Remaining without state orders, tank repair plants of Ukraine in the 90s, competing with each other, began to offer foreign countries their options for the modernization of the T-72.
A large number of different versions have been developed, including quite unusual ones. For example, you can recall the layout of the so-called T-72-120, first shown in 1999. They were going to install a 1200-horsepower two-stroke diesel engine 6TD-2 and a 120-mm "NATO" cannon with an automatic loader located in the abandoned compartment.
Also, depending on the customer's wishes, it was possible to leave a 125-mm 2A46M and even mount a 140-mm 55L "Bagheera". The last gun existed only in the form of an experimental sample, it was never brought to the series.
However, despite the participation of these tanks in numerous exhibitions, there were no people willing to buy them.
As noted in the Oryx blog, the military of the vast majority of countries showed much greater interest in the existing used T-55 and T-72AV, which have already proven themselves over many years of operation. Ukraine also offered combat vehicles that were not even really tested.
Interestingly, in their promotional materials, Ukrainian arms dealers often compared their products with the Russian T-90S main battle tank, for example, the T-72UMG sold to Turkmenistan. He really looked like the "nineties". However, in fact, only the installation of built-in dynamic protection, a closed machine-gun installation with a 12.7-mm NSVT "Utes" and an 840 hp engine were new.
According to some reports, it was originally planned to modernize most of the "seventy-second" available in the Turkmen army in this way, but after checking the purchased Ukrainian cars in the case, they limited themselves to only a small batch.
Alexey Brusilov
