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“American tanks for a long time have prioritised crew survivability in a way that Russian tanks just haven’t,” said Hamilton. “It’s really just a difference in the design of the ammo storage compartment and a difference in prioritisation.”
Ammunition in most Western tanks can be kept under the turret floor, protected by the heavy hull - or in the back of the turret, said Hamilton. While a turret-placed ammunition storage compartment is potentially vulnerable to a hit, built-in features can prevent the same level of decapitating devastation seen in the case of the T-72.
Even the early versions of the American M1 Abrams tanks in the 1980s were fitted with tough blast doors separating the crew inside from the stored ammunition. These tanks have a crew of four, including a loader who opens the ballistic door manually.
These doors were designed to be stronger than the top armor, so that if ammunition is cooked off, the explosion would be channelled upward through blowout panels, rather than into the crew compartment, Hamilton said.
On the other hand, Russian tanks rely on mechanical automatic loaders, allowing them to be manned by a team of three.
The design of Russian tanks prioritises rate of fire, firepower, a low profile, speed and manoeuvrability versus overall survivability, said Hamilton.
Another Russia tank turret blown off in Ukraine.Credit:Getty
Russian tanks tend to be lighter and simpler, and have thinner, less-advanced armour than Western tanks. The design vulnerability was probably “just cheaper and lighter,” Hamilton said.
Newer Russian models have come out since the T-72, which was produced in the 1970s by the Soviet Union.
One of them, the T-14 Armata, has been described as a sophisticated battlefield game-changer since it debuted at a 2015 military parade.
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But the Armatas have not yet seen much use outside parades. Newer variants of the T-72 have come with greater tank protections, Bendett said, but the prevailing principle has been the same: a three-person crew with a lower profile, and shells in a circle within the turret.
For the US military, Hamilton said, “if the tank is destroyed and the crew survives, you can make another tank more quickly than you can train another crew.”
For Russia, “the people are as expendable as the machine,” he said. “The Russians have known about this for 31 years - you have to say they’ve just chosen not to deal with it.”