GAZ-MM (72-K)

GAZ-MM (72-K)

BTR-152A

GAZ-MM (72-K)

BTR-152A

USSR

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.3	2.3	2.3

Class:

SPAA

Research:7 900

Purchase:10 000

Description

The GAZ-MM (72-K) (72-K gun mount on a GAZ-MM truck), or as the 72-K GAZ-MM, is a rank II Soviet self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicle with a battle rating of 2.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during the Closed Beta Test for Ground Forces before Update 1.41.

The 72-K is an autocannon, bringing a better gun to the playing field. Granted, it is still mounted on an unarmored truck chassis, and the gun shield will only protect from light machine-gun rounds.

The main purpose of this vehicle is to destroy enemy aircraft, mostly it is used to defend friendly tanks from air attack. However, if used correctly, it can damage or even destroy tanks. The fact that the gun has to elevate to fire forward means that one should never face an enemy head-on in this truck. Whilst a player can still shoot aircraft while aiming the turret forwards, against low-flying attackers the task will be more complicated. Whenever possible, one side of this vehicle should have cover - if no targets are to the right of the truck, for instance, it would be senseless to leave the right flank exposed for nothing.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Structural steel
• Wood (Truck bed)
• Rolled homogeneous armour (Gun platform)

Armour	Front	Sides	Rear	Roof
Driver's cabin	1 mm (2°)	1 mm (1-6°)	1 mm (2-3°)	1 mm
Cargo bed	15 mm (2°)	15 mm	15 mm (2°)	15 mm
Gun platform	7 mm (11-20°)	7 mm (2°)	N/A	N/A

Notes:

• Wheels are 2 mm thick while the chassis is 5 mm thick.
• The truck bed is 15 mm of wood, which will probably not offer as much protection as the truck cab.
• The radiator housing is unarmoured.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	77	10	3	81	95	27	31.67
Realistic	71	9		50	50	16.67	16.67

Armaments

25 mm 72-K
Capacity (Belt capacity)		Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
399 (7)		240	-10°/+85°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	20.8	28.8	__.__	__.__	__.__
Realistic	20.8	24.5	__.__	__.__	__.__
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
0.3	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 90°
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
OZR-132	FI-T*	3	3	2	2	2	2
BR-132	AP-T	46	43	33	27	23	15

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
OZR-132	FI-T*	910	0.29	0.2	0.1	13	+0°	62°	69°	73°
BR-132	AP-T	900	0.28	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°

Belt types

Belts	Shell composition	Combat usage
Default	AP-T, FI-T* (Armour Piercing tracer – Fragmentation Incendiary tracer) shell	50% of this belt are useless against tanks or planes. However against other SPAA this belt can reliably take out crew, armament, ammo and engine. Having one belt in reserve does not hurt.
OZR-132	FI-T* (Fragmentation Incendiary tracer) shell	The "explosive" rounds for the gun. This is the best ammo to use against aircraft, but useless against ground vehicles.
BR-132	AP-T (Armour Piercing tracer) shell	As an armour-piercing round, it is too small to be a significant threat against ground targets but the lightest armoured ones, and has little effect on planes unless you get a good shot on a critical area. Not really a recommended belt to use, but in an emergency it may save your life.

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the 72-K.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	Visual discrepancy
57	57	Yes

Usage in the battles

When it comes to fighting tanks, one should always have a hit-and-run mentality in the 72-K GAZ-MM, since, once discovered, this vehicle is an incredibly easy target. The exception is self-propelled guns with an open top, like the Marder III, the Kugelblitz or the Hellcat. These are very vulnerable to any quick-firing weapon, and as such can be taken down easily if surprised by a volley of 25 mm shells. However, many of these have either fast-firing main guns (in the case of AA vehicles) or machine guns that can devastate the unarmoured 72-K GAZ-MM in seconds.

If you are new to the game or very serious about it you should station this vehicle in a safe area away from the main battle area but close enough to defend your comrades. This vehicle's gun can not aim effectively in the front (as the front of the vehicle stops it.) so you might want to point the back or side to the enemy. Also, you have to consider that the tracers you fire can be easily tracked by enemy tanks so it is wise to change position once in a while. Enemy aircraft will most likely be visible from your spawn. If shot at most players will retreat and call an artillery strike.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good shell velocity.
• High rate of fire.
• Very short reload time.
• Decent turret rotation and elevation.
• Good acceleration, that allows it to flank slower tanks/vehicles when encountered at close-quarters.
• AP rounds with enough penetration to kill light and medium tanks that it may encounter.

Cons:

• Highly vulnerable to any HE rounds.
• Cannot shoot straight ahead due to the driver's compartment.
• No armour protection whatsoever.
• Highly vulnerable to artillery fire.
• Vulnerable to machine gun fire, aircraft strafing, and collision damage.
• Poor vehicle stability, very easy to flip upside down when driving in rough terrain.

History

The 25 mm automatic air defence gun M1940 (72-K) (Russian: 25-мм автоматическая зенитная пушка образца 1940 года (72-К)), developed in 1939-1940, was a very common anti-aircraft weapon in the Soviet Union, leading to about 4,860 units produced. It occupies an intermediate position between large-calibre anti-aircraft machine guns of the ANC and the more powerful 37mm anti-aircraft guns of the 61-K, this vehicle was designed for an Infantry Regiment level air defence. The gun was created at the beginning of 1940 at 8th Kalinin Artillery Plant under the guidance of its Chief Designer Mikhail Loginov.

To increase mobility in the second half of 1941, the 72-K anti-aircraft machine was installed on the chassis of the GAZ-MM. GAZ–MM is a truck with a maximum usable weight of 1.5 ton. It was produced at the end of the 1930s and at the first part of the 1940s by GAZ in the Soviet Union. It is a simplified version of the Ford Model AA’s Soviet licence version. At the beginning of World War II, more than 150,000 were in use by the Red Army. Tests showed the success of the design and the gun mount so it was put into serial production, called the GAZ MM (72-K). However, only 200 units were produced, as the manufacturer’s factory, Kolomna Locomotive Works, was evacuated. Subsequently, the GAZ MM (72-K) was no longer produced.

In-game description

Before the Great Patriotic War began, the question of creating so-called anti-aircraft tanks was under consideration. Among projects in an early stage of development was an anti-aircraft tank with a turret-mounted 25 mm 72-K anti-aircraft gun placed on a T-50 light tank. Due to the beginning of the war, all work on this vehicle, dubbed the T-50-2, was halted.

In the second half of 1941, tests were conducted on the 25 mm 72-K Mod. 1940 cannon mounted on the back of a 4 × 2 GAZ-MM truck made by the Gorky automobile factory. The tests were successful, and this improvised SPAAG was put into mass production at the Kolomna Locomotive Works. Additional motivation to produce these vehicles came from the fact that installing 72-K cannons in these trucks did not require carriages, which were seriously problematic to manufacture. Due to the evacuation of the facility they were built in, mass production of the SPAAG ceased in December 1941 after around 200 were produced.

The anti-aircraft vehicle's crew consisted of 6 people. The primary task of the new SPAAG was to fire on air targets at a range of up to 2.4 km and a height of up to 2 km. If necessary, the cannon could also be used successfully to fire on ground targets, including light tanks and armoured vehicles.

The vehicle's advantages lay in its high mobility and ease of manufacturing. The SPAAG's disadvantages included insufficient manoeuvrability, particularly off-road, and its lack of armour plating or any kind of armour protection for the crew.

Media

Skins and camouflages for the GAZ truck from live.warthunder.com

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

ETC.

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

USSR anti-aircraft vehicles
GAZ-AAA	GAZ-AAA (4M) · GAZ-AAA (DShK)
BTR-152	BTR-152A · BTR-152D
Wheeled/Half-tracked	GAZ-MM (72-K) · ZiS-12 (94-KM) · ZiS-43
Radar SPAAG	ZSU-23-4 · ZSU-37-2
SAM	ZSU-23-4M4 · Strela-10M2 · 2S6 · Pantsir-S1
Other	ZSU-23-4M2 · ZUT-37 · ZSU-37 · BTR-ZD · ZSU-57-2
Czechoslovakia	M53/59
North Vietnam	▂Phòng không T-34