Neither M1 Abrams nor Leopard 2; Before the United States and Europe played their particular game of chess by sending battle tanks to Ukraine, another territory had already sent some twenty armored vehicles to Eastern Europe. The country in question was Morocco, and the battle tanks were ancient T-72s of Soviet origin. curious irony for a Vladimir Putin that will see how tanks developed in the seventies in the old Soviet Union face their little modernized and battered fleet of vehicles. But the question is clear… to what extent is it operative to send a hulk more than half a century old to a 21st century conflict?
direct ancestor
The tank that preceded the T-72 was the T-64. This tank was designed to permanently replace the very veteran T-55, IS and even the most outdated versions of the T-62. Rather than being an evolution of the latter, the engineer Aleksandr Morozov raised a new machine that was groundbreaking in many ways. To begin with, it had an automatic loader that allowed the crew to be reduced from four to three soldiers. In turn, it was equipped with revolutionary composite armor and NBC protection and fire control systems.
In practice, it was the first second-generation main battle tank of the still Red Army, a pillar on which its more modern colleagues were based. “The production of the T-64 as a 115-millimeter weapon began in 1964,” explains Óscar Corcoba Fernández in ‘Military Technology: From the atomic bomb to combat robots and artificial intelligence’. The expert also points out that, among its advantages, was its smaller size, which reduced its silhouette and its ability to be hit by the enemy in the middle of the battlefield. Although the automatic loading system tended to ‘eat’ the arms of the chargers.
The T-64, the pride of the Kremlin, left several sectors of the Red Army with a bad taste in the mouths, who longed for a more powerful tank. Many dreamed of the T-64A, equipped with a 125-millimeter gun. But, in the end, several design problems slowed down its production. “After extensive comparative testing with the T-64A, it was redesigned in 1970 to address some minor problems. However, being only a mobilization model, mass production was not possible in times of peace”, adds the Spanish expert. The tensions did not end until, on January 1, 1972, a decree was issued confirming the birth of the T-72. Since then, some 20,000 have been assembled.
old reliable
Similar in size to its predecessor, the new Russian workhorse was compact—an increasingly marked trend at the time—it had a 125-millimeter smoothbore cannon—later adapted to fire rockets—and two machine guns, and could mount a composite or reactive armor. The latter houses a small layer of explosives between the metal plates. When hit, they explode outwards, neutralizing some of the force of the projectile. On paper, this system drastically reduces the effectiveness of one-person anti-tank weapons such as the famous RPGs or the more modern North American Javelins. Although the truth is that its origins are in the war in Afghanistan.
As usual, the tests before mass production of the T-72 were carried out in active units of the Russian army located in north China. They were efficient. To begin with, its base rangefinder was replaced with a more powerful one and the turret armor was changed to laminated one. The same thing happened with the location of the engine, night vision and the communications system. For the next five years it was used, but it was not introduced internationally until 1977, at the Red Army’s victory parade. Barely a year later, the T-72A, already considered a second generation main battle tank. The T-72B3, Introduced in 2010, it is the most modern and, as such, has a crew of only three men, since the magazine was replaced by an automatic system that feeds the barrel.
T-72 of Soviet origin destroyed in the invasion of Ukraine
There is no denying that, when it was designed, the T-72 was a leading main battle tank. It became the F-16 of the time: relatively cheap, easy to export, and reliable in the Middle East theater of operations. A decade later, it was in that area where he destroyed his enemies. In Syria, for example, back in 1982, several T-72s attacked the flank of the Israeli forces in the Bekaka Valley. Some sources confirm that it became the nightmare of the Jewish troops and that it even killed the very modern Merkava. A statement, perhaps, too exaggerated. If anything, President Hafez Al-Assad called it the best tank in the world.
Its efficiency has been demonstrated in recent years, although far from the old continent. In the conflict between Iran and Iraq it was a fearsome enemy for the Chieftain British –developed in the sixties– and the ancient M47, M48 y M60 Patton –rejected, among other countries, by Spain in the nineties–. Their frontal armor allowed them to also resist TOW, an anti-tank missile developed by the United States. But in 2005 things got serious. That day there was a true battle to the death between the M1A1 Abrams and the T-72. In an almost point-blank confrontation –46 meters– the stars and stripes knocked out seven of their counterparts before withdrawing. And in return, not a drop.
The T-80 was the next natural evolution. And that, despite the fact that it generated controversy among the high officials of the Kremlin. The initial idea was to solve the maintenance problems that had surfaced in the T-72; in addition to granting more speed to the combat tanks. The result was a tank with a turbine engine that allowed it to reach about 70 kilometers per hour. Experts confirm that it was a fairly light vehicle and could heat up at lightning speeds, even in winter. The cannon, yes, was similar to that of its predecessor. His debut in combat in the First Chechen War was poor, almost laughable. Although they are performing well in Ukraine in the face of a dearth of more modern versions.
Characteristics of the T-72
Weight – 41.5 tons.
Length – 9.53 meters.
Width – 2.23 meters.
Armor – 100mm steel composite.
Armament – 125mm 2A46M smoothbore gun; a coaxial 7.62mm PKT machine gun; a 12.7mm NSVT anti-aircraft machine gun.
Engine – V12 diesel with 780 horsepower.