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CIA Supplied TOW Missile Causes Catastrophic T-72 Kill
Published 2 years ago
Footage recorded near Aleppo during the peak of the Syrian Civil War shows members of the Free Syrian Army conducting a TOW strike against a Regime T-72. The tank's ammunition is struck, causing a catastrophic kill.
Anyone who's looking at the war in Ukraine right now that also watched the conflict in Syria with any sort of attention should have predicted that we would see more ATGM style attacks from Ukrainian and Russian forces. For the most part, we've seen the Stugna-P used heavily by Ukrainian forces, but we have not seen much out of the Russians with regards to ATGM systems.
The anti-tank guided missile system proved its capabilities in Syria, as much or more than drones and mortars. In Ukraine, we've also seen it used to great effect against much of the Russian armor which is designed in such a way that the carried ammunition is just as big a threat to the tank crew as the ATGM itself.
Due to the way most of the tanks in the T family are built, the ammunition is not stored in a safe manner. On the M1A1 Abrams, the ammunition is stored in a separate compartment away from the troop hold with hatches on the top designed to blow off and direct the explosion towards the sky. This is not the case on tanks like the T-72, and as a result you'll often see the tank's turret flying towards the stratosphere after a successful hit from an ATGM.
