T72M1 Switchology and Fire Control System 

Ah, yes. The classic "I'll just check out the first few minutes and watch the video later" that immediately turned into "oh, I watched the entire thing". Very educational!

There's a fun fact, the super sensitive setting on the T-10s 122mm could fuse on snow banks.

The reason for the odd placement of the smoke grenade launcher controls and the options available lies in the type of smoke grenades used. They aren't meant to cover the tank thus they don't burst right in front of the tank but a couple hundred meters away where they cover a section of the battlefield, so they can be used either to cover an advance or deny the enemy's ability to fire from long range in a defensive position. At least that was the concept. I can't really comment on how effective it is. Cheers, a T72M1 tanker Edit: I haven't seen it at the time of writing, but as you can see it's even modelled correctly in game.

"...the ballistic computer knows where it is, because it knows where it isn't..."

"Inshallah school of gunnery" got an audible laugh from me.

Finally, some sanity on the whole "hurdur autoloader makes tank go boom" stuff people have been parroting around. And another great switchology video.

Talking storage I did see a clip somewhere of a Ukrainian tanker mention that they hadn't been able to carry an attack through in one go as they had only carried 22 rounds and needed to reload. That would make more sense now if they had decided not to stock the exposed rounds.

You could've explained the weird Soviet turret azimuth display, where 00-00 is 6 o'clock and 30-00 is 12 o'clock. The whole 360 degrees of rotation is divided into 6000 "thousandths", which count clockwise from the rear and are read aloud two digits at a time. A commander on the "polygon" training grounds might call out "Armoured-piercing, twenty-one-fifteen, tank, 800" to tell the gunner to load sabot, look around 10 o'clock and engage a tank at 800 metres (ignoring the laser range-finders for the sake of example).

If I don't remember incorrectly from my time in the Finnish Army in the 90's, the 12.7mm HMG could be rotated all the way around, the hatch would rotate at the same time and would always be on the backside of the one in the commander's cupola position.

Awesome video, great to see someone finally give a good, honest assessment of the tank. The autoloader by itself is the subject of so many old wives' tales it's not funny, so people spend all their time and energy blabbering about those rather than discussing its actual advantages and disadvantages (one of the latter becoming very pertinent with improving modern armour - you're physically constrained in how long of a rod your sabot rounds can have, because you can't change the dimensions of the casette without redesigning the carousel, and you can't redesign the carousel without redesigning the whole tank).

A lot of armchair tankers in r/combatfootage need to watch this

Would be great if you did this same thing for the t72b3. Steel beasts is an amazing game so it’s great to see you cover it.

I remember seeing interview footage from the Kharkiv offensive where the Ukrainian tankers mention that they only had 22 rounds before their ammo was depleted. Based on what you said, it appears that the Ukrainians are going into battle with just the autoloader filled

I'm drinking a gin and tonic and hearing chieftain say "yeeted" was the funniest shit I heard all day.

Soviet vehicle smoke is not for self protection. It is for blinding the enemy to enable own offensive movement. That is why it pop 100m away and are regular smoke grenades, not airburst fast smoke

Am i the only one noticing the Books in the background hanging on for dear life in that bookshelf?

These switchology videos are immensely relaxing. Thank you for another entry! Also, the super sensitive fuse setting makes me think about something I've always wondered: will tank rounds or say an RPG detonate if it hits a glass window? Is guess this specific round would definitely explode if it hit a window, of rain is enough to set it off.

Thank you for explaining the ammo storage, especially the exposed charges. I have never heard that mentioned, and long wondered how the low-stowed munitions could be detonated so easily, given that storing ammo low in the hull is a primary technique for protecting the rounds and propellant.

My first intro to a T-72 interior was asking the museum supervisor for the keys. I used to work for the Ft. Carson post museum right before I PCS'ed to Ft. Irwin. I'm a 5'6" 19K Abrams Tanker by profession, but I'll never forget how tight it was in the T-72. I'm also not claustrophobic, but the T-72 will change that lol.

I love how the Chieftain is the only one on the net who pronounces “Cupola” the right way, which is Koò polah and not Koo pòlah. Italian word from Latin. :)

smoke popping is a technique. the gunner chooses one bank, presses the button and spins the dial 0-4. this can be done in a second. he has 3 banks of 4 smoke grenades. he can launch individual ones too, but that requires thinking a bit more. Or he can launch whole 12 at the same time. it's actually very easy

So an improvised "safety" upgrade to Soviet style T-72/90 series and T-64/80 series tanks could be to keep 22/28 rounds in the autoloader and a further 3 projectiles and 15 spare propellant charges in the wet storage slots and then only carry inert APFSDS projectiles in open turret stowage and add heavily armored stowage bins on the rear of the turret with blow-off panels. These bins could contain further reserve HEAT and HE-Frag rounds and perhaps propellant charges. The tank crew could replenish the autoloader with 3 HEAT/HE-Frag and a number of APFSDS rounds whilst in combat but would have to withdraw to top up from the external stowage. However as others had already said the habit of only carrying rounds in the autoloader is a standard practice that goes back as far as the Battle of Grozny.

your my favorite tanker ever, love your content, salute from italy

Lots to learn can't wait to see the t90 episode (when you get your hands on one) !

Hi... I'm former T72M1 platoon leader.....and i'd like to thank you for very inforative video.... I'd like to make some notes about the tank... ☺️

24:00 The difference maybe in the different doctrinal employment of smoke. NATO tends to use it as a defensive aid (and hence giving the crew commander access to it makes sense). The Soviets (and I guess the Russians too) used it more offensively to obscure NATO defenders as the tks broke into a position (so the heroic grunt with the M-72, emerging from his hole after the preparatory fires, and the suppressive direct tank fire had one more thing to worry about as well as a limited view of the approaching tank). This in part is why NATO MBSGD smoke tends to land close to the firing vehicle, whereas "Soviet" smoke tends to land some 200 - 300m fwd of the firing vehicle. This would also tend to help explain the more choices / options as its probably a more deliberate act by the attacking vehicle as opposed to an defensive IA.

Steel Beasts is a great simulator, glad it's good enough for you to use for this

On the one hand this has shown the inside of even early t-72s to be made up of modern, capable systems. However, I think this also shows just how bad the tank is for the armies that typically used it then or still use it now. So many of the systems seem to require a robust understanding of a variety of factors at the same time while this is all being placed on a soldier who very likely is only going to have a short time in service and may not have too many chances to undergo realistic exercises with the system. Now I could be wrong and maybe most armies, or at least most eastern european armies had plenty of chances to undergo in-depth training but surface level knowledge seems to argue against this. Curious if anyone has better info than I do. Thanks for the video chieftain!

i remember reading about Chechen wars how the Russians after the initial failure storming Grozny started only using "shells" in the autoloader, not carrying the spare ones and that supposedly improved their situation regarding the ammo cook offs.

Wow! Great stuff Cheff!

Loved that, nice work sir

In a recent UKR video, UKR tank crews being interviewed stated they only ever went into action with 20 rounds at a time, your explanation about the carousel actually being the safer storage helps this all make sense! Thank you.

Nice I'm truly glad they moved the spotlight for your quote @4:27 "so that the *Gunner* cannot stick his head up in front of the Coaxial Machinegun and get his head blown off" 🤣🤣🤣

I look forward to this inside the chieftain's hatch for the T-72M1

The delay in a nose-fuzed HE round is usually very short (0.01 sec or less) to allow the shell to move forward through the target after hitting its closest outer surface about 2-5 meters so that it can punch through a thick earth or masonry or concrete wall before exploding inside the target. Super-Quick is the usual delay time for an impact type of HE nose fuze and the delay is so fast that the shell will usually not move forward more than half of its length, if that, before detonating. The extra-sensitive setting for the HE shell would be Super-Quick too unless this setting is separate from the delay time setting..

Thanks Chieftain. Great vid as ever.

Chief, your books are about to fall off the shelf.

The way the ∆D is calculated is very cool! Never knew the T-72 had such capability, let alone the way it is calculated.

In regard to the super quick fuse setting for the HE-FRAG rounds, I believe it is also intended for when engaging enemy infantry in deep snow. As always, an excellent video and very informative. May you continue making many more of them.

Outstanding video!

Great video and explanations!

I think the interior of a T-64, 72, 80, and 90 tanks is more interesting to look at than other thanks because of the autoloader machinery.

Love the switchology series, glad to see it back. I do love Steel-Beasts. A question if you please, did you get to go to the AUSA expo and view the AbramsX therein??

Just a little nitpick about the tkn-3's hunter-killer system. In real life if I recall correctly (Didn't really use the tkn-3 during my service in bmp-2 so I can remember wrong) you don't need to hold the stabilization button down when you designate a target, it stabilizes the sight automatically when you press and hold down the designate button.

[10/21/22] Knowing that any of the 6 unprotected rnds could become lethally ignited by spalling from a hit as you mentioned, it would behoove the wise crew to leave them out. The popular belief is that the autoloader causes the brew ups when hit, but it could very well be the unprotected rnds are the cause of most brew ups. As it is most of the videos we see online of T -72s that are hit result in some pretty spectacular brew ups. Some of the brew ups are ferocious.

Thanks, very informative.

Quality video. Thanks

Hello Mister Chieftain thanks for the video i really enjoy these switchology videos for the educational aspect of them and i am wondering if you could do a video on the leopard 2a4 as i believe it'd be intresting and if all goes to plan it'll be my tank soon... hopefully thanks in advance

I was playing arma 2 with dlc this morning, ah memories, love these tanks

Amazing!! Thank you.

The rücksteuerung on the Leo2 is only active for 10 seconds after lasing, or for 100m of travel after lasing, whichever comes first. Then a fresh lase is required. Does the Delta-D system on the T-72 just stay active indefinitely (or at least as long as you have the stabilizer on)? I guess the reason the Leo2 system resets is that with time, "bad data" from track slippage and such will accumulate an mess up the calculations. I should add though that the Leo2 rücksteuerung will not only compensate for range, but also keep the turret stabilized and aimed at that point in a 3D space, with manual input from the gunner only needed to compensate for target movement. So it does a bit more work than the T-72's Delta-D. Nice to see some Steel Beasts here, looking forward to a future Leopard 2 video! We used SB Pro for simple Leo2 gunnery practice when I was in the Norwegian Army ~15 years ago. At the time it was the only Leo2 simulator we had access to, though the older Leo1 sims (the big ones with the full size turret you physically sat inside of) were still useful, as the gunnery systems were not too different.

G'day Nick, glad to see you're doing well and the 1 ARMD unit patch in the background. Did your man get any video of you driving the T72 at AusArmour?

Awesome vid

This video was super informative. From playing a bit of GHPC, the lack of good night fighting gear and thermals is a huge weakness of the T-72M. That and the fact that the poor East Germans don't get any rounds better than 3BM-15...

will you do a vid detailing the barrel launched ATGMs that these tanks can use?

Hey sir just giving you a heads up your Excelsior on your shelf is knocked over

That's was cool!

there is VHÚ channel, has 1981 video of export 72. It shows NSVT rotation with the cover rotation opposite of it.

Where do you find the user manuals that you usually refer to? Are these not available to the public, or am I just dense?

Question on this: Is stab for the sight on all the time? I watch videos of Sov tanks driving around with gun stab disabled (as you said, the motors can only stay on for an hour at a time). In this case, is the gunners sight stabilized or is he staring alternately into ground and sky? Also, I could do you Leopard 2 stuff if you want. I have about 2 years on 2A4/2A6.

Also, if you have hot fragmentation flying inside and it doesn't hit exposed charges, you probably still in quite a lot of trouble anyway.

would love to see the chieftain do a BMP

how is stub base gets yeeted? I never saw it gets yeeted from the inside. is there some kind of ram-rod mechanism to do so?

I have read an interview with t-80bvm tanker; he says that any experienced commander never loads his tank to the full. he was taking only 10-15 shells to combat (sabots and he, didn't bother with atgms though)

The extra rounds outside the carousel may initiate the blast, but it is the rounds in the carousel going off that make the turret pop off. The ones in I saw in DS seemed to lose their turrets even without a penetration...as if concussion from a non-penetrating hit would set them off as well.

Oh my god he post Switchology video!!!!

the smoke launcher is interesting, also interesting that we haven't seen much footage of russians using the smoke in combat

I believe the primary change in the M and M1 series is improved NBC protection.

Chieftain In case you get change.. take look at what is elevation and depression angles in commanders periscope on T-72, PLEASE! In Steelbeast elevation of commanders sight is bugged to 0 degrees and it is known bug but no fix is happening as that is to my understanding because they haven't gotten right / reliable numbers. I wonder if you could provide such. Tankograd found some, but that was, to my understanding deemed dubious by developers. :(

Isn't the coax ballisticly matched to the main gun for use with the unity sight? Asking for a friend...

A Switchology on T-64 would be welcome, I heard it has a better FCS, though this depends on the modification.

24:52 In the new T-72B3, they put the "turret clock" in a different place - behind the gunners back... for some reason. Maybe ivans have eyes on their backs or somewhere behind?

I have seen folks ask it, so may as well ask it myself. Does SB pro have working IR spotlights?. Last time I looked (4 or 5 years ago as of note) they did not. But I wonder if they still don't given in SA: Blaze of War or Gunner Heat how big a deal spotlight on vs off is, I wonder why they have not added it yet?

Greetings from the Old Country, Nicholas ! How is the Master's Degree coming along ?

That "inshaallah school of gunnery" gave me a good chuckle lol.

Could you do one on the B3, the kalina (best girl btw) FCS is awesome to use. Also does SB have working spotlights? i never saw them in any video being used

nice

ow its crazy how bad this version of the t72 was at night

Please do a video of T90 Switchology and Fire Control System.

What's your opinion on GHPC? It's a Light Simulator tank game.

Very interesting, maybe more steel beasts but in a western tank next?

ah yes the yeet, just like that ball in the standing power throw. remember saying yeet during the event will add at least another 2 meters.

Court Marshal coming for that gunner.

Not a tank, but it would be interesting to see a video about armoured trains one day.

Hello, my comment might be a little late but your statement at 7:55 regarding the T55s commander sight is wrong. Even early TKN1s found on T54Bs have the option to counterrotate and designate targets, although they are night only. Tankograd goes into great detail on this in his post about the T54/55.

I guess I'm the first person to go all Nigel Tunfel and complement the taste of the Soviets for having something that goes to eleven, when you need that little bit extra.😁😁😁

so how do you make a smoothbore 125mm gun more accurate between versions?

20:44 ND !

No desktop ? Seriously good vid, unexpected level of detailing, exept graphically...

Momentary clarifications? EFC - Effective Full Charge? Gun fired with maximum charge in the tube. Insh'Allah gunnery? Hope and prayers, god willing it hits. Otherwise.... that's uh, not to be unkind but more primitive than I thought of the 72. I might be thinking of later package upgrades, models though. Especially the night sight.

Question, why did it take so long for the US to integrate a hunter-killer capability into the M1? Was it a case of "wait for the CITV on the A2 for full shebang?"

18:45 You're not gonna have a bad day, you're not gonna have a day.

Right general area is all you require out of mounted heavy guns. There area effect weapons. Right tight and down with a good tne just tightens the beaten zone. When added to another gun and you can do talking guns it's extremely effective. Heavy MGs with a Mk19 allows for a slight "shake and bake" effect.

22:05 Lmao keeping up with the times

What doesn’t constitute an EFC on a tank gun? A lower velocity round like HEAT? If so… is it .5 EFC?

Nice to see a propellant charge right by and under the TC's seat. Is this for crew ejection? jkjkjk 😁😁

.50 cal, the gun shoots the man instead of the man shooting the gun.

What is the functional purpose of range finding gates?

Can you review KV2

This is awesome, like DCS for tanks.