T-72

NOTE: This article is about the T-72 tank in the main ARMA games. For its Czechoslovak counterpart in ArmA 3's CSLA Iron Curtain Creator DLC, see T-72 (CSLA).

The T-72 is a Main Battle Tank featured in ArmA: Cold War Assault, ArmA: Armed Assault and ArmA 2.

ArmA: Cold War Assault

T-72
Faction	Soviet Union Nogovan Partisans
Type	Medium Tank
Seats	3 seats: 1× Driver 1× Gunner 1× Commander
Item capacity	Max: 10× Weapons 50× Magazines
Top speed	Normal: 51 km/h Turbo: 69 km/h Reverse: 51 km/h
Fuel capacity	700 fuel units
Primary armament	Main: 1× Cannon 120 mm
Secondary armament	Coaxial: 1× MG 7.62 mm
Variants	None
Games

The T-72 is a Medium Tank used by Soviet military forces and in limited numbers with the Nogovan Partisans in ArmA: Cold War Assault.

Overview

• Role:
  • Direct fire and manoeuvre

«

T72 with its low profile is closely related to the T-64, which is produced solely for USSR armed forces. This tank includes several capabilities including fitment of additional armor or dozer blade for obstacle clearance and preparation of firing positions. It is powered by a V-12 multi-fuel engine that is capable of running on diesel, benzene or kerosene. For extension of operational range, the T72 can carry two 200 liter external fuel drums which can be tactically jettisoned if required. Vehicle Description

»

Design

A cheaper version of its contemporary counterpart, the T-64, the T-72 was one of the most advanced Medium Tanks to have been designed for use by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies.

Since its introduction to service in 1971, it has and continues to be the standard armoured fighting vehicle of many armies across the world.

Armament
It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon and has a coaxial 7.62 mm medium machine gun for use against infantry.

The T-72's standard loadout gives it 35 rounds of high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and armour-piercing (AP) shells for the main gun (for a combined total of 70 shells). The coaxial 7.62 mm MMG on the other hand, feeds from a single 500-round belt box and has no spares to reload from.

A platoon of Soviet T-72s engaging Partisan T-55s.

Features
In all aspects, the T-72 is far superior to its medium American counterpart. Unlike the M60, the shells fired by the T-72's 120 mm cannon hit harder, and have more range and accuracy, as they are actually roughly equal to firepower of an M1A1 or T-80, while the M60 has sensibly weaker firepower, equal only to the T-55.

It also has a greater top speed and slightly better armour plating that offers better resistance against tank cannon shells when compared to its American counterpart.

However, in the case of survivability against non-heavy anti-tank weapons, it is surprisingly equal to the M60 and can resist up to two direct hits from rounds fired by an M72 LAW or the RPG-75NH.

Mobility
When it comes to turning rate and handling, the T-72 is slightly superior to T-80 and just barely better than the M1A1. However, in terms of pure speed and acceleration, the T-72 is inferior to both tanks (69 km/h versus the T-80's 80 km/h and M1A1's 82 km/h).

Notable Traits
Its main advantage is that loadout-wise, it is (at least for the main gun) completely identical to the M1A1 and shares the same firepower output, but lacks a coaxial HMG and uses a 7.62 mm MMG instead.

Crew Capacity
The T-72 has a crew capacity of three, which consists of the driver, a gunner, and the commander.

---

Camouflage

• Olive
• Guerrilla

1/2

• Olive: Standard olive paint scheme. Exclusive to Soviet T-72s.
• Guerrilla: Olive drab paint scheme but customised with guerilla markings and green stripes. Exclusive to FIA guerillas.

---

Protection

The T-72 has 400 points worth of armour plating.

---

Armament

NOTE: For specifics on the Cannon 120 mm's munitions, see its related section listed here.

All weapon systems are controlled by the gunner position. Their optics can switch between two fields of view:

Cannon 120 mm

120 mm smoothbore gun. Can load either HE or AP-type munitions.

It can fire one shell every 7.5 seconds (8 rounds per minute). It also takes 7.5 seconds to swap between munition types or to fully rearm from a logistics truck. Accuracy-wise, it has a fixed dispersion of 0.002 rad.

MG 7.62 mm

Base damage value	Initial velocity (m/s)
8	1,000

Coaxial 7.62 mm medium machine gun. It is mounted adjacent to the main cannon.

It can attain a fire rate of up to 600 RPM and has a muzzle velocity of 1,000 m/s. Accuracy-wise, it always has a fixed dispersion of 0.0007 rad regardless of distance.

---

Trivia

Cold War Assault's T-72 strangely shares the same 120 mm cannon with the American M1A1 despite the fact that the T-72 in reality was always armed with the 2A46 series of 125 mm cannons. Separate config entries for a 125 mm cannon weapon and its ammunition do exist in the game's configuration files but remain unused. Whether the decision to arm the T-72 with a 120 mm cannon was intended by design or is simply an oversight is not known. Although it is referred to as the "T-72" in-game, Cold War Assault's official manual refers to it as the "T-72M1". This is especially odd as the T-72M1 was actually a downgraded variant of the original "T-72A" tank featuring inferior Fire Control Systems and optoelectronics, thinner armour plating, as well as lacking the ability to launch "9M119" anti-tank missiles from the main gun. As it was intended exclusively for the export market (other members of the Warsaw Pact and other Soviet allies), the T-72M1 was never commissioned for service by the Red Army. Furthermore, the "T-72" actually appears to be modelled after the post-Cold war Slovakian "T-72M2 Moderna" or the latest Czech-made "T-72M4CZ", both of which did not exist back in the 1980s and were likewise never fielded by the Soviet military. This can be easily noticed by observing its frontal part of turret, which appear to have the distinctive Czech-produced "Dyna-72" first generation Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) arranged in 5x5 bricks on both sides of the main gun - precisely in the same arrangement on real-word T-72M2/M4s. This ERA was never implemented on any original (Soviet/Russian-made) T-72 variant, thus indicating that the in-game model is actually not a pure T-72M1, but rather a hybrid of Soviet T-72M1 and Slovakian T-72M2. The information below details unused, pre-release or removed content. In pre-release versions of Cold War Assault (then-known as the Operation Flashpoint DEMO), the T-72 featured large ERA bricks arrayed in a 3x3 layout on the front turret roof, placed in two linked rows. Moreover, these bricks appeared to be also based on the ones from Slovakian T-72M2 (although the T-72M2 actually featured 6x6 bricks, in three linked rows). This was for whatever reason, later removed in the final release. The DEMO version of the T-72 also featured incredibly stiff handling, particularly when turning while driving at full speed. This was later changed in the release version of the game.

---

Gallery

ArmA: Armed Assault

T-72
Faction	SLA RACS (RF)
Type	Main Battle Tank
Seats	3 seats: 1× Driver 1× Gunner 1× Commander
Item capacity	Max: 10× Weapons 100× Magazines
Top speed	Normal: 51 km/h Turbo: 60 km/h Reverse: 51 km/h
Fuel capacity	1000 fuel units
Primary armament	Main: 1× D-81 125 mm
Secondary armament	Secondary: 1× DShKM 12.7 mm HMG Coaxial: 1× PKT 7.62 mm
Variants	None
Games

The T-72 is a Main Battle Tank used by the SLA in ArmA: Armed Assault.

It is also utilised in limited numbers with RACS military forces. They were given access to the T-72 following the release of the Queen's Gambit expansion pack.

Overview

• Role:
  • Direct fire and manoeuvre

«

The T-72, introduced in the early 1970s, is not an evolution of the T-64, but rather a parallel development, simpler to produce and maintain. While the T-64 was provided only to forward-deployed Soviet units, the T-72 was deployed within the USSR and exported to non-Soviet Warsaw Pact armies and numerous other countries. Library Description

»

Design

This asset partially requires the Queen's Gambit expansion pack.

Returning from Cold War Assault, the T-72 remains mostly the same but is now classified as a Main Battle Tank.

Its ammunition loadout has been slightly adjusted and the commander now has access to a remotely-operated heavy machine gun.

Armament
It is now armed with a 125 mm cannon as well as a turret-mounted DShKM heavy machine gun. A coaxial 7.62 mm MMG is once again also available to the gunner for use against infantry and other light targets.

The main gun has access to 23 rounds of armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) and 22 high-explosive (HE) shells. The coaxial MMG feeds from a single 2,000-round linked belt and has no spare belts to reload with.

Lastly, the commander's HMG feeds from a pre-loaded 50-round belt box and has access to a further three boxes (for a combined total of 200 rounds).

RACS-operated T-72.

Features
The T-72 serves as the mainstay of the SLA's armoured divisions and mechanised RACS battalions. Though no longer considered to be state-of-the-art as it was at the height of the Cold War, the T-72 remains as a rugged and reliable vehicle to spearhead ground assaults.

Drawbacks
Lacking the heavy armour of the M1A1, the T-72 is completely inferior to its American counterpart in every way. While their main guns are comparable in terms of range and accuracy, the T-72 is still largely outclassed when it comes to both mobility and speed.

Crew Capacity
The T-72 supports a crew of three that consists of the driver, a gunner, and the commander. It is unable to transport any additional crewmen or passengers.

---

Camouflage

• Desert
• Olive

1/2

• Desert: Desert tan paint scheme with green camouflage blobs. Used exclusively on post-war RACS T-72s.
• Olive: Flat olive paint scheme. Only applied onto the SLA's T-72s.

---

Protection

The T-72 has a base armour value of 690.

Hull

The T-72's hull can withstand up to 690 points of damage.

Engine

Its engine can only survive 241.5 points of damage before failing.

Treads

Both tracks can incur only 103.5 points of damage before breaking.

Turret

The T-72's turret is able to take up to 690 points of damage.

Gun barrel

The turret's main gun can withstand just 207 points of damage before failing.

---

Armament

NOTE: For specifics on the D-81's munitions, see its related section listed here.

The D-81 and PKT are controlled by the gunner position, while the commander handles the DShKM instead.

For optics, both the gunner and commander have access to variable zoom optics. Neither position's sights have the ability to toggle a night vision mode, though they do have the option of wearing their own night vision goggles to compensate for the lack of innate enhanced vision modes:

D-81

125 mm smoothbore gun. Can load either HE or AP-type munitions.

It can achieve a fire rate of ~ 8 RPM and has an effective firing range of 2,500 metres. It takes 8 seconds to swap between munition types or to fully rearm from a supply truck (assuming the T-72 has run out of shells).

PKT

Base damage value	Initial velocity (m/s)
12	900

Coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun. Effective against infantry and unarmoured ground vehicles at ranges of up to 600 metres away.

It can attain a fire rate of up to 800 RPM and has a muzzle velocity of 900 m/s. Accuracy-wise, it always has a fixed dispersion of 0.003 rad. It takes 7 seconds to reload a fresh linked belt or to fully rearm from a logistics truck.

DShKM

Base damage value	Initial velocity (m/s)
28	850

General-purpose 12.7 mm heavy machine gun.

It has a fire rate of 600 RPM, a muzzle velocity of 850 m/s, and takes a total of 10 seconds to reload a fresh belt box. Accuracy-wise, it has a fixed dispersion of 0.002 rad.

---

Trivia

• The T-72 was not initially available to RACS forces on Armed Assault's release. The faction was only given access to T-72s following the release of the Queen's Gambit expansion pack.
• Prior to Patch 1.04, the T-72's 125 mm shells dealt significantly less damage than that of the M1A1's 120 mm gun, resulting in lopsided battles between the two tanks (a single M1A1 could singlehandedly take on two T-72s whilst tanking multiple direct hits). Ammunition for both tanks was balanced after the patch's release; the T-72 now stands a slightly better chance of being able to survive and inflict an equal amount of damage to the M1A1.
• After Patch 1.08, elevation and depression limits for the T-72's turret were adjusted to more realistic values (it was originally possible for the main gun to clip into the hull due to its very generous depression limits).

---

Gallery

ArmA 2

T-72
Faction	CDF Russian Armed Forces ChDKZ Takistani Army NAPA
Type	Main Battle Tank
Seats	3 seats: 1× Driver 1× Gunner 1× Commander
Item capacity	Max: 20× Weapons 100× Magazines
Top speed	Normal: 52 km/h Turbo: 69 km/h Reverse: 52 km/h
Fuel capacity	1000 fuel units
Primary armament	Main: 1× D-81 125 mm
Secondary armament	Secondary: 1× DShKM 12.7 mm HMG Coaxial: 1× PKT 7.62 mm Defensive: 1× Smoke Generator
Variants	None
Games

The T-72 is used by several BLUFOR, REDFOR and INDFOR factions in ArmA 2.

Overview

• Role:
  • Direct fire and manoeuvre

«

The T-72, introduced in the early 1970s, is not an evolution of the T-64, but rather a parallel development, simpler to produce and maintain. While the T-64 was provided only to forward-deployed Soviet units, the T-72 was deployed within the USSR and exported to non-Soviet Warsaw Pact armies and numerous other countries. Armoury Description

»

Design

The T-72 in ArmA 2 mostly remains the same as its predecessor in Armed Assault with only minor changes to its optics suite and armament loadout.

Armament
It retains the 7.62 mm coaxial MMG, 125 mm cannon, along with a turret-mounted DShKM HMG. The main gun still has access to only 23 rounds of APFSDS and 22 rounds of HE shells.

The coaxial MMG on the other hand feeds from a single 2,000-round linked belt, while the HMG is pre-loaded with a single 150-round belt box along with 3 more spare boxes (for a combined total of 600 rounds).

Drawbacks
Relatively outdated by modern standards, it lacks the tough armour of its latest American counterpart, nor can it fire gun-launched anti-tank missiles like its modern Russian incarnation. Likewise, the T-72 is not fitted with contemporary electronics or fire control systems. It lacks a laser rangefinder, and has no access to thermal optics like its upgraded Czech counterpart which makes it mostly useless when there is poor visibility.

Overall, this means that the T-72 is mostly outmatched by all of its heavier counterparts, as all these drawbacks mean that it isn't much better than the T-55 (which is even older than the T-72).

Crew Capacity
It has a maximum capacity of three crewmen which consists of the driver, a gunner, and the commander. It is unable to transport any passengers.

---

Camouflage

• Woodland
• Insurgent
• Olive
• Desert
• RU Woodland

1/5

• Woodland: Olive green paint scheme with dark brown camouflage blobs. Only used on CDF-operated T-72s.
• Insurgent: Olive green paint scheme with spraypainted stroke patterns and a red cross stripe. Used by ChDKZ-operated T-72s.
• Olive: Flat olive green paint scheme. Used on NAPA T-72s.
• Desert: Standard two-tone desert tan/olive green camouflage scheme. Used by T-72s operated by the Takistani Army.
• RU Woodland: Olive green paint scheme with black/tan camouflage blobs. Exclusively used on Russian military T-72s.

---

Protection

The T-72 has a base armour value of 690.

Successful strikes to any of the following highlighted sections will inflict full damage to the component:

LEGEND
Green = Hull
Orange = Engine
Light blue = Treads
Maroon = Turret

Hull

The hull can take 586.5 points of damage.

Engine

The engine can resist 241.5 points of damage before failing. A damaged engine will prevent the T-72 from attaining its top speed.

Treads

Both tracks can only survive 103.5 points of damage. Only 30% of damage is transferred onto the T-72's "health" pool.

Turret

The turret can incur up to 690 points of damage.

---

Armament

NOTE: For specifics on the D-81's munitions, see its related section listed here.

The D-81 and PKT are controlled by the gunner position while the commander handles the DShKM instead.

For optics, both the gunner and commander have variable zoom optics. They can switch between a regular day or night vision mode but do not have the ability to toggle thermals:

D-81

125 mm smoothbore gun. Can load either HE or AP-type munitions.

It can achieve a fire rate of 10 RPM. It takes at least 6 seconds to reload a fresh shell or to fully rearm from a logistics truck. Swapping between shell types also takes at least 6 seconds to complete.

The D-81 does not feature automatic zeroing, though it does allow for manual zeroing. Zeroing limits start from a minimum of 100 m up to a maximum of 3000 m. Adjustments are made with increments/decrements of 100 m.

PKT

Base damage value	Aerodynamic friction	Initial velocity (m/s)
12	-0.00096	855

Coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun. Effective against infantry and unarmoured ground vehicles at ranges of up to 800 metres away.

It can attain a fire rate of up to 800 RPM and has a muzzle velocity of 855 m/s. Accuracy-wise, it always has a fixed dispersion of 0.00125 rad. It takes 5 seconds to reload a fresh linked belt or to fully rearm (assuming the T-72 has run out and is rearming at a logistics vehicle).

Manual zeroing limits remain unchanged from the D-81's (minimum of 100 m, maximum of 3000 m, 100 m increments/decrements).

DShKM

Base damage value	Aerodynamic friction	Initial velocity (m/s)
28	-0.0006	850

General-purpose 12.7 mm heavy machine gun.

It can attain a fire rate of up to 600 RPM a muzzle velocity of 850 m/s. It will take at least 6 seconds to reload a new belt box or to fully rearm from a supply truck. Accuracy-wise, it has a fixed dispersion of 0.0015 rad.

The DShKM does not have automatic zeroing but does allow for manual adjustments, starting from a minimum of 100 m up to a maximum of 2000 m. Adjustments are made with increments/decrements of 100 m.

---

Trivia

• The T-72 is one of the most ubiquitous vehicles in ArmA 2 with almost every faction using it as either their primary MBT or in the case of the Russian Armed Forces, as an alternate counterpart to the heavier T-90.
• Following the release of the latest Steam version patches (as part of the Community Configuration Project/CorePatch updates), AI gunners can now properly switch between HE/AP-type shells (CCP) while zeroing limits for the the main gun were significantly raised to 3000 m (CorePatch).
• Strangely, rusted wrecks of the T-72 placeable in the editor make an appearance in ArmA 3 despite the fact that none of the factions make use of the T-72 (the tank itself is not featured as a usable vehicle in ArmA 3's base content outside of third party-developed Creator DLCs).
• 
  If the driver turns out, their feet can visibly be seen sticking out of the hull. This visual glitch has not been fixed even after the release of CorePatch.

---

Gallery

External links

• Wikipedia: T-72

See also

Vehicles of comparable role and configuration

• T-80 (Heavy Soviet counterpart, ArmA: CWA only)
• M60A3 Patton (Medium U.S. counterpart, ArmA: CWA only)
• T-55 (Outdated Takistani Army counterpart, ArmA 2: OA only)
• T-90 (Alternate Russian Armed Forces counterpart, ArmA 2 only)
• T-72M4 CZ (ACR counterpart, ArmA 2: ACR only)

Soviet Union - Vehicles (ArmA: Cold War Assault)
Wheeled	BRDM • SCUD* • UAZ • Ural
Tracked	BMP-1 • BMP-2 • Shilka • T-72 • T-80
Rotor-wing	Ka-50 • Mi-17 • Mi-24
Fixed-wing	Sopwith F.1 Camel v2 • Su-25
Aquatic	Boat
* not actually usable outside of cutscenes.

FIA - Vehicles (ArmA: Cold War Assault)
Wheeled	Bus* • Jeep • Motorcycle • PV3S • UAZ*
Tracked	BMP-1* • T-55* • T-72* • T-80*
* used by the Nogovan Partisans in the Resistance campaign

SLA - Vehicles (ArmA: Armed Assault)
Wheeled	BRDM-2 • TT650G • UAZ* • Ural*
Tracked	BMP-2 • Shilka • T-72
Rotor-wing	KA-50 • Mi17
Fixed-wing	Camel • Su-34
Aquatic	PBX Boat
(Parenthesis) denote variants. * denotes vehicles also used by the Resistance sub-faction.

RACS - Vehicles (ArmA: Armed Assault)
Wheeled	Army 4x4
Tracked	M113 • T-72
Rotor-wing	AH-6 • MH-6 • UH-60
Aquatic	CRRC
Queen's Gambit

CDF - Vehicles (ArmA 2)
Wheeled	BRDM-2 • BM-21 Grad • Motorcycle • UAZ-469 • Ural
Tracked	BMP-2 • T-72 • ZSU-23-4
Rotor-wing	Mi-17 (Mi-17-IVA) • Mi-24D
Fixed-wing	Pchela-1T • Su-25
(Parenthesis) denote variants.

ChDKZ - Vehicles (ArmA 2)
Wheeled	BM-21 Grad • BRDM-2 • Motorcycle • Offroad • Pickup • UAZ-469 • Ural
Tracked	BMP-2 • T-72 • ZSU-23-4
Rotor-wing	Mi-8MT
Fixed-wing	Su-25
(Parenthesis) denote variants.

NAPA - Vehicles (ArmA 2)
Wheeled	BRDM-2 • Offroad • Motorcycle • Pickup • Ural* • V3S
Tracked	BMP-2 • T-34 • T-72
* only the ZU-23 variant is specifically used by NAPA.