The list of T-72 tanks.
- T-72: Original Russian tank from which T-72 variants were derived.
- T-72A: The Russian variant differs from T-72 with the TPDK-1 LRF, added sideskirts, additional armor on the turret front and top, smoke grenade launchers, internal changes, and a slight weight increase.
- T-72B : has the thickened frontal turret armor and is commonly known in the United States as the Dolly Parton.
- T-72BK: Commander’s variant with additional radios
- T-72BM: Version with 2nd Generation Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armor similar to that on the T-90. This system is being fielded and is available for export.
- T-72M: Original Polish and former-Czechoslovakian T-72-series tank from which Polish/Czechoslovakian T-72M1 was derived. T-72M differs from T-72 in replacing the right-side coincident rangefinder with a centerline-mounted TPDK-1 LRF.
- T-72M1: Russian export version and Polish/Czechoslovakian counterparts. Versions with Kontact ERA are known as T-72AV /T-72 M1V. Some countries have inventories of T-72, T-72M and T-72M1, with different versions of each variant. Also, many variants were upgraded or modified. Some T-72M1s do not have smoke grenade launchers or track skirts. Some T-72s/T-72Ms have smoke grenade launchers. More reliable discriminators are armor and rangefinder/FCS.
- T-72S/Shilden: Russian export T-72A upgraded to be comparable to the T-72BM standard. Although similar to the T-72BM, it may have less turret front protection. The early T-72S tank has Kontakt ERA.
- T-72BV: with explosive reaction armor packages fitted to the hull and turret. The glacis plate is covered with a layer of single ERA blocks while the turret is covered by one, two or three layers with one being the more usual.