T-72M4CZ MBT - CZECH MEDIUM TANK 2005

Description

The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1971. 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). In front-line Russian service T-72 are being replaced by T-90, a modernized version of the T-72. In Ukraine, T-72s are supposed to be replaced by the T-84 MBTs. The T-72 has been exported and produced in many countries. Czech version result of 543 tanks inherited from former Czechoslovakia in 1993. 179 T-72 main battle tanks are still in service as of 1 January 2008. This Czech version added a new ERA armour for protection from HEAT and APFSDS rounds, additional armour array around turret with flat-face frontal aspect and MB smoke grenade dischargers on each side of turret. The tank is equipped with a new Galileo Avionica TURMS-T computerized FCS (it is similar to the one used in C1 Ariete) and a Perkins CV12-1000 740 kW/1,000 hp water-cooled diesel engine coupled to an Allison XTG-411-6 automatic transmission. All drive train work was done by the Israeli firm NIMDA. The weight of the T-72M4CZ increased 4 tonnes. The Czech Republic has upgraded 30 tanks to the T-72M4CZ standard. (Scale : 1/35e)