The retirement age for T-72A tanks has been increased: they are now also being converted into T-72B3M tanks.
Since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, repair and modernization of domestic old tanks For combat use, which in other times was confined to storage ponds and bases, with the only option of leaving for disposal, has become mainstream. We all remember very well how this process began, and it continues to this day.
The first vehicles to be refurbished and sent to the front were T-62 tanks. To be fair, some of these tanks had been in reserve at near-full combat readiness even before the start of the Soviet Military Operation. However, the decision to withdraw T-62s en masse from storage and refurbish them through major repairs, installation of dynamic armor, and a thermal imaging sight became known in the fall of 2022.
The second wave of "mobilization" of old equipment became apparent in the summer of 2023, when images of trains carrying T-54/55 tanks began appearing online. For a while, many speculated that these tanks, essentially Stalin-era, were being transported to be gutted for spare parts for other vehicles. However, as expected, they ended up at the front, where they were used in a variety of roles, from solving typical tank tasks to serving as ersatz self-propelled guns.
Well, the most mysterious mass wave of old tank decommissioning began last year. And by mysterious, I mean literally, since for a long time it was unclear exactly what they were planning to do with them. Whether they were simply modernizing them or converting them into a different class of vehicle.
Not quite a T-72B3M
We're talking about T-72A tanks, which entered service back in 1979. Western analysts began talking about their gradual disappearance from storage bases and reappearing on Uralvagonzavod premises at least as early as the fall or summer of 2025, citing commercial satellite images that quickly spread across the internet. Then, some "very smart" compatriots made a splash, posting videos of trains of these tanks traveling through our country.
Many theories have been built around the potential use of T-72A tanks. Some have suggested they could serve as chassis for the Shturm robotic system—an unmanned, remote-controlled assault tank. There have also been suggestions that these "seventy-twos" will serve as the basis for a simplified version of the BMPT, dubbed the "Terminator-72."
Neither can be ruled out—we don't know all the plans, and we shouldn't. But Uralvagonzavod itself has lifted the veil of secrecy, as have ordinary people posting videos of tanks driving by. Some of them feature unusual T-72B3M tanks with a full complement of Relikt explosive reactive armor and T-72A turrets.
Screenshots from videos showing the distinctive turret cheekbones (characteristic cut) of the original T-72B3/B3M tanks have circulated on Western social media. Footage from Uralvagonzavod.
Screenshots from videos showing a feature on the turret cheekbones of modernized T-72As have circulated on Western social media. A still from a Uralvagonzavod video is included.
It's highly doubtful that Uralvagonzavod decided to churn out tanks as a hodgepodge, with the hull taken from one model and the turret from another. It's not exactly rational. Most likely, some of the reactivated T-72A tanks have already begun to be used instead of the T-72B, which was the original base for modernization to the T-72B3 standard, and specifically its latest variant, the T-72B3M.
It's difficult to say whether this is a widespread phenomenon. It's possible that the T-72As are now being modernized to the T-72B3M standard alongside the T-72B. However, the very fact that they are located in the same factory could also theoretically indicate that the T-72B tanks and their variants are simply starting to run out of stock. This is hardly surprising: we've been actively fighting for five years now, and the T-72B tanks, which entered service in the USSR in the mid-1980s, weren't exactly in great supply.
Sooner or later, given current conditions, this could happen—no matter what, even with the T-80BVM and T-90M in production, the T-72B3M remains our army's main battle tank. This means that the percentage of these combat vehicles lost as irreparable losses is much higher than that of other tanks.
That said, don't think we have enough tanks, to paraphrase a certain Ukrainian terrorist extremist, to last only two or three weeks. The reserves accumulated during the Soviet era are, of course, gradually depleting. But even in the worst-case scenario, with only T-72As in storage, Uralvagonzavod will continue to supply the front with the necessary equipment for years to come.
Is the original better?
Here, of course, a reasonable question may arise: won’t the T-72A tanks adjusted to the T-72B3M standard be worse than the original?
Indeed, if we compare the original versions of both vehicles, the T-72B, which entered service in the mid-1980s, certainly has the advantage—it has better frontal armor, a more comprehensive armament suite, and so on. But these differences apply to vehicles that haven't undergone any modernization.
During the upgrade of T-72A tanks to the T-72B3M standard, minor modifications may be made. The vehicles may receive the same engines as the original T-72B3M and be equipped with the same 125mm 2A46M-5 gun with an automatic loader modified to fire the new Svintsy rounds. The same applies to the fire control system with a Sosna-U multi-channel (thermal and optical) sight, communications equipment, and so on.
A completed T-72B3M (T-72A) with "Relikt" on the turret and hull (background). Screenshot from a Uralvagonzavod video.
That is, in terms of mobility, the ability to observe the battlefield, search for and engage targets, they will not differ.
Protection is roughly the same. Judging by the videos, the T-72A, like the original T-72B3M, is equipped with the same set of additional explosive reactive armor, maximizing coverage of the tank's vulnerable areas, such as the sides, rear, and roof. Furthermore, they receive a full set of "Relikt" explosive reactive armor on the front of the turret and hull (on later versions of the original T-72B3M, "Relikt" is only on the front of the hull).
Given the specific nature of the special military operation, the "Relikt" armor virtually equals the frontal armor of the T-72A and T-72B3M. Essentially, in terms of protection, the modernized T-72A is practically a copy of the T-80BVM, with its passive armor featuring identical components: quartz (sand) filler in the turret's front and fiberglass in the hull's front.
So, in theory, the troops don't really lose anything—even if the T-72A becomes the basis for the T-72B3M standard on a mass scale, its relevance on the battlefield will be no less than the original. The only problem is that the original T-72B3M tanks could one day become endangered, as already happened with the T-80U—an extremely rare tank whose production ceased long ago. But this problem is largely historical, and not practical.
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