The T-72 was the most common front-line tank used by the Red Army from the 1970s to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was also exported to other Warsaw Pact countries and several other nations such as Finland, India, Iran, Iraq and Yugoslavia, as well as being copied with and without licenses in several countries.
The Yugoslav variant was the M-84, Poland produced it as the PT-91, and licensed copies were manufactured in Czechoslovakia and India. Iraq fielded large numbers of T-72s during the Gulf War, though these were export models with downgraded armor and fire control systems.
Design
The T-72 features a 125mm smoothbore gun with an autoloader, eliminating the need for a loader and reducing the crew to three. The tank weighs approximately 41 tonnes and has a top speed of 60 km/h on roads. Its compact design and relatively low cost made it attractive for export.
Combat History
The T-72 has seen extensive combat service, including the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War (1991), the Chechen Wars, and various conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and the Middle East. In the Gulf War, Iraqi T-72s proved vulnerable to American M1 Abrams tanks, though this was partly attributed to the downgraded export versions.