T72 vulnerabilities

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

 

 

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

they also seem to succumb to the external power imposed on them by the occasional Ukranian farm tractor .......   

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

When I was a TOW missile crewman, the word we got was that the T-72 was a paper tiger. 

[Sixgun Sheridan]

I sure hope we're taking notes as fast as the Chinese are.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

A lot of former t72 customers are taking notes.

[Chantry]

This occurred during Desert Storm when the American M1 Abrams encountered the Iraqi Republican Guard, which as an elite unit (by Iraqi standards) was equipped with the best export version of the T-72 at the time.  The new T-72's would see the turrets blown up in the air after a hit from an American tank, while the older Russian T-55 and T-62 tanks  (or the Chinese equivalent) would still be destroyed, but without the turrets flying into the air.

[Birdgun Quail, SASS #63663]

Javelin live fire test on a fully uploaded T-72 tank at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.  Sympathetic detonation caused the tremendous explosion.  Turret was in the air for seven seconds.

 

Down range the following day (Safety delay).  One technician stated: "This tank became untogether!"

 

 

 

 

The engine was blown 65 meters from the tank.

 

 

 

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

Let's not forget the quality of the welds holding a T-72 together

 They tend to break if the tank is hit with a apds projectile.  And the automatic loader was rumored to get jostled out of alignment, sometimes enough to grab the gunner.  But they could still kill you if you got careless.

[Utah Bob #35998]

I think the T34 was the high water mark of Russian tank design.