Bulgarian T-72
The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1970. It was developed directly fron 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 equip 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, as well, such as Finland, India, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yugoslavia, as well as being copied elsewhere, both with and without licenses.
Licensed versions of the T-72 were made in Poland and Czechlslovakia, for WARPAC consumers. These tanks had better and more consistent quality of make but with inferior armor, lacking the resin-embedded cenramics layer inside the turret front and glacis armor, replaced with all steel. The Polish-made T-72G tanks also had thinner armor compared to Soviet Army standard (410mm 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 Czech versions, which caused logisical 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". 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 deriviatives include the Polish PT-91 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 armor haave changed considerably. Original T-72 tanks had homogeneous cast steel armor incorporating spaced armor technology and were moderately well protected by the standards of the early 1970s. In 1979, the Soviets began building T-72 modification with composite armor similar to the T-64 composite armor, in the front of the hull. Late in the 1980s, T-72 tanks in Soviet inventory were fitted with reactive armor tiles.
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Object 172 at the Kublinka Tank Museum.
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 1,000 meters. 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 armor as standard, the more powerful 840 bhp V-84 engine and an upgraded design main gun, which can fire anti-tank guided 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 armor-piercing ammunition for the 125mm 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.
Design characteristics[]
T-72 on a wheeled tank transporter. The engine exhaust port is visible on the left side. This tank has additional fuel drums on rear brackets.
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 experience in WWII. Although it depends less on electricity than some Western main battle tanks, it nonetheless still needs electrical power for operation and movement.
Weight[]
The T-72 is extremely light, at 41 toms, 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 780 hp supercharged version of the basic 500 hp V-12 diesel engine block originally designed for the WWII-era T-34. The tracks run on large-diameter road wheels, which allows for easy identification of the T-72 and descendents.
The T-72 is designed to cross rivers up to 5 m 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 necessary for maintaining operational mobility.
Interior[]
Like all Soviet-legacy tanks, the T-72's design has traded off interior space in return for a very small silhouette, to the point of replacing the fourth crewman with a mechanical loader. The basic T-72 design has extremely small periscope viewpoints, 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 Western tanks. This setup 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 the T-72 and other Soviet tanks are so cramped, that the small interor demands the use of shorter crewmen, with the maximum height set at 1.6 m in the Soviet Army. According to official regulations, however, the actual figure is 1.75 m.
Armor[]
T-72A top view. This model sports thick composite armor on the turret front.
Armor protection of the T-72 was strengthened with each succeeding generation. The original T-72 turret is made from conventional cast armor. It is believed the maximum thickness is 280 mm, the nose is about 80 mm and the glacis plate of the new laminated armor is 200 mm thick, which when inclined gives about 500-600 mm thickness along the line of sight. Late model T-72s feature composite armor protection.
The T-72A featured a new turret with thicker but nearly vertical front armor. Due to its appearance, it was unofficially nicknamed "Dolly Parton" armor by the US Army. The cast steel turret included a cavity filled with kvartz or sand.
The T-72M featured a different armor protection compared to the T-72A: it had a different composite insert in the turret cavity which granted it less protection
Indian T-72 Ajeya with ERA armor.
against HEAT and armor-piercing munitions. The modernized T-72M1 featured an additional 16 mm of armor on the glacis plate, which produced an increase of 32 mm horizontally against both HEAT and AP. It also featured a newer composite armor in the turret with pelletized filler agent.
Several T-72 modesl featured explosive reactive armor (ERA), which increased protection primarily agaisnt HEAT type weapons. Certain late model T-72 tanks featured heavy ERA to help defeat modern HEAT and AP againt which they were insufficiently protected.
Late model T-72s, such as the T-72B, featured improved turret armor, visibly bulging the turret front--nicknamed "Super-Dolly Parton" armor by Western intelligence. The turret armor of the T-72B was the thickest and most effective of all Soviet tanks; it was even thicker than the frontal armor of the T-80B. The T-72B used a new "reflecting plate armor, in which the frontal cavity of the cast turret was filled with a laminate of alternating steel and non-metallic layers. The glacis was also fitted with 20 mm of applique armor. 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 armor 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 seperate panels protecting the side of the fuel and stowage panniers.
Estimated protection levels[]
The following table shows the estimated protecion level of different T-72 modesl in rolled homogenous armor equivalency, ie, the composite armor of the turret of a T-72B offers as much protection against an APFSDS round as a 520 mm thick armor steel layer.
| Model | Turret vs APFSDS | Turret vs HEAT | Hull vs APFSDS | Hull vs HEAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-72 'Ural' | 380 mm (15 in) | 490 mm (19 in) | 335 mm (13.2 in) | 450 mm (18 in) |
| T-72A | 500 mm (20 in) | 560 mm (22 in) | 420 mm (17 in) | 490 mm (19 in) |
| T-72M | 380 mm (15 in) | 490 mm (19 in) | 335 mm (13.2 in) | 450 mm (18 in) |
| T-72M1 | 420 mm (17 in) | 490 mm (19 in) | 400 mm (16 in) | 490 mm (19 in) |
| T-72B | 520 mm (20 in) | 950 mm (37 in) | 530 mm (21 in) | 900 mm (35 in) |
Gun[]
Iraqi T-72M in 2006.
The T-72 is equipped with the 125 mm 2A46 series main gun, a significantly larger caliber than the standard 105 mm gun found in contemporary Western MBTs, and still slightly larger than the 120 mm/L44 found in many modern Western MBTs. However, its armor penetration is not as great. As is typical of Soviet tanks, the gun is capable of firing anti-tank guided missiles as well as standard gun ammunition, including HEAT and APFSDS rounds.
The main gun of the T-72 has a mean error of 1 m at a range of 1,800 m. It maximum firing distance is 9,100 m, due to a limited positive elevation. The limit of aimed fire is 4,000 m. 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 mm 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. Rumors 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 was 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 substansively improves the tank's firing accuracy and has nothing to do with recoil or mechanical damage to anything.
Iraqi 'Saddam' main battle tank destroyed in a Coalition attack during Operation Desert Storm.
The 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' IR 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-72s 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-only T-64 tank series. 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.