T - 72 The T - 72 is a Soviet second - generation main battle tank that entered production in 1970 . It was developed directly from Obyekt - 172 , and shares parallel features with the T - 64A . The T - 72 was one of the most widely produced post – World War II tanks , second only to the T - 54 / 55 family , and the basic design has also been further developed as the T - 90 . Origin . While the T - 64 was perhaps the world ' s most advanced battle tank design when introduced , it was too expensive to issue to all the Soviet tank armies , let alone Warsaw Pact ( WARPAC ) allies . Therefore the parallel development of a so - called " mobilization model " was ordered , while T - 64 development and production continued . An " economy " tank with the old design V - 46 powerplant was developed from 1967 at the Uralvagonzavod Factory located in Nizhny Tagil . Chief engineer Leonid Kartsev created " Object 172 " , the initial design , but the prototype , marked " Object 172M " , was refined and finished by Valeri Venediktov . Field trials lasted from 1971 to 1973 and upon acceptance the Chelyabinsk Tank factory immediately ceased T - 55 and T - 62 production to retool for the new T - 72 tank . At least some technical documentation on the T - 72 is known to have been passed to the CIA by the Polish Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski between 1971 and 1982 . Production history . The T - 72 was the most common tank used by the Warsaw Pact from the 1970s to the collapse of the Soviet Union . It was also exported to other countries , such as Finland , India , Iran , Iraq , Syria and Yugoslavia , as well as being copied elsewhere , both with and without licenses . Licenced versions of the T - 72 were made in Poland and Czechoslovakia , for WARPAC consumers . These tanks had better and more consistent quality of make but with inferior armour , lacking the resin - embedded ceramics layer inside the turret front and glacis armour , replaced with all steel . The Polish - made T - 72G tanks also had thinner armour compared to Soviet Army standard ( 410 mm for turret ) . Before 1990 , Soviet - made T - 72 export versions were similarly downgraded for non - WARPAC customers ( mostly the Arab countries ) . Many parts and tools are not interchangeable between the Russian , Polish and Czechoslovakian versions , which caused logistical problems . Yugoslavia developed the T - 72 into the more advanced M - 84 , and sold hundreds of them around the world during the 1980s . The Iraqis called their T - 72 copies the " Lion of Babylon " ( " Asad Babil " ) . These Iraqi tanks were assembled from " spare parts " sold to them by Russia as a means of evading the UN - imposed weapons embargo . More modern derivatives include the Polish PT - 91 " Twardy " and Russian T - 90 . Several countries , including Russia and Ukraine , also offer modernization packages for older T - 72s . Various versions of the T - 72 have been in production for decades , and the specifications for its armour have changed considerably . Original T - 72 tanks had homogeneous cast steel armour incorporating spaced armour technology and were moderately well protected by the standards of the early 1970s . In 1979 , the Soviets began building T - 72 modification with composite armour similar to the T - 64 composite armour , in the front of the turret and the front of the hull . Late in the 1980s , T - 72 tanks in Soviet inventory ( and many of those elsewhere in the world as well ) were fitted with reactive armour tiles . Laser rangefinders appear in T - 72 tanks since 1978 ; earlier examples were equipped with parallax optical rangefinders , which could not be used for distances under . Some export versions of the T - 72 lacked the laser rangefinder until 1985 or only the squadron and platoon commander tanks ( version K ) received them . After 1985 , all newly made T - 72s came with reactive armour as standard , the more powerful V - 84 engine and an upgraded design main gun , which can fire guided anti - tank missiles from the barrel . With these developments the T - 72 eventually became almost as powerful as the more expensive T - 80 tank , but few of these late variants reached the economically ailing WARPAC allies and foreign customers before the Soviet bloc fell apart in 1990 . Since 2000 , export vehicles have been offered with thermal imaging night - vision gear of French manufacture as well ( though it may be more likely that they might simply use the locally manufactured ' Buran - Catherine ' system , which incorporates a French thermal imager ) . Depleted uranium armour - piercing ammunition for the gun has been manufactured in Russia in the form of the BM - 32 projectile since around 1978 , though it has never been deployed , and is less penetrating than the later tungsten BM - 42 and the newer BM - 42M . Models . Main models of the T - 72 , built in the Soviet Union and Russia . Command tanks have " K " added to their designation for " komandirskiy " , ‘ command ’ , for example " T - 72K " is the command version of the basic T - 72 . Versions with reactive armour have " V " added , for " vzryvnoy , " ‘ explosive ’ . The T - 72 design has been further developed into the following new models : Lion of Babylon tank ( Iraq ) , M - 84 ( Yugoslavia ) , M - 95 Degman ( Croatia ) , M - 2001 ( Serbia ) , PT - 91 Twardy ( Poland ) , T - 90 ( Russia ) , Tank EX ( India ) , and TR - 125 ( Romania ) . Operators and variants . The T - 72 hull has been used as the basis for other heavy vehicle designs , including the following : Design characteristics . The T - 72 shares many design features with other tank designs of Soviet origin . Some of these are viewed as deficiencies in a straight comparison to NATO tanks , but most are a product of the way these tanks were envisioned to be employed , based on the Soviets ' practical experiences in World War II . Weight . The T - 72 is extremely lightweight , at forty - one tonnes , and very small compared to Western main battle tanks . Some of the roads and bridges in former Warsaw Pact countries were designed such that T - 72s can travel along in formation , but NATO tanks could not pass at all , or just one - by - one , significantly reducing their mobility . The basic T - 72 is relatively underpowered , with a supercharged version of the basic V - 12 diesel engine block originally designed for the World War II - era T - 34 . The wide tracks run on large - diameter road wheels , which allows for easy identification of the T - 72 and descendants ( the T - 64 / 80 family has relatively small road wheels ) . The T - 72 is designed to cross rivers up to deep submerged using a small diameter snorkel assembled on - site . The crew is individually supplied with a simple rebreather chest - pack apparatus for emergency situations . If the engine stops underwater , it must be restarted within six seconds , or the T - 72 ' s engine compartment becomes flooded due to pressure loss . The snorkeling procedure is considered dangerous but is important for maintaining operational mobility . Nuclear , biological , and chemical protection . The T - 72 has a comprehensive nuclear , biological , and chemical ( NBC ) protection system . The inside of both hull and turret is lined with a synthetic fabric made of boron compound , meant to reduce the penetrating radiation from neutron bomb explosions . The crew is supplied clean air via an extensive air filter system . A slight over - pressure prevents entry of contamination via bearings and joints . Use of an autoloader for the main gun allows for more efficient forced smoke removal compared to traditional manually loaded ( " pig - loader " ) tank guns , so NBC isolation of the fighting compartment can , in theory , be maintained indefinitely . Exported T - 72s do not have the antiradiation lining . Interior . Like all Soviet - legacy tanks , the T - 72 ' s design has traded off interior space in return for a very small silhouette and efficient use of armour , to the point of replacing the fourth crewman with a mechanical loader . The basic T - 72 design has extremely small periscope viewports , even by the constrained standards of battle tanks and the driver ' s field of vision is significantly reduced when his hatch is closed . The steering system is a traditional dual - tiller layout instead of the steering wheel or steering yoke common in modern Western tanks . This set - up requires the near - constant use of both hands , which complicates employment of the seven speed manual gearbox . There is a widespread Cold War - era myth , that T - 72 and other Soviet tanks are so cramped , that the small interior demands the use of shorter crewmen , with the maximum height set at in the Soviet Army . According to official regulations , however , the actual figure is Armour . Armour protection of the T - 72 was strengthened with each succeeding generation . The original T - 72 turret is made from conventional cast armour . It is believed the maximum thickness is , the nose is about and the glacis of the new laminated armour is thick , which when inclined gives about thickness along the line of sight . Late model T - 72s feature composite armour protection . The T - 72A featured a new turret with thicker but nearly vertical frontal armour . Due to its appearance , it was unofficially nicknamed " Dolly Parton " armour by the US Army . The cast steel turret included a cavity filled with " kvartz " or sand . The T - 72M ( export version of the Soviet T - 72A ) featured a different armour protection compared to the T - 72A : it had a different composite insert in the turret cavity which granted it less protection against HEAT and armour - piercing ( AP ) munitions . The modernised T - 72M1 featured an additional 16 mm ( 0 . 63 in ) of armour on the glacis plate , which produced an increase of horizontally against both HEAT and AP . It also featured a newer composite armour in the turret with pelletised filler agent . Several T - 72 models featured explosive reactive armour ( ERA ) , which increased protection primarily against HEAT type weapons . Certain late - model T - 72 tanks featured heavy ERA to help defeat modern HEAT and AP against which they were insufficiently protected . Late model T - 72s , such as the T - 72B , featured improved turret armour , visibly bulging the turret front — nicknamed " Super - Dolly Parton " armour by Western intelligence . The turret armour of the T - 72B was the thickest and most effective of all Soviet tanks ; it was even thicker than the frontal armour of the T - 80B . The T - 72B used a new " reflecting - plate armor " ( " bronya sotrazhayushchimi listami " ) , in which the frontal cavity of the cast turret was filled with a laminate of alternating steel and non - metallic ( rubber ) layers . The glacis was also fitted with of appliqué armour . The late production versions of the T - 72B / B1 and T - 72A variants also featured an anti - radiation layer on the hull roof . Early model T - 72s did not feature side skirts ; instead the original base model featured gill or flipper - type armour panels on either side of the forward part of the hull . When the T - 72A was introduced in 1979 , it was the first model to feature the plastic side skirts covering the upper part of the suspension , with separate panels protecting the side of the fuel and stowage panniers . The July 1997 issue of Jane ' s International Defence Review confirmed that after the collapse of the USSR , US and German analysts had a chance to examine Soviet - made T - 72 tanks equipped with Kontakt - 5 ERA , and they proved impenetrable to most modern US and German tank projectiles ; this sparked the development of more modern Western tank ammunition , such as the M829A2 and M829A3 . Russian tank designers responded with newer types of reactive armour , including Relikt and Kaktus . Estimated protection level . The following table shows the estimated protection level of different T - 72 models in rolled homogeneous armour equivalency . i . e . , the composite armour of the turret of a T - 72B offers as much protection against an APFSDS round as a thick armour steel layer . Gun . The T - 72 is equipped with the 2A46 series main gun , a significantly larger calibre than the standard gun found in contemporary Western MBT s , and still slightly larger than the 120 mm / L44 found in many modern Western MBTs . As is typical of Soviet tanks , the gun is capable of firing anti - tank guided missiles , as well as standard main gun ammunition , including HEAT and APFSDS rounds . The main gun of the T - 72 has a mean error of at a range of . Its maximum firing distance is , due to limited positive elevation . The limit of aimed fire is ( with the gun - launched anti - tank guided missile , which is rarely used outside the former USSR ) . The T - 72 ' s main gun is fitted with an integral pressure reserve drum , which assists in rapid smoke evacuation from the bore after firing . The 125 millimeter gun barrel is certified strong enough to ram the tank through forty centimeters of iron - reinforced brick wall , though doing so will negatively affect the gun ' s accuracy when subsequently fired . Rumours in NATO armies of the late Cold War claimed that the tremendous recoil of the huge 125 mm gun could damage the fully mechanical transmission of the T - 72 . The tank commander reputedly had to order firing by repeating his command , when the T - 72 is on the move : " Fire ! Fire ! " The first shout supposedly allowed the driver to disengage the clutch to prevent wrecking the transmission when the gunner fired the cannon on the second order . In reality , this still - common tactic substantively improves the tank ' s firing accuracy and has nothing to do with recoil or mechanical damage to anything . This might have to deal with the quality of the T - 72s stabilizers . The vast majority of T - 72s do not have FLIR thermal imaging sights , though all T - 72s ( even those exported to the Third World ) possess the characteristic ( and inferior ) ' Luna ' Infrared illuminator . Thermal imaging sights are extremely expensive , and the new Russian FLIR system , the ' Buran - Catherine Thermal Imaging Suite ' was only introduced recently on the T - 80UM tank . Most T - 72s found outside the former Soviet Union do not have laser rangefinders . T - 72 built for export have a downgraded fire - control system . Autoloader . The T - 72 ' s autoloader design is not based on the faster , but more complicated autoloader in the USSR ' s domestic - use - only T - 64 tank series ( the T - 72 ' s is horizontally auto - fed , the T - 64 ' s uses vertical actuators ) . The autoloader must crank the gun up three degrees above the horizontal in order to depress the breech end of the gun and line it up with the new shell . While autoloading , the gunner can still aim because he has a vertically independent sight . With a laser rangefinder and a ballistic computer , final aiming takes at least another three to five seconds , but aiming is pipelined into the last steps of auto - loading so it proceeds concurrently . The average rate of fire for this type of carousel automatic loader is quoted to be 8 rounds per minute . The use of the autoloader allows the elimination of the extra loader crewmember , decreasing the size of the tank . Service . The T - 72 was never used in the Afghanistan War . The 40th Soviet Army that was deployed there had only T - 55 and T - 62 tanks . The Russian Federation has over 5 , 000 T - 72 tanks in use , including around 2 , 000 in active service and 3 , 000 in reserves . The T - 72 has been used by the Russian Army in the fighting during the First and Second Chechen War s and the Russo - Georgian War . The T - 72 has been used by over 40 countries worldwide . In the 1982 Lebanon War , Syrian T - 72s engaged Israeli M60A1 and Merkava tanks in the south of Lebanon . On 9 June 1982 , the Syrian General HQ ordered a brigade of the 1st Armoured Division , equipped with T - 72 tanks , to move straight ahead , cross the border and hit the right flank of the Israeli units advancing along the eastern side of Beka ' a . The T - 72s clashed with several companies of M60s , destroying some Israeli companies in process while suffering only a few losses in exchange . After the war , Syrian president Hafez Al Assad called the T - 72 " the best tank in the world . " Syrian and Russian sources claim that the T - 72 had success against the latest Israeli Merkava tanks and that no T - 72s were lost . Others claim that the two tanks never met in combat and that 11 - 12 T - 72s were lost mostly due to anti - tank ambushes and the usage of TOW missile s . Only one Syrian T - 72 probably was knocked out by Israeli tank fire . The Iraqi T - 72s performed well against opposing Iranian tanks such as M48 s , M60A1 s and Chieftain s in the Iran - Iraq war . In the early stages of war , the Iraqi battalion T - 72 tanks faced with the Iranian battalion of Chieftain tanks . During a tank battle all Iranian tanks were destroyed . In turn , the Iraqis have suffered no losses . Iraqi T - 72 had great success in the battle for Basra and the last stages of the war . 105mm M68 tank guns and TOW missile s proved absolutely ineffective against armor of T - 72 . 60 T - 72 tanks were lost during the eight years of war . According to Iranians and Iraqis T - 72 was the most feared tank of the Iran - Iraq War . The Iraqi export version of the T - 72 ( Lion of Babylon ( tank ) ) engaged Western forces in both Iraq wars . Battle of 73 Easting took place during a sandstorm in the Kuwaiti desert . American M1A1s and Bradley Fighting Vehicles came up against Republican Guard T - 72 ' s and BMP ' s . The primary battle was conducted by 2ACR ' s three squadrons of about 400 soldiers , along with the 1st Infantry Division ' s two leading brigades , who attacked and destroyed the Iraqi 18th Mechanized Brigade and 37th Armored Brigade of the Tawakalna Division , each consisting of between 2 , 500 to 3 , 000 personnel . On 26 February 1991 , the Iraqis dug - in T - 72 tanks to stop the advance of American tanks in southern Iraq during Battle of Phase Line Bullet . In January 2009 , it was reported that the Iraqi government was negotiating a deal to purchase up to 2 , 000 T - 72 tanks . The T - 72s were to be rebuilt and modernized . In September 2009 it was announced that Venezuela was planning to purchase 92 Russian T - 72B1V tanks . The first T - 72s destined to Venezuela arrived at the port of Puerto Cabello May 25 , 2011 . In June 2012 , Russia and Venezuela agreed on deal for 100 more T - 72B1Vs . Xu Bin - shi , a high ranking Chinese military engineer , revealed during an interview that China first obtained a T - 72 from Romania in the 1980s , in exchange for plasma spray technology .