The museum is located on an active military installation. In order to visit the Museum, all adults need a government
issued picture ID card to gain access to the Fort. If you drive
onto the post, you also need current registration and proof of
insurance.
The sign at the exhibit reads:
The T-72 series tanks began production in 1971. Their capapbility and technology, combined with the vast numbers in which they were built led to a serious reevaluation of western tank design. Subsequent western research and development led to the introduction of the current Abrams and Bradley series of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. In combat in these vehicles proved their worth, leaving the T-72 and lesser vehicles burning in the dark.
This particular T-72M1 is a Polish built export model completed in 1989. All warning labels, instructions, and gauges are printed in English, as are the technical and service manuals. This tank was abandoned by its "elite" Republican Guard crewman during the March 2, 1991 Rumalia Oil field engagement with 24th Division forces just west of Basra, Iraq. Features of note include the "Dazzler", an infrared light emitter designed to confuse western antitank guided missiles and the surprisingly low 1041 miles (1675 km) on the vehicle's odometer.
Crew: 3
Speed: 37mph
Range: 435 miles with auxiliary fuel
From Wikipedia:
The T-72 is a Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1971. It is a further development of T-62 with some features of T-64A (to which it was a parallel design) and has been further developed as the T-90. Chronologically and in design terms it belongs to the same generation of tanks as the US M60 Patton, German Leopard 1 and British Chieftain tank. More recently, the T-72's reputation has suffered following poor combat performance of export models against Western tanks such as the M1 Abrams, M60 Patton, Merkava and Challenger 1 during the first and second Persian Gulf wars and the 1982 Lebanon war. Its losses in the Persian Gulf wars, however, may have been more a consequence of the fact that most Iraqi T-72 tanks were export models (T-72, T-72M and T-72M1) using low quality ammunition and manned by poorly trained Iraqi tankers.
The T-72 was the most common tank used by the Red Army from the 1970s to the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was also exported to other Warsaw Pact countries, Finland, India, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yugoslavia, as well as being copied elsewhere, both with and without licenses.
The T-72 is common around the world in the armies of many potential enemies of the U.S. and other Western nations. Many Western analysts regard this as worrisome because, at least theoretically, its 125 mm 2A46 main gun is capable of destroying any modern main battle tank in the world today, including the M1 Abrams. On the other hand, on the three occasions when Soviet clients using T-72s have met Western armies that possessed modern main battle tanks —Lebanon in 1982 (against the Israeli Merkava), Iraq in 1991 (against the U.S. M1 Abrams and the British Challenger 1), and again Iraq in 2003— the T-72 did not show its alleged abilities. After clashes in Lebanon in 1982, both the Israelis and the Syrians claimed their main tank's superiority, but in one case a Merkava Mk. 1 was able to engage a Syrian T-72 (Syrian 73rd Brigade) from a long range, the T-72 was hit on the “impenetrable” front side, and immediately caught fire. In the Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi tank units were heavily defeated, although this might have more to do with the poor training and full air supremacy than with any deficiencies of the T-72 itself. Furthermore, while facing the most modern Western tanks, the versions the Iraqi army fielded were out of date at the time. The Iraqi T-72s were downgraded export versions that had not been significantly upgraded over time and were firing inferior ammunition (often with steel penetrators and half-charges of propellant).