Tankopedia
Late Cold WarMBTMain Battle TankYugoslavia

M-84

In service 1984 - In service in successor states

Based onT-72 (licensed production of)

Yugoslavia's licensed T-72 with domestic fire control and a more powerful engine, and later a tank fought on several sides of the wars that broke the country apart.

Built byDuro Dakovic, Slavonski Brod

M-84
M-84 — Srđan Popović, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Development history

Yugoslavia negotiated a T-72 licence in 1979 and built the M-84 from 1984 with substantial local content: a Yugoslav-designed fire-control system with a laser rangefinder and ballistic computer that was better than the Soviet original, improved composite armour and, in the M-84A, a 1,000 hp engine. Around 650 were built, with components sourced from factories across several Yugoslav republics - a supply chain that collapsed with the federation. Kuwait bought 200 M-84AB and used them in the 1991 liberation and afterwards. Within Yugoslavia, M-84s fought in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the hands of the Yugoslav People's Army, Croatia and Serbia, and they remain in service in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Bosnia.

Variants

One canonical record, 4 recorded variants.

  1. M-84

    1984

    Initial version with 780 hp engine and Yugoslav fire control.

  2. M-84A

    1987

    Uprated 1,000 hp engine and improved armour.

  3. M-84AB

    1989

    Kuwaiti export version with further fire-control and air-conditioning changes.

  4. M-84AS / M-84D

    2000s

    Serbian and Croatian modernisations with reactive armour and new sights.

Notable actions

  • Croatian War of Independence
  • Bosnian War
  • Gulf War (Kuwaiti vehicles)