T-72

   The T-72 Ural main battle tank was developed as a cheaper and more reliable, however less capable alternative to the T-64. It entered service with Soviet army in 1973. A total of 30 000 tanks of this type were produced in the Soviet Union, China, Czechoslovakia, India, Romania and Yugoslavia. It was exported to about 30 countries. At the end of 1990s Russia operated around 9 000 of these main battle tanks.

   The T-72 is protected by composite armor. Some sources claim that front armor of the T-72 is equivalent to 500-600 mm. Side armor provides protection against IFV and helicopter cannons. Later production models were fitted with side skirts. The T-72 is completed with NBC protection system and automatic fire extinguishing equipment.

   This main battle tank is completed with a 125-mm smoothbore gun, fitted with new carousel-type autoloader. Previous autoloader on the T-64 was unreliable and had a number of other drawbacks. However autoloader of the T-72 was slower than that, used on the T-64. Rate of fire is 8 rounds per minute, or 1 - 2 rounds per minute, when loaded manually. A total of 39 rounds for the main gun are carried. Effective range of fire with APFSDS round is about 2 000 - 3 000 day and 850 - 1 300 m at night. Armor penetration is about 590 - 630 mm at 2 000 m range.

   Secondary armament consists of coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun and 12.7-mm machine gun, mounted on top of the roof in the opened mount.

   Vehicle has a crew of three, including commander, gunner and driver.

   The T-72 is powered by a V-46 diesel engine, developing 780 horsepower. This main battle tank is completed with a self-entrenching blade and can dig trench during 12-40 minutes, depending on the ground type. When not in use this self-entrenching blade provides additional protection for the front of the hull. Vehicle is fitted with a deep wading kit and can ford water obstacles up to 5 meters deep.

Variants

   T-72 Ural-1 with improved armor protection;

   T-72 Ural-K command tank with navigation equipment and additional communication equipment;

   T-72A has a number of improvements;

   T-72AK command version of the T-72A;

   T-72AV fitted with explosive reactive armor;

   T-72M export model of the T-72A;

   T-72B with thicker turret armor;

   T-72BK command version of the T-72B;

   T-72S export version of the T-72B;

   T-72B1 has no capability to launch anti-tank guided missiles;

   T-72S1 export version of the T-72B1;

   T-72BM fitted with second generation explosive reactive armor;

   T-90 further development of the T-72. It uses a well-proven hull of the T-72 and turret with all weapon systems of the T-80U. Also it has a number of other improvements. It was accepted to service with the Russian Army in 1993;

   PT-91 Twardy improved Polish version of the T-72;

   TR-125 Romanian version of the T-72;

   M-84 former Yugoslavian version of the T-72;

   Other variants are:

   BREM-1 armored recovery vehicle;

   MTU-72 armored bridgelayer;

   IMR-2 combat engineering vehicle;

   BMPT tank support combat vehicle;

   BMO-T specialized heavy armored personnel carrier;

   2S19 Msta-S 152-mm self-propelled howitzer.