Lion of Babylon tank
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The Lion of Babylon tank (Asad Babil) is an Iraqi-made tank which is a version of the Soviet T-72 tank. They were built in a factory established in Iraq in the 1980s. They are equipped with additional armour at the front and rear as protection against missile attack.
The vehicle occasionally features laser range-finder technology, but this is the exception, rather than the rule. In all other respects, it is (at least physically) identical to the first model T-72. Nevertheless, the two differ considerably, both in the quality of construction and durability of materials used.
The Asad Babil was generally credited as being the most common tank in Iraqi service during the first Persian Gulf War (1990-91), but that "honor" goes, in fact, to the Type 69, produced in China. Much to the distress of Russian armaments designers, many of the failings of the Iraqi armies were blamed upon the T-72, with little note that the vehicle itself was an Iraqi copy of an export model, and nowhere near its Soviet counterpart in capability. Nevertheless, in the hands of competent crewmen, the Lion of Babylon can be a formidable weapon.