T-72 CURRUS - Hungary’s first full on modernisation of a tank

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Note: In game it should be named T-72M, and it should not be confused with the T-72M1.

We know barely anything about it, it is a rarely talked vehicle, even in hungary. But I will try my best explaining it with the information I got.

This tank was shown at the 1999 C+D Military exhibition in Hungary. It was Hungary’s first full on modernisation, with upgrading protection, loading mechanism, engine-transmission and stabiliser.

The tank was modernised by a Hungarian defence company called CURRUS RT. Sadly it did not go past the prototype stage. It was not accepted into service, probably because of financial reasons.

Specifications of the modernisation:

Reactive armor which can defeat 60-70% of the incoming cumulative projectiles penetration. Some sources say it has 600mm of protection against cumulative effect rounds.

Better autoloader control computer, meaning faster reload. It can load in 5-6 seconds, meaning around 10 shots per minute.

Better stabilising computer. Meaning it is more accurate. Its name is K-1MC2, it is more precise both vertically and horizontally than the original that comes with the T-72. The original is the K-1M.
K-1M has an accuracy of 2 mrad in horizontally and 0.8 mrad in vertically, while the Hungarian one has 1.2 mrad in horizontally and 0.6 mrad in vertically.

Smoke grenade launchers on the turret. All in all 16 launchers, 8 on each turret side.

Laser warning reciever.

Automatic engine control.

Automatic gear shift control.

Combat management computer, friend-foe identification system.

Commander’s passive vision device (PCO).

Driver has passive night vision device (PCO).

R-173 and R-173P radios.

Image about the modernisation

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Specifications of the T-72M:

I dont have the info whether if its a T-72A or a T-72M1, the Hungarian army has T-72M1 tanks in its service so possibly its that. Well either way we have them both in game so it would have almost the same specifications but the autoloader, stabiliser, engine-transmission, smoke and the added on reactive armor makes it different. (And the info about the modernisation can be viewed above.)

The tank has neutral steering as you can read the text below.

“It had an automatic engine and gear control, which would have enabled the tank to turn around in one place. One track forward and the other one backwards. (actually, it would not have turned in one place, but with a turning radius of about 40 cm, since there is about that much gear difference between the single and reverse gears) I saw this in action, it was surprising what the T72 can do like that. The cooling fan would have been driven hydraulically, and until it had to turn on (low engine temperature) or in emergency mode when extra horsepower is needed, it would have given - or not taken away - approx. 90-100 HP, which is required for the fan drive. The engine would have been electronically regulated to always operate at optimum power and torque, taking into account consumption. The electronics would also have selected the gears, the driver only had to choose the direction of travel. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”

So it would be different from the rest and it would be cool to have it in game. It would be cool to use its neutral steering and its faster reload.

Sources:

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http://real-j.mtak.hu/11718/1/Haditechnika_1996.pdf at page 148

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http://real-j.mtak.hu/11713/1/Haditechnika_2000.pdf at page 63

T-72 Currus C+D1999,01 - Makettinfo.hu

PCGT :: Magyar Katonai Logisztikai Egyesület (if you click on the link and scroll down you will see “A magyar harc és gépjármű…” the source is from there at page 402)

11 Likes

I personally voted +1 for a V4 tree, but I think having an “other” option for where it should go would be appreciated by some people

2 Likes

Honestly this should be added to the Hungarian subtree and should just replace the copy-paste T-72M1. It would do the same thing as the T-72M1, but better, and it’s Hungarian so fits much better into the subtree while reducing the copy-paste.

10 Likes

I should have put a “other” option, but it says I cannot change it.
Excuse me for that.

That’s unfortunate, but I think your selected trees for the poll are the most appealing/logical anyways, so it’s no big deal :D

2 Likes

true since wasnt the M1 the east german variant? might be wrong but i swear that east germany had their own variants that they made of a few T-series

M1 was the export variant of the T-72A

1 Like

ah ok i might be thinking of something else

1 Like

would be a nice addition to italy +1

3 Likes

Got some confirmation on stuff!

2 Likes

I like the proposed vehicle but i feel it needs better documentation for the claimed upgrades

Thank you!

Well sadly there isn’t on the internet, and asking them isn’t easy. Also when I asked a person working there about it they weren’t keen answering because of it being classified.

Now thankfully there is documentation about it on the web archive that I probably linked here in this post, and thats the official website that they had in the early 2000’s. It mentions the autoloader, ERA and etc…

But all in all it would be very good to find more on it.

Did he by any chance mention what kind of dynamic protection was installed on it?

Hmm, what do you mean by dynamic protection?

But, no he didn’t mention anything. I asked about the 600mm protection value and he said yes.

I see, thanks. I meant “ERA” - in other words “dynamic protection”

1 Like

Wonder, if this is the same T-72M1 “CURRUS” or another tank?

25th Infantry Brigade "György Klapka"

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nah that’s the ordinary T-72 in service.

D̶i̶d̶ ̶H̶u̶n̶g̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶T̶-̶7̶2̶B̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶S̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶s̶e̶r̶v̶i̶c̶e̶?̶ ̶I̶n̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶i̶t̶i̶o̶n̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶H̶u̶n̶g̶a̶r̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶s̶t̶a̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶E̶R̶A̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶T̶-̶7̶2̶M̶1̶

Edit: If anyone else is interested, the ERA K-1 in this photo is a dummy, the tank is the most ordinary T-72M1. I frankly don’t understand, why attach it if Hungary doesn’t have it…

1 Like

Hungary has the ERA “boxes” and the filler material, its just rarely seen on tanks. They just need to cut the filler to shape and fill the boxes.

Hungary received a few Belorussian T-72AV tanks that have the mounts for ERA. And there is Kontakt-1 for these in storage.
Here is another from 2010

Spoiler

Makettinfo - Makettinfo - Hungarian Scalemodeling Site

One of the T-72AV

Spoiler