Two 200-liter auxiliary fuel drums can be fitted on the rear of the hull. The T-72B1 is powered by a multi-fuel V-12 piston air-cooled 840 hp engine that will run on three fuels: Diesel, Benzene or Kerosene. Although the engine is larger than that of the T-64, the heavier (41 mt) T-72 is believed to have approximately the same road speed as the T-64. This engine appears to be remarkably smoke-free and smooth-running, having eliminated the excessive vibration which was said to cause high crew fatigue in the T-62. The V-12 diesel engine has an output of 780 hp.

The T-72 has greater mobility than the T-62.

The T-72 has a larger engine compartment than the T-64, and the radiator grill is near the rear of the hull.

There are normally only a few small stowage boxes on the outside of the turret, and a single short snorkel is stowed on the left side of the turret. The 12.7-mm NSV anti-aircraft machine gun has a rotating mount, and there is no provision for firing it from within the tank.

The gunner's IR searchlight is mounted to the right of the main gun.

It has a 14-tooth drive sprocket and a single-pin track with rubber-bushed pins.

The T-72 has six large, die-cast, rubber-coated road wheels and three track return rollers.

The T-72 medium tank is similar in general appearance to the T-64.

Moreover, it is fitted with a coaxial 7.62mm PKT machine-gun. Its main armament is a 125 mm smoothbore gun, stabilized in two guiding planes, with maximum effective firing range of 4,500 m and a rate of fire of up to 8 shots in a minute. It provides protection against pressure wave and NBC weapons. Using its 12.7mm NSV anti-aircraft machine-gun, it can destroy low flying targets. It is intended for destruction of tanks and other armored targets, or enemy manpower.

The T-72 medium tank is a combat tracked vehicle with high cross-country manuverability. While the T-64 was deployed only in forward-deployed Soviet units, the T-72 was deployed within the USSR and exported to non-Soviet Warsaw Pact armies and several other countries.

The T-72, introduced in the early 1970s, is not a further development of the T-64, but rather a parallel design chosen as a high-production tank complementing the T-64. The T-72, which entered production in 1971, was first seen in public in 1977.

Military tanks design