T-72

For the glory of slav-kind!

The T-72 is Soviet second generation MBT employed by a variety of nations. In classic Russian fashion, it is rugged, relatively easy to produce, and simple enough that any soviet peasant can hop in and spread the revolution with utmost efficiency. The T-72 incorporates some of the latest advances in Soviet weapons technology, mouning an auto loading 2A46 125mm main gun, which is capable of firing fin stabilized ammunition, and protected by BDD composite armor, similar to the Chobham armor used on western tanks.

In Team Yankee

The Stat Card

IRL

Like many Soviet tanks, the T-72 is among the most massively-produced post-WWII tanks out there, seeing service in many countries outside Soviet borders. Like all things soviet, its chief features are cost-effective design, and simple but efficient lethality. Even while the modern Russian Army has replaced the venerable T-72 with newer tanks (namely the T-90, which is basically just a T-72 with more current weapon systems), the T-72 is still solid enough that it has been repurposed for a wide variety of combat roles that it wasn't originally designed for, including the BMPT Terminator used for urban pacification (and simultaneously sporting one of the most menacing names for a tank ever), or the TOS-1 30-rocket MRLS. If you think confused by that and remember T-72's getting Roflstomped during the gulf war, the answer is that those were T-72M's which are the export version of the T-72 and were not as advanced as the ones used by the Russian army and eastern bloc nations proper

Incidentally: the T-72 was not the most modern tank in the Soviet Arsenal by the time of Team Yankee 1985 start date for world war three. That title belongs to the conspicuously absent T-80, first introduced in 1976, well in time for this 'dust up'. Expect a future update to team Yankee to have the Soviets get a new toy for it's armed forces, and for it's players to buy.