The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1971. It is a parallel design with the T-64, and has been further developed as the T-90. Chronologically and in design terms it belongs to the same generation of tanks as the US M60, German Leopard 1 and British Chieftain tank—and arguably attained a better balance of mobility, protection and firepower than any of its contemporary Western rivals.
More recently, the T-72's reputation has suffered following poor combat performance of export models against more modern Western tanks such as the M1 Abrams, Challenger 1 and Challenger 2 during the first and second Gulf wars, although this might have been more a consequence of the usage of low quality ammunition and low training of Iraqi tankmen.
Various versions of the T-72 have been in production for decades, and the specifications for its armour have changed considerably. Original T-72 tanks had homogeneous cast steel armour incorporating spaced armour technology and were moderately well protected by the standards of the early 1970s. In 1979, the Soviets began building T-72 modification with composite armour similar to the T-64 composite armour, in the front of the turret and the front of the hull.
Late in the 1980s, T-72 tanks in Soviet inventory (and many of those elsewhere in the world as well) were fitted with reactive armour tiles and extra layer of synthetic ABV shielding carpet on the outside, which also served as an anti-slipping foot restraint.
The T-72 was the most common tank used by the Red Army from the 1970s to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The T-72 is common around the world in the armies of many potential enemies of the U.S. and other Western nations. Many Western analysts regard this as worrisome because, at least theoretically, its 125 mm 2A46 main gun is capable of destroying any modern main battle tank in the world today, including the M1 Abrams.
On the other hand, on those three occasions when Soviet clients using T-72s have met Western armies that possessed modern main battle tanks —Lebanon in 1982 (against the Israeli Merkava), Iraq in 1991 (against the U.S. M1 Abrams and the British Challenger 1), and again Iraq in 2003— the T-72 did not show its abilities. After clashes in Lebanon in 1982, both the Israelis and the Syrians claimed their main tank's superiority, but in one case a Merkava Mk. 1 was able to engage a Syrian T-72 (Syrian 73rd Brigade) from a long range, the T-72 was hit on the “impenetrable” front side, and immediately caught fire.
In the Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi tank units were heavily defeated, although this might have more to do with the poor training and full air supremacy than with any deficiencies of the T-72 itself. Furthermore, while facing the most modern Western tanks, the versions the Iraqi army fielded were out of date at the time. The Iraqi T-72s were downgraded export versions that had not been significantly upgraded over time and were firing inferior ammunition (often with steel penetrators and half-charges of propellant).
