Russo-Ukrainian War: The T-72 Ural-1 obr. 1984

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

     A rather rare tank, still operational in 2026, is shown here in service with the tank battalion of the 10th. Mountain Assault Brigade “Edelweiss”. The tank is a T-72 Ural-1 and it represents the third model of the T-72 tank series which remains in active service in more modern versions around the world. Production began in 1976 as the Obiekt 172M1 (Object 172M1) and represented a modernization of the T-72 Ural and T-72 obr. 1975. In Ukrainian active service at the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War in February 2022, the T-72 Ural-1 was non-existent and was only found in storage depots in various states of disrepair. However, the need for armor saw these tanks withdrawn from storage and brought up to operational service.

     Power for the 41-ton T-72 Ural-1 comes from a ChTZ V-46-6 12-cylinder, supercharged, liquid cooled multi-fuel engine generating 780 horsepower which is mated to a hydraulically assisted synchromesh transmission with a 7-speed planetary gearbox (6 forward, 1 reverse). On roads, the T-72 Ural-1 can attain a top speed of 37 miles per hour. Off-road, and terrain depending, the top speed is 22 miles per hour while in reverse, the T-72 Ural-1 can reach 3 miles per hour. With an onboard fuel capacity of 317 gallons, the maximum road range is 280 miles. With the addition of 105 gallons of external fuel in rear mounted drums, the road range is increased to 341 miles. Radio equipment includes the R-123M station and the crew utilizes the R-124 intercom system.

     The main armament is a thermal-sleeved 125mm 2A46 (D-81TM) smoothbore gun which is fitted to a gun mount that uses a 2E28 stabilizer. The mount permits 14 degrees of maximum elevation and 5 degrees of gun depression while the turret provides 360 degrees of traverse. The total ammunition load is 39 rounds of which 22 of them are kept in the hull floor mounted cassette autoloader. This permits the T-72 Ural-1 to have a rate of fire of between 7 to 8 rounds per minute. The gunner is provided with a TPD-2-49 gun sight that features TPD-K1 laser rangefinder (that replaced the TPD-2-49 coincidence rangefinder originally used with the gun sight, hence the same designation) along with a TPN-1-49-23 night sight, the latter allowing engagements out to .5 of a mile. Targeting is assisted with an analog FCS (Fire Control System). Secondary armament consists of a coaxial 7.62mm PKT machine-gun with 250 rounds of ready ammunition and 1,750 rounds of additional ammunition. The commander is provided with a 12.7mm NSVT heavy machine-gun on a ZU-72 pintle mount behind his cupola. Ready ammunition is 50 rounds with another 250 rounds available. Unlike the coaxial machine-gun that benefits from the main gun's stabilizer, the NSVT is not stabilized though it does have a K10-T collimator sight. 

     The 2A46 can fire a fairly wide array of 125mm round types. A typical APFSDS (Armor-Piercing, Fin-Stabilized, Discarding Sabot) round is the 3BM15 which can penetrate 400mm of rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) at a 0 degree angle at 1.2 miles. At a 60 degree, slope, the penetration is 150mm of RHA. The 3BK14 HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank) can go through 200mm of RHA at a 60 degree slope to a range of 1.9 miles. The 3OF19 HE (High-Explosive) round contains 11 pounds of explosive and can be fired out to a range of 2.5 miles. The T-72 Ural-1 (nor the T-72 Ural) is not outfitted to fire tube-launched ATGMs (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles) such as the 9K119 Refleks (NATO reporting name AT-11 Sniper) and 9K120 Svir (a variant of the Refleks) or the older 9K112 Kobra (NATO reporting name AT-8 Songster). 

     For armor, the T-72 Ural-1 has a welded steel hull and a cast steel turret. Frontally, the upper glacis plate supports the equivalent of 205mm thick armor with a slope of 68 degrees. The turret front is heavily protected with 410mm of armor at the thickest point and tapering down to 310mm on the cheeks while the turret sides are 290mm thick. The hull sides are 80mm thick with no sloping while the hull roof and bottom are protected by 20mm of armor respectively.

     In 1984, the Ukrainians upgraded the T-72 Ural-1 (as well as the earlier T-72 Ural) by outfitting them with Kontakt-1 explosive reactive armor (ERA) in an effort to improve survivability. Usage of the Kontakt-1 blocks required the smoke dischargers to be located on the left side of the turret rather than on the front of the turret. How many were modified isn't known and most ended up in storage, often stripped of Kontakt-1 blocks. The port for the TPD-2-49 rangefinder, located on the right side of the turret in front of the commander's cupola, is plugged as the equipment was removed. In at least one online source, this upgrade was called the T-72 Ural-1 obr. 1984. It is likely the T-72 Ural-1 shown in the photograph is one of these tanks and this is because it retains the Luna-2A infrared spotlight and does not have any slat armor panels (see below). The camouflage pattern on the tank is actually a colorful decoration that was done by the tank crew in celebration of Easter.

     In the summer of 2023, a new upgrade of T-72 Ural-1 tank appeared in service with the tank battalion of the 22nd. Mechanized Brigade “Mykolaiv”. The T-72 Ural-1 obr. 2023 (again, not an official designation) can be externally differentiated from the T-72 Ural-1 obr. 1984 in that the Luna-2A spotlight is removed and slat armor panels are added to the aft sides of the tank and to the rear of the tank. Another curious difference is that four of the tank's road wheels are taken from either T-55 or T-62 tanks and it is suggested this is because replacement components are scarce. It is believed that the TPN-1-49-23 night sight has been replaced with a more modern equivalent as well as the R-123M radio being replaced with a Libid-K-2RB digital radio set. Another addition believed to be incorporated into the new upgrade is a Basalt navigation system which can use both the Russian GLONASS navigation network as well as GPS.