Quote:
Originally Posted by ikalugin
As to the T72B mods - Ukraine is known to produce many advanced versions of the T72B for export. At the same time the so called Counter Terrorism Operation Forces are well known to mobilise the equipment of varios defense industries. Thus it is possible that the tank appeared that way and deeper investigation is reqired.
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Agreed, although most upgraded Ukrainian T-72s have a very distinctive armour covering below the turret ERA which in a way makes it look a little like an IS-3 from certain angles.
T-72MP
T-72AM 'Banan'
T-72AG
T-72AMG
T-72-120
BMT-72
And the T-72E
Now, comparing these T-72 pictures, to this picture:
You note that the turret ERA does not match up with any of the above, the E does not have the gaps between the ERA blocks, and the AM has more blocks. You'll also note the IR searchlight (the 'Luna' I believe) to the commanders right of the gun barrel, only the Banan variant of the Ukrainian T-72 series has that still in place, and the Banans ERA doesn't match the tank in the above picture.
This is the BM variant of the T-72 (or to be a bit more accurate, the obr.1989), note the IR searchlight and the ERA, believed to be Kontakt-5. The more modern obr.2006 variant has Relikt ERA, which is where I screwed up in my ID yesterday, I got my BMs mixed up...but to be fair, so did wikipedia.
I'm not going to go out there and say it's 100% proof, because there are still questions to be asked, but it looks a lot like a type of T-72 that is not operated by the Ukrainian military, which raises a lot of questions, especially when the IFVs in the convoy are flying the Donbass People's Militia flag.
