"tadaa" wrote in message ...
The best the Russians can do is hope for a chance hit on a helicopter
with
an RPG.


But you have to give them credit for that one....although its
surface-to-air
capability was not part of the design and not discovered by the
Russians....maybe they don't deserve any credit. Maybe this is the key
to
Russian military hardware, find alternative uses for it. Maybe a T-72
makes an
outstanding toaster oven? A MiG-29 as stero system? The possibilities
are
nearly endless

If you dropped a T-72 from a plane it would make a pretty good KE
weapon but with it's lack of aerodynamics it would be all over the
place so I guess it wouldn't even make a good bomb. I suppose you
could dump it in the ocean and use it for a corel reef or melt it down
and use it for something useful.

T-72 was a good tank in it's time vs Leopard I's, M60's and early M1's.
After the Soviet Union fell there were slight cuts in military spending if
you didn't notice.

You went a bit too far. It was generally inferior to the M60A3 TTS due to
the latter's better sight and fire control system. Likewise it was inferior
to the early M1's, which while they still had only the 105mm gun, had a much
better thermal imaging system. Add in the better vehicle protection and
greater speed, and even the early M1 was beyond the T-72's capabilities.

Brooks