T-72 tanks in Iraqi service
| Lion of Babylon | |
|---|---|
A captured T-72 on display at the 1st Cavalry Division Museum, 2018 | |
| Type | Main battle tank |
| Place of origin | Ba'athist Iraq |
| Service history | |
| Wars | |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Kartsev–Venediktov |
| Produced | 1989–1990? |
| No. built | 500 Unit |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 41.5 tonnes (45.7 short tons) |
| Length | 9.53 m (31 ft 3 in) gun forward 6.95 m (22 ft 10 in) hull |
| Width | 3.59 m (11 ft 9 in) |
| Height | 2.23 m (7 ft 4 in) |
| Crew | 3 |
| Armor | Composite |
Main armament | 125 mm 2A46M |
Secondary armament | |
| Engine | V-12 diesel 780 hp (582 kw) |
| Power/weight | 18.8 hp/t |
| Suspension | Torsion bar Some dampers removed to suit desert conditions |
Operational range | 425 km 600 km with fuel barrels |
| Maximum speed | 60 km/h (road) 45 km/h (off-road) |
During the early stages of the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein imported a number of T-72 tanks from the Soviet Union and Poland. The tanks saw service in both the Gulf War and the Iraq War. In the late 1970s, Iraq also established a factory to retrofit and repair T-72s, and started the Lion of Babylon project (named after the Babylonian historical symbol of the same name) with the intent to assemble T-72s locally.