Why was the T-72 so badly beaten by the US military in the Gulf War?

1: First of all, the T-72 is a "simplified version" sold by Russia to Iraq, and its armor thickness and armor-piercing projectile level are far from those of the Russian T-72.

2. It is not an order of magnitude at all:

The performance gap leads to the doomed failure even if Iraq uses the best Russian T-72.

T72 tank has a total combat weight of 41 tons and three crew members. The engine power is 78 HP and the maximum running speed is 6 km/h.

M1A1 has a total combat weight of 57 tons and four crew members. The engine power is 15 HP and the maximum speed is 66.8 km/h.

Challenger tank has a total weight of 62 tons and four crew members. The engine power is 12 HP and the maximum speed is 56 km/h..

(Through the above comparison, even in the case of the same armor performance, M1A1 and Challenger, which have greater combat total weight, obviously have stronger defense capabilities than T72, what's more, the depleted uranium armor adopted by M1A1 and Challenger's Chobham composite armor are much stronger than the "simplified version" T-72 in performance, so they are not an order of magnitude)

3. Firepower gap:

T-.

M1A1 tank M25B 12mm main gun is equipped with depleted uranium armor-piercing projectile, which can penetrate 7mm thick homogeneous steel armor at a distance of 2m.

The main gun of Challenger tank follows the L11A5 12mm line-bore gun of Chifutan, and the maximum penetration depth of L15A4 shell-piercing projectile at a distance of 2m is about 56mm.

The thickness of the challenger's frontal armor is equivalent to 8MM of homogeneous steel armor,

M1A1 is equivalent to 6 mm of homogeneous steel armor when dealing with the shell-piercing projectile and 13 mm of homogeneous steel armor when dealing with the hollow charge armor-piercing projectile.

T-72 is only equivalent to 46mm homogeneous steel armor.

(Through the above comparison, it is normal that T-72 can't defeat M1A1 and challenger, and the artillery power is small, and the protection ability is low, which is a whole grade short. The shell fired by T-72 at 1m was bounced off by the frontal armor of M1A1, while M1A1 destroyed T72 at 5 m)

4. The gap of fire control system

T-72.

5. Tactical error:

At that time, T-72 was ordered to be half-buried in the sand, with only the muzzle lined up, trying to use natural barriers to deal with the US military, but the effect was just the opposite. Due to the severe limitation of its maneuverability, T-72 half-buried in the sand became a living target for M1A1 and challengers.

6. Turbulence of military morale:

During the p>42-day Gulf War, air strikes accounted for 38 days, and the Iraqi military morale has been seriously shaken, and many T72s were completely abandoned in the desert. The tank department is often attacked by the United States and Britain, and many soldiers have no intention to control their "land lion"!