Image Source: Photo: Kits&Coffee
Soviet T-72 tanks are in service with almost fifty countries of the world, and during this time only a few countries have abandoned their operation. Why did this happen?
For example, the Federal Republic of Germany, having absorbed the German Democratic Republic, received at its disposal more than half a thousand T-72s of various export modifications, Soviet, Polish and Czechoslovak production.
These combat vehicles were actively tested by the Bundeswehr, their weaknesses and strengths were found out. In the end, the "seventy-second" decided to write off.
Due to the sharp warming of the international situation, the already existing tank fleet became redundant. Germany has transferred a fairly significant part of the T-72 for research to many of its NATO allies, such as the United States, as well as Israel, Sweden and other states.
By the way, thanks to these surpluses, Finland, in addition to more than sixty Soviet T-72M1, bought about a hundred more combat vehicles of this model in Germany. They served until 2006, and then were replaced by Leopard-2 tanks supplied from Germany.
Romania had a relatively small fleet of T-72s, only three dozen units were sold to them from the USSR, and the very first export model. However, the Romanians did not behave in an allied manner, and one such tank went to China. After that, they tried to create their own version called TR-125. Perhaps they would even have managed to launch it into a series, but the overthrow of Ceausescu and the reorientation to the West put an end to these plans. Over time, those T-72s that still remained were written off.
