boxes were presumably set on fire . Another six M1As were allegedly hit by 125 mm tank fire in the Gulf War official report , but the impacts were largely ineffectual . More specific details exist about another Abrams storage area catching fire from a burning T - 72 as a result of combat operations in the " Chronology of the XVIII Airborne Corps in Gulf War " . The damage was sustained during the last engagement of the Gulf War , March 2 , 1991 , near the Rumeilah oil fields , southwest of Basra , when the 1st Brigade of the US 24th Infantry Division attacked by surprise a large retreating column of the " Hammurabi " elite Division , comprising some " Asad Babil " and APC s , which apparently broke the cease - fire . Most of the Brigade - size formation was demolished by the combined force of helicopters , A - 10 attack aircraft and armored vehicle weapons . Against the M2 Bradley . According to Atkinson and Scales , the Lions also accounted for at least three M2 Bradley IFVs during Desert Storm and left several damaged , all of them on February 26 , 1991 . The Bradleys were often deployed as advanced scouts for the main armored forces . They explored the enemy lines , having been greeted by the Iraqi tank ' s main guns in many occasions . In return , if located within striking distance , they retaliated by firing their BGM - 71 TOW antitank missiles with deadly effects , even taking out several MBTs . Most of the M2 losses were the result of this kind of mission . Brigadier General Scales states that on the mentioned date , an M2 Bradley ( ID number unknown ) , leading the TF 3 - 5th Cavalry scout platoon and commanded by a First Lieutenant Donald Murray , took a T - 72 sabot round through the road wheels . This action led to the first officially reported killing of a Lion in the Division , by First Lieutenant Marty Lener ' s tank . Atkinson cites a mostly fratricidal battle near " Phase Line Bullet " , a preestablished objective in the 3rd Armored Division way towards northern Kuwait , west of Al - Busayyah . The close - range skirmish involved Bradleys from the 4th Squadron of the 7th Cavalry Regiment against Iraqi dismounted infantry , APCs , and T - 72s of " Tawakalna " Division . Visibility conditions were extremely poor ( less than 400 yards ) , due to a sandstorm combined with the fumes of burning oil wells . The Iraqis employed small arms , RPG - 7 s , AT - 3 Sagger missiles ( completely aimless in such bad weather ) , and direct and indirect tank and 73 mm cannon fire from their entrenched positions . One of the American IFVs ( A - 36 ) was hit and crippled by what ballistics suggest was a 12 . 7 mm bullet from an Iraqi tank ( though it was described only as a small caliber penetrator by the ballistics report ) , and then shattered by a HEAT 125 mm shell after the crew evacuated the vehicle . Bradley A - 35 also took some damage from a mix of ricocheting 12 . 7 mm bursts and main gun rounds near - misses , but was able to be driven out . Another three vehicles were put out of action by M1A sabot friendly fire ( A - 22 , A - 24 and A - 31 ) . Two other ones took some damage from T - 72 main and secondary armament : A - 33 was hit by a ricocheting 12 . 7 mm bullet which disabled the radio and wounded the commander , while A - 26 was struck by fragments of a 125 mm round during the process of recovery wounded personnel from A - 24 . The rest of the 14 IFVs platoon , all of them damaged by shrapnel and machine gun fire , was forced to withdraw . This is the only known action in which an Iraqi armored force led by T - 72s Lions beat off a US ground assault in both Iraqi wars . There is also another US Army reference to a third Bradley ( K12 ) , belonging to 3rd squadron , 2nd ACR ( 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment ) , hit by both kinetic energy and HEAT rounds and totally destroyed . This incident happened in the course of the scattered skirmishes that preceded the battle of 73 Easting against " Tawakalna " division , when a small Iraqi mechanized force attacked , during a probing action , the ressuply area of the Regiment , between Al - Bussayyah and Wadi - al - Batin , around 2 : 00 AM . A second Bradley and two M - 113 s were also damaged , all of them to friendly fire . Several MT - LB s troop carriers and one unidentified tank belonging to the retreating enemy were reported as destroyed by US forces . A fourth Bradley from TF4 - 32 was destroyed by friendly fire at 19 : 20 from another M2A2 while engaging a lone T - 72 supported by dismounted Iraqi infantry . Invasion of Iraq ( 2003 ) . During the invasion of Iraq , the Republican Guard ' s Lions , most of them from Medina Division , were deployed around Baghdad to attempt a last ditch defense of the Baath regime . Since the beginning of the war , the bulk of the resistance had been conducted by regular army units , equipped with Type 69s and T - 62s . In the process of the final run to the Iraqi capital , another M2 was struck by a 125 mm shell near Baghdad Airport in early April 2003 , caught in the open while on a reconnaissance mission . Other sources claim the Bradley was destroyed by an Iraqi modified Type 69 fitted with an automatic 57 mm antiaircraft gun , but witnesses on the field claim that there were just two rounds fired , one against the Bradley and a previous near - miss aimed at a Fox NBC vehicle . This action took place during a counter - attack led by Republican Guard armored forces against the Task Force 2 - 7 Infantry ( Mechanized ) Tactical Operations Center ( TOC ) . Along with the main guns of the tanks shelling the compound , the area was hit by mortar fire and light artillery . The assault was fended off mostly by infantry armed with Javelin missiles , which destroyed a number of T - 72s . In preparation for the final US push , the Iraqi T - 72s were the preferred target for Apache helicopters and A - 10s , in an attempt to diminish the combat power of Medina . However , one of these US air operations , executed by Apaches from the 11th Aviation Regiment became a fiasco near Karbala , on March 25 . The Republican Guard T - 72s , APCs , ZSU - 23 - 4 antiaircraft systems , along with infantrymen armed with AK - 47 s , aware of the US Army plans , surprised the 34 helicopters with a barrage of PKM , NSV , 23 mm , and perhaps 125 mm tank fire . The route of the raiders was uncovered by the Republican Guard long before they could reach their intended objective . The large aerial strike was repulsed with one Apache brought down ( according to Iraqi state TV , shot at by a peasant firing an AK - 47 , although it was likely hit by 23 mm rounds ) , and all the remainder damaged , some of them taken temporary out of service and at least two being written off . Only seven were still operational after the failed raid . The two crew members of the downed aircraft were captured by the Iraqis . This left the US Regiment grounded for the rest of the invasion and , in some sense , it was the last successful battle of the T - 72 Lion of Babylon . The last operational " Asad Babil " s were destroyed by the successive waves of American armored incursions on the Iraqi capital or abandoned by their crews after the fall of Baghdad , several of them without firing a single shot , after the collapse of the regime . The derelict tanks were later scrapped by US Army disposal teams or shipped to the USA for targeting practice . Apparently , a handful of them that were still on production in the Taji complex or hidden elsewhere were later incorporated to the new Iraqi Army for training . But the Lions and their now dismantled factory would continue to haunt American forces in Iraq under the guise of IED s , many of them made from 125 mm HEAT shells or even sabot rounds and other ammunitions once produced in the Taji plant , and now used , often with deadly effects , by the Iraqi Insurgency . Conclusions . From a wide point of view , the Iraqi T - 72 was affected by the same lack of maneuvering skills which pervaded the Iraqi Army commander ' s minds since the war with Iran . The " Asad Babil " s , like any other tank in the Iraqi inventory , were mainly employed as artillery pillboxes , rather than high - mobility combat vehicles . Indeed , the Iraqi generals wasted numerous HEAT and even sabot tank shells in indirect fire missions from reveted positions , achieving nothing against coalition troops before being located and wiped out by helicopter or A - 10 air strikes . This kind of tactic usually resulted in heavy barrel wear . The ambushes were also mostly ineffective , and those tanks met their fate at the hands of Allied MBTs or IFVs . However , the destruction of the " Tawakalna " Division ( the bulk of it Lion of Babylon tanks ) by the US 1st and 3rd Armored Divisions cost the Allied forces too much time , and consequently they were unable to destroy other Republican Guard divisions before ordered to cease - fire . Many authors maintain that the very existence of Saddam ' s regime for the next 12 years can be attributed to this fact , since the surviving Republican Guard units crushed the Shiite and Kurd risings right after the 1991 Iraqi defeat in Desert Storm . Armor . The Lion ' s primary armor was the same as the basic Soviet T - 72 for export ( T - 72M ) , without any composite armor improvement , which made this tank an easy prey for any Western counterpart of latest generation . Their sides had just 60 mm protection , the turret side 300 mm standard and flat 45 mm at rear ( later reinforced by the Iraqis ) . Nevertheless , the reinforced armor plate present both at the turret and the front upper hull seems to have worked relatively well against some shaped - charge ordnance , like the TOWs and Hellfire missiles . Indeed , there are reports of Iraqi T - 72s surviving near - misses from these weapons , although becoming a mobility kill in most of these cases . The missiles could have been deflected by the electro - optical countermeasures of the tank . There is evidence of a direct hit in the encounter at Mahmoudiyah in 2003 , when a 120 mm HEAT round from an Abrams impacted on the front of an " Asad Babil " turret at point blank range without producing a massive explosion . The tank was eventually destroyed by an armor piercing round . It may be that some of these tanks featured explosive reactive armor , obtained from spare parts of the Polish T - 72M1 . A US Commander in the field suggested that during their last stand for Baghdad , five Iraqi T - 72s seemed to be equipped with reactives . An improvised innovation that may have also work in these circumstances was introduced at the Taji complex , according to a Russian web site . This source reports that an additional armor plate with a thickness of 30 mm was welded on the front areas of the hull and turret , leaving an air layer gap matching the size of the armor , so that the power of a HEAT jet could be dissipated in the hollow space . This technique follows the principle of spaced armor . The Iraqi engineers tested this reinforcement against 120 mm Chieftain tank rifled guns in 1989 , apparently with some success . A FAS document claims that Russian designers took note of this Iraqi employment of layer armor for their T - 90 MBT . There are also at least two examples of 25 mm armor - piercing cannon fire from Bradleys IFVs ricocheting harmlessly when fired at the Iraqi tank in Desert Storm . But in the end it was no match for the 120 mm DU tank ammunition , the so - called " silver bullet " . Aftermath . Two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein , the new Iraqi Government acquired dozens of refitted T - 72 - M from Hungary , in order to equip an armored brigade . The headquarters of this new Iraqi Army unit is located in Taji , so there may still remain some maintenance facilities for MBTs . Some surviving Lions are used to instruct the new recruits . The training and experience of the old Iraqi Army officers and crews with the " Asad Babil " was also one of the reasons behind the choice of the Soviet - designed tank by the authorities .