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. Although it depends less on electricity than some Western main battle tanks, it nonetheless still needs electrical power for operation and movement.
| T-72 | |
|---|---|
| Type | Main battle tank |
| Place of origin |  Soviet Union |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1973–present |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Kartsev-Venediktov |
| Designed | 1967–1973 |
| Manufacturer | Uralvagonzavod |
| Unit cost | $1–2 million (in 2009) |
| Produced | 1971–present |
| Number built | 25,000+ |
| Specifications (T-72A) | |
| Weight | 41.5 tonnes (45.7 short tons) |
| Length | 9.53 m (31 ft 3 in) gun forward 6.95 m (22 ft 10 in) hull |
| Width | 3.59 m (11 ft 9 in) |
| Height | 2.23 m (7 ft 4 in) |
| Crew | 3 |
| | |
| Armour | steel and composite armour |
| Main armament | 125 mm 2A46M smoothbore gun |
| Secondary armament | 7.62 mm PKT coax machine gun, 12.7 mm NSVT antiaircraft machine gun |
| Engine | V-12 diesel 780 hp (582 kw) |
| Power/weight | 18.8 hp/t |
| Transmission | Synchromesh, hydraulically assisted, with 7 forward and 1 reverse gears. |
| Suspension | torsion bar |
| Ground clearance | 0.49 m (19 in) |
| Fuel capacity | 1,200 L (320 U.S. gal; 260 imp gal) |
| Operational range | 460 km (290 mi), 700 km (430 mi) with fuel drums |
| Speed | 60 km/h (37 mph) |
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 780 hp (580 kW) supercharged version of the basic 500 hp (370 kW) V-12 diesel engine block originally designed for the WWII T-34. The 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). Ride comfort is reported as poor compared to Western tanks equipped with hydrodynamic suspension.
The T-72 is designed to cross rivers up to 5 m (16 ft) deep submerged using a small diameter snorkel assembled on-site. The crew is individually supplied with a simplistic 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 internal lining that is standard on Russian T-72s, which consists of a layer of synthetic material, containing lead, that provides some degree of protection against the effects of neutron radiation and electromagnetic pulses.
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 smaller complement increases the crew's mental and physical exhaustion. The small interior also demands the use of shorter crewmen, with the maximum height set at 1.6 m (5 ft 4 in) in the Soviet Army (similar height restrictions exist in other Soviet-era armored vehicles). 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.
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 280 mm (11 in), the nose is about 80 mm (3 in) and the glacis of the new laminated armour is 200 mm (8 in) thick, which when inclined gives about 500–600 mm (20–24 in) 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 32 mm (1.3 in) 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 20 mm (0.8 in) 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 Heavy 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 520 millimetres (20 in) thick armour steel layer.
| Model | Turret vs APFSDS | Turret vs HEAT | Hull vs APFSDS | Hull vs HEAT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-72 'Ural' | 380 mm | 490 mm | 335 mm | 450 mm |
| T-72M | 380 mm | 490 mm | 335 mm | 450 mm |
| T-72M1 | 380 mm | 490 mm | 400 mm | 490 mm |
| T-72B | 520 mm | 950 mm | 530 mm | 900 mm |
Gun
The T-72 is equipped with the 125 mm 2A46 series main gun, a significantly larger calibre 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 armour 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 main gun ammunition, including HEAT and APFSDS rounds.
The main gun of the T-72 has a mean error of one metre (39 in) at a range of 1,800 m (2,000 yd). Its maximum firing distance is 9,100 m (10,000 yd), due to limited positive elevation. The limit of aimed fire is 4,000 m (4,400 yd) (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.
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' 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-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.
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