In the Soviet Union, tanks were one of those types of weapons that were constantly developed and in large numbers. Each year, the designers worked on several promising projects at once. One of these was Object 172-2M, not very well known in our time, but extremely promising in the 1970s. It was to him that the military would later prefer the much less successful T-72 at first glance. Why did it happen?
If we put two photographs side by side, namely a snapshot of Object 172-2M "Buffalo" and a T-72 tank "Ural", then to distinguish these machines for a person who is not deeply into the issue of tank building will be enough hard. If only because both "Ural" and "Buffalo" were actually made by the same people - engineers of Plant No. 183 - "Uralvagonzavod". Moreover, the 72 that was later adopted at the development stage was marked as Object 172.
They worked on the creation of the T-72 in the USSR from 1967 to 1973. The tank was launched into mass production in 1973, and the tank was accepted into operation in 1974. The development of the Buffalo was from the very beginning an alternative direction. It was conducted from 1971 to 1975. We worked on a new version of the main tank, including after the adoption of the T-72 into service. Thus, in all honesty, after 1974, the 172-2M did not shine. However, they continued to work on the project as on an experimental promising machine.
From the very beginning, 172-2M was positioned as a project to improve (in places significant) the characteristics of the original Object 172. On the 2M modification, Soviet designers tested the most daring and interesting ideas at that time. A lot of experiments were done with the chassis of the vehicle and its armor. A total of 5 experimental Buffaloes were made. They all differ from each other in one way or another.
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Although the "Buffalo" was never adopted as a whole tank, how we know the T-72 today is largely due to the work of Soviet engineers on the 172-2M. The fact is that the 1974 T-72 is very different from the current version. Back in 1975, sighting devices and individual modifications to the chassis migrated to 72 from the Buffalo. In 1972, the T-72 received an improved combined booking from the buffalo. And the modification of the T-72B from 1984 completely absorbed all the remaining technical solutions of the Buffalo in the field of weapons and chassis, including the 125-mm smoothbore cannon 2A46.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about why the German tanks were painted gray, and the Soviet ones - in green.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/160321/58218/
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