T-72M

Green and mean.

The T-72M was the export variant of the Russian T-72, sitting somewhere between the base "T-72 Ural" variant and the first upgrade "T-72A", it lacks the turret and glacis composite armour layers of her Russian brother and instead uses a form of spaced armour. Iraqi built T-72Ms became widely known for a shockingly poor showing in the hands of the Iraqi Rebublican Guard during the first Gulf War. Whether the tank's poor reputation is a fault of the design, its users or just it's age as a tank, its mobility and the brute power of the 125mm 2A46 gun cannot be disregarded entirely.

In Team Yankee

The Stat Card

The more advanced tank option for East German commanders, the T-72M is a pretty decent option for those who want to burry their enemies in Steel, but still want a tank that isn't older than their grandpappy.

IRL

Mine plough? Nein, panzer bayonet genosse!

A lot of what can be said about the T-72 apply's to the M version as well. The T-72M was the export version of the T-72 and it was cheaper to produce and less effective then the normal T-72. It had thinner armor and downgraded weapons systems. Both these traits show up in Team Yankee as the T-72M has 1 less front armor and anti tank on there main guns then the T-72's used in the Russian army proper. These export tanks are sometimes called "Monkey model" however, keep in mind that we in the west get that title from a soviet defector so take that name with a grain of salt. The Soviets did this for two reasons. One: the further away from mother Russia a tank got, the more likely it was that the Dratted Capitalists would get there hands on one(which happened NTC operates several T-72). Imagine if a tank like the T-72 got sold to Iraq, it would be far easier for the Americans to get there hands on one and reverse engineer it, and if they did they would get an idea of Soviet Equipment that was worse then what the top of the line stuff could do. It's why they NEVER did sell or export any of the top of the line T-80's until the union fell apart. Second was of course cost, the Soviet Union is massive, and they need to keep the good equipment for there soldiers.

This T-72M however is the East German T-72M which has been fiddled with a bit, Wiki claims with Rubber Skirts, Smoke grenades and 16 additional millimeters of armor.

East German Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T55AM2 - T-72M - T-72B
Transports:	BTR-60 - BMP-1 - BMP-2
Troops:	Mot-Schützen Kompanie - Hind Assault Landing Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - BM-21 Hail - RM-70 - 2S3 Acacia
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel
Recon:	BMP-1 OP - BRDM-2
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - SU-22 Fitter
Soviet Support:	SU-25 Frogfoot