T-72

T-72
Vehicle Info
Operators	Russian Ground Forces Middle Eastern Alliance
Maps Available	Al Basrah, Anvil, Belaya Pass, en's, Fallujah, Fool's Road, Goose Bay, Gorodok, Jensen's, Kamdesh Highlands, Lashkar Valley, Manicouagan, Mutaha, Nanisivik, Narva, Skorpo, Tallil Outskirts, Yehorivka

The T-72 is a main battle tank in Squad. First entering service with the Soviet Army in 1973, the T-72 has since become one of the most widely-produced and widely-exported post-World War II tanks. After the Soviet Army's dissolution in 1991, its successor, the Russian Ground Forces, adopted the T-72 along with newer main battle tank models.

Statistics

General information

The T-72 is a second-generation main battle tank that entered production in 1971. It was designed by Uralvagonzavod from 1967 to 1973. The T-72 entered service in the Soviet Army in 1973 and was widely produced and exported, with more than 25,000 units seeing service in 40 countries. The Russian Ground Forces continuously updated and modernized the T-72 main battle tanks, producing several variants of it until the T-14 Armata entered service. Other operators of the T-72 have also created their own variants.

Considerably lighter than the M1A2, the T-72 (as the T-72B) weighs 44.5 tonnes (49.1 short tons). It is 9.53 m (31 ft 3 in; including main gun length) long, 3.59 m (11 ft 9 in) wide, and 2.23 m (7 ft 4 in) tall. The T-72 is operated by three crew members. The T-72 has stronger armor than its Soviet main battle tank predecessors as well as a powerful 125 mm (4.9 ins) 2A46 series main gun, larger than that of Western main battle tanks. The T-72 can go up to a speed of 80 km/h (50 mph).

The T-72B variant entered service with Russia in 1985 and underwent numerous modifications over the years, one of the most recent of which is the T-72B3 which entered service in 2013. The modernization program brings the tank’s performance near that of the T-90A at a significantly lower cost allowing T-72B3 modernization to replace T-90A production. The outcome of the endeavor is increased firepower, a minor improvement in mobility, and no significant changes to survivability.

Gameplay

• General gameplay:
  • The T-72 is represented by two variants; the T-72B3, operated by the Russian Ground Forces, and the T-72S, operated by the Middle Eastern Alliance.
  • The T-72 has a 3-man crew; Driver, Gunner and Vehicle Commander.
  • As with other MBTs and most fighting vehicles, the Driver has access to an engine smoke generator for creating smoke screens.
  • The Vehicle Commander has access to an NSVT 12.7mm heavy machine gun with 2 ammo boxes. The T-72 does not have an RWS (Remote Weapon System) for the commander's machine gun meaning that, unlike the M1A2's M2A1, the T-72's NSVT does not have a digital rangefinder. The commander can still designate targets for the gunner with the hunter-killer function however, and his sight also has stabilization.
  • The T-72 packs a larger gun and is considerably lighter than the M1A2. In comparison, the T-72 has a significantly smaller profile at only 2/3 the height and weight of the Abrams. This makes the T-72 more concealable and easier to retreat in.
  • The gun's larger caliber does not result in higher damage per shot, however, with all tanks being 3000hp and all tank APFSDS rounds doing 800 damage maximum, the T-72 is at a significant disadvantage in a head-on fight particularly due to its slow reload. The limited gun depression of the main gun compared to its counterparts exacerbates this tactical disadvantage.
  • The overall mobility of the T-72 is average while the reverse speed of the vehicle is poor at best. Tankers should avoid entering engagements where rapid withdrawals are needed and instead focus on attempting to fire first in a duel and aiming for weaknesses.
  • The T-72's 125mm cannon is fed by an autoloader. It is slightly slower than a human loader (of which M1A2 is the fastest at 6s per reload vs. 8s of T-72, FV4034, and Leopard 2A6M), and also creates a large vulnerability with the ammunition stored below the turret. There is no audible voice line when the gun is loaded, but audio cues of the rounds being loaded are still present alongside the light on the gunner's sight indicating that the gun is empty/reloading and ready to fire. Do keep in mind that because of the design of the carousel autoloader, the ammunition charges are not placed vertically, but horizontally. This means that the ammunition weakspot is located toward the bottom half of the hull. The average reload speed of the T-72 is around 8.3 seconds per round, equating to around 7.2 rounds per minute.

T-72B3

• The main battle tank of the Russian Ground Forces.
  • The 125mm cannon of the T-72B3 can fire a variety of different ammunition types including the (20) 3BM60 armor-piercing sabot rounds, (10) 3BK29M high explosive anti-tank rounds, (9) 3OF82 fragmentation rounds, and the (2) 9M119M Refleks anti-tank guided missiles. In addition to its main gun, the gunner has a 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun with 2,000 rounds and smoke grenade launchers with 2 charges.
  • The gun-launched missile is deceptively weak and is thus not a good anti-tank weapon, at least when shooting at the front of enemy tanks (penetration value is 500mm like the 9M113 Konkurs and 9M14P Malyutka, which means they cannot penetrate lower glacis of M1A2 at any range). It is more useful as a sniping round, having increased range and controllability over regular tank shells. Despite its weak nature, it can still deal damage to enemy armor when hitting the right spots and track enemy vehicles.
  • The design of the turret makes the turret cheeks nearly invulnerable to anti-tank fire at any range. Similarly, the aggressively sloped upper front plate (UFP) of the tank makes the front hull difficult to penetrate if the T-72B3 is in a slightly elevated position. To ensure a successful penetration at all ranges, tankers should prioritize engaging the gun mantlet (where the gun meets the turret) and the lower glacis. At shorter engagement ranges, however, the UFP can be easily penetrated. A well-placed shot right below the driver's view port from the front will usually result in ammunition detonation.

T-72B3
Weapon	Model	Caliber	Basic Load	Rounds
Main Armament	125 mm 2A46M-5 smoothbore gun	125 mm	3BM60 Armor-Piercing Fin Stabalized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS)	20
			3BK29M High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT)	10
			3OF82 Fragmentation	9
			9M119M Refleks Anti-Tank Guided Missile	2
Secondary Armament	PKT	7.62 mm		2000
Countermeasure	Smoke Launcher	40 mm		2
Commander's HMG	NSVT	12.7 mm		2x 150

T-72S

• A main battle tank of the Middle Eastern Alliance.
  • The 125mm cannon of the T-72S can fire different ammunition types including the BM32 (16) armor-piercing sabot rounds, BK18M (12) high explosive anti-tank rounds and OF26 (22) fragmentation rounds. In addition to its main gun, the gunner has a 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun with 5x 250 round boxes and smoke grenade launchers with 2 charges. Unlike the T-72B3, the T-72S' coaxial PKT does not have a continuous belt of 2000 rounds.
  • The Vehicle Commander has access to an NSVT 12.7mm heavy machine gun with 2 ammo boxes, to fight infantry or light armored vehicles.
  • The export version of the T-72B, the T-72S has a new engine and suspension system and is configured for mounting 155 explosive reactive armor (ERA) blocks.
  • The tank is equipped with a V-84 liquid-cooled four-stroke multi-fuel diesel engine which develops 618kW (840hp).
  • Like the more modern T-72B3, the T-72S also has a digital rangefinder. Unlike the T-72B3 and other modern MBTs, the T-72S has the rangefinder and gun data on the right side of the screen and the range markers on the sight are black in color instead of red. Aside from this, the sights have a slightly lower magnification level compared to the Russian T-72B3.
  • Gameplay-wise, the T-72S functions exactly like the T-72B3; just without the Refleks ATGMs, additional fragmentation rounds, and the reloadable coaxial PKT coaxial machine gun. All other operating aspects, like reload speed, armor, acceleration, and overall mobility, remain the same.

T-72S
Weapon	Model	Caliber	Basic Load	Rounds
Main Armament	125 mm D-81 smoothbore gun	125 mm	BM32 Armor-Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS)	16
			BK18M High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT)	12
			OF26 Fragmentation	22
Secondary Armament	PKT	7.62 mm		5x 250
Countermeasure	Smoke Launcher	40 mm		2
Commander's HMG	NSVT	12.7 mm		2x 150

Gallery

T-72B3

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T-72S

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See also

• T-72B3 on Army Technology
• T-72B3 on Wikipedia and Wikimedia
• T-72S on Army Technology
• T-72S on Wikipedia and Wikimedia
• NSV
• PKT
• Russian Ground Forces
• Middle Eastern Alliance
• Vehicles
• OWI releases T-72B3
• OWI reveals T-72B3