T-72 operators and variants
T-72 operators and variants

The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1973. It replaced the T-54/55 series as the workhorse of Soviet tank forces (while the T-64 and T-80 served as the Soviet high-technology tanks with faster autoloaders, better mobility and armor). In front-line Russian service, T-72s are being upgraded or augmented by the T-90, itself a modernized version of the T-72B. The T-72 has been exported and produced in many countries.
Operators
Current operators
Algeria – 325 T-72M1/M1M as of 2025.
Angola – 50 T-72M1 as of 2023.
Armenia – 100 T-72A, T-72B, T-72B3M as of 2025.
Azerbaijan – ~405 T-72A, T-72AV, T-72B, and T-72SIM2 as of 2025.
Belarus – 477 T-72B and 20 T-72B3 mod. 2016 as of 2025. Various T-72 modifications in reserve.
“T-72 operators and variants” enters the record as t-72 operators and variants. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what T-72, operators and variants can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7224862. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1973, 2025, 2023 and 2016.
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