Meet the T-72MJ: A Tank with Russian and Western DNA

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A good tank?

byCharlie Gao

Key Fact: The T-72MJ is a legacy of Yugoslavia’s attempt to balance NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

One of the strongest industries of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was its defense industry. During the Cold War, the SFRY flirted with both the West and the East, procuring and developing indigenous weapons based on technology from both sides. Perhaps one of the more interesting success stories was the success of the SFRY’s armor industry and its ultimate product, the M-91 Vihor Main Battle Tank.

The story of the Yugoslavian tank industry begins in the late 1940s, following Tito’s spat with Stalin.

Due to the Soviet Union blocking exports of it’s then-current tanks to the SFRY, while also threatening to invade, Tito himself asked workers at the Petar Drapšin factory if they could make a tank. The workers agreed, and the factory was able to produce a few tanks (around half a dozen) based on a modified T-34/85 design, called Tip (Type) A.