Russia starts delivering T-72B1MS 'White Eagle' tanks to Serbia 

The upgraded version of the T-72B main battle tank is equipped with new armor, optics and weaponry

Russian press agency Sputnik reported last week that Russia has started to supply the T-72B1MS main battle tank (MBT), dubbed "White Eagle", to Serbia. The T-72B1MS is an upgraded version of the T-72B MBT that was unveiled in Moscow during a defense exhibition in June 2012. The tank was developed, designed and manufactured by the Russian company UralVagonZavod. The T-721B1MS features new armor and is equipped with new optics and combat equipment.

Armyrecognition.com noted that in December 2018 it was announced that Laos took delivery of the T-72B1MS from Russia and, in January 2019, Laos displayed a number of the tanks during a military parade in the capital. There is no official information about the delivery of the T-72B1MS to the Laos Armed Forces. According to information published on the Internet, the tank is also in service with the armed forces of Uruguay and Nicaragua.

The T-72B1MS is armed with one 2A46 125mm smoothbore gun that is able to fire different types of ammunition including armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and high-explosive fragmentation (HEF) projectiles. The MBT also has one 7.62mm coaxial machine gun and one remotely operated weapon station armed with one 12.7mm 6P49 Kord heavy machine gun, mounted on the roof of the turret. The tank has conventional armor on the hull and the turret, but it is also fitted with Kontakt-1 Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) mounted at the front and on each side of the hull and around the turret.

In addition, the T-72B1MS is equipped with a PN-72U Sosna-U day/night gunner`s sight; a commander`s seat with a PKP-72 Falcon`s Eye (Sokolinyi Glaz) panoramic sight with third-generation thermal imager mounted at the rear of the left side of the turret; as well as an automatic target tracking system, chassis information-management system, auxiliary power unit (APU) and combined GPS/GLONASS navigation system.