T-72

History

In the period 1973-91, Soviet factories manufactured 14.720 examples of five main domestic use T-72 models, while between 1992 and 1995 Russian facilities built a further 1020 such T-72s.

Entering service in 1973, the basic three-crew 41,5-tonne T-72 Ural MBT mounted the 125mm (4.9in) 125mm 2A46M2 L/48 smoothbore cannon. Fed by a semi-automatic carousel autoloader, this cannon could archieve an impressive rate-of-fire of 8-10 rpm. This design stowed 38 main gun rounds, being a mix of four main types: APFSDS-T (- Tungsten), HEAT-FS, HE-FRAG-FS and Shrapnel-FS munitions.

Variants