Review (PDF)

T-72 Main Battle Tank 1974-93 (New Vanguard)

The Russian T-72 Ural tank is the most widely-deployed main battle tank of the current generation. Used by the armies of the former Warsaw pact and Soviet Union, it has also been exported in large numbers to many of the states in the Middle East. This book reveals the previously secret history behind the tank. Steven J Zaloga examines the conditions under which the T-72 was designed and produced. Technical aspects of the weapon are also discussed, including its EDZ reactive armour which, when it first appeared in December 1984, gave NATO a nasty shock.

Series: New Vanguard (Book 6)

Paperback: 48 pages

Publisher: Osprey Publishing (September 30, 1993)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1855323389

ISBN-13: 978-1855323384

Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.1 x 9.9 inches

Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #290,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #25 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional > Armored Vehicles #310 in Books > History > Military > Iraq War #5385 in Books > History > Europe

Steve Zaloga is one of the leading scholars on Russian and Warsaw Pact armor, and this book was one of the first to take advantage of the new information that became available after the fall of the Soviet Union. It traces the development of the weapon and its deployment by Russia, its allies, and the third world customers who bought the export versions. Zaloga also reveals the Soviet designations for the various subtypes. The Russian obsession with secrecy meant that many spurious designations appeared in NATO manuals on the subject, and the author finally clears up the actual designations of the variant models. The T-72's poor performance in combat is examined and the reasons are discussed, and it is compared to its design rivals, the T-64 and the T-80. There is a nice selection of pictures of all subtypes, and a color center section by artist Peter Sarson shows the markings and camouflage of the vehicle. This title is aimed at model builders, wargamers and those with a casual interest in military technology, but the format is too limited for the dedicated historian or defense analyst.

Overall this text was exactly what I wanted; an in-depth, informative delving into of the famous Soviet T72 Tank.I especially enjoyed the crew-compartment photos/appropriate explanations and the detailed cut-away print. The details on version development/evolution, export models, and so on are all great as well.With that being said, I do feel that the text would benefit greatly from an updated edition that explores more recent improvements, models, and so on. I'm particularly interested in a brief analysis of the T-72 in recent conflicts such as the on-going Syrian Civil War, Chechen conflicts, and the Russian-Georgian 2008 conflict which, though short, featured T-72s on both sides (although I'm unsure if they were used to any notable extent).Still, worth the price for me, great read!

The T-72 thoroughly deserves its edition of the New Vanguard series. Throughout the cold war it was a famous tank and since then has been seen in numerous engagements around the world. This Steven Zaloga penned overview with illustrations by Peter Sarson provides all the usual aspects of the series. We get a brief overview, a dry run through of the various variants and upgrades given to the weapon, tedious nomenclature and an overview on how the weapon performed in combat. This latter is particularly interesting in this case given the T-72 was so prevalent in a number of the more highly regarded Iraqi units during Operation Desert Storm.Modellers are always well served by these books as they are full of black and white photographs from various angles and of various marks of the weapons at hand and this instalment is no exception. The colour plates and the cutaway drawing are also useful in this regard as they provide excellent inspiration for the modeller casting about for a guide to their own paintjobs.One aspect of this work is that it by necessity goes over a chunk of the same ground in terms of discussing some of the rivalries between different Soviet design bureaus that other New Vanguard books on post World War 2 soviet tanks go over.Lastly there is a bibliography that may not may not be terribly useful to you dependent on your ability to read Russian.A worthwhile purchase for the modern AFV aficionado.

As I named it, a great source of information and a rather authoritative product about this widespread Soviet Era AFV. Accurately described and very well organised small reference of almost every version of that tank, with their most acute differences as well as similarities. Although is in need for a second edition to cover the most recent developments about this fantastic AFV.

Steven Zaloga is a an expert on soviet tanks. The book is well written and contains good general information anout the T-72. Nevertheless, teh book is a little bit outdated and maybe because of this, it falla behind other truly greatpieces a of work of the same author, like thos regarding T-34-85, T-62 and T-80 tanks.The book centers more than necessary in the iraqui developments of local manufacture of T-72 and gives less attention to the full development of T-72 in former Soviet Union. Issues like the ammunition development, that are so well covered in the T-62 book are completely absent. Derived form the age of the book, nothing is said about the more recent developments, loke the T-90 series.Otherwise, like all the books of teh series, it is greatly illustrated, including a nice cross-cut of the tank and several pictures of he deployment of this tank.Nice book, but it's time a of an actualized edition.

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