![]() Its compact dimensions, enclosing the same three crewmen as the T-64, were intended to enhance protection by presenting a smaller target. Of similar proportions to the T-64, the 45.1-ton T-72A was 31 feet, 3 inches long, 11 feet, 9 inches wide and 7 feet 4 inches high. However, that plant would not be geared up for full production until 1992, and the retrograde tank, designated T-72, ultimately proved to be more successful than the T-64, with 22,096 built in the Soviet Union and license-built versions raising the total to more than 25,000 in a variety of variants for some 40 countries. The conception behind “Object 172W” was a “mobilization model” tank, dispensing with advanced features for an uncomplicated but fundamentally effective weapon.ĭespite being relatively quick and easy to train crewmen on and one that could be swiftly gathered to concentrate fire, the “Object 172W” had to win over a reluctant Soviet military before being accepted for production in the Nizhniy Tagil factory in August 1973. What they eventually devised was essentially a throwback to the 1960s with an improved auto-loader and a two-component main armament stored in a less cumbersome manner than the original T-64’s. ![]() In the process of improving the T-64, designer Leonid Kartsev, joined by Valeri Venediktov, chose to combine the best features of that tank with those of the older, simpler T-62. The relatively modest 13,000 T-64s built between 1964 to 1987 reflected the tank’s difficulties and its excessive expense. In addition, the auto-loader had a tendency to “eat” the left arms of insufficiently attentive gunners. Also kept secret for as long as possible was the embarrassing frequency with which its technological innovations malfunctioned in the field.Īmong other things, the original 700-hp 5TDF diesel engine was unreliable and hard to repair. When it entered service in 1964, the T-64 was used exclusively by the Soviet tank regiments and its technical details were kept veiled in secrecy for many years. This added up to produce a tank weighing a mere 38 tons and carrying a three-man crew, capable – in theory – of taking on the standard four-man main battle tanks of its Western opposition. The T-64, in contrast, sought to gain qualitative superiority on the battlefield with unprecedented inventiveness, such as a compact engine arrangement and an auto-loader for its 125mm smoothbore cannon, which could fire shells or antitank missiles. The T-64’s chief designer, Aleksandr Morozov, had previously gained fame for two outstandingly simple but effective tanks, the T-34 and the T-54. or so the old proverb goes, but the necessity behind the T-72’s development lies in too much invention, too soon. Amid recent problems arising from their most sophisticated tank, they went back to basics with the T-72. ![]() ![]() Tanks have acquired their own special refinements over the years, but the Russian arsenal includes a relic of 1973. This advancement in warfare has given the infantryman unprecedented parity against the tracked armored monsters. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been marked by a return to the type of armored warfare that hasn’t been seen since World War II - with at least one major difference - the development of “fire and forget” anti-tank guided missiles. That Design Is Being Put to the Test in Ukraine.
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