Article Posted on : - Jul 05, 2012

CARACAS (BNS): The Venezuelan government is negotiating with Moscow for the purchase of second batch of Russian T-72S1 MBT, a news report said.

According to Jane's Defence Weekly, a delegation of the Venezuelan government visited Moscow in June for talks on the purchase of the second installment of main battle tanks T-72S1.

The second batch will include 100 tanks and at least two tank battalions are expected to be delivered by the end of 2012, the report said.

Deliveries of the first batch of T-72S1 in the amount of 92 units for the Venezuelan army ended in April 2011.

The Venezuelan tank battalion has 25 T-72 tanks, which are dispersed in three tank platoons (8 tanks), and one tank is a tank battalion commander. In addition, the composition of a tank battalion consists of 10 BMP-3 and a battery of self-propelled artillery units of the four ACS 2S23 'Nona', it said.

The Russian T-72 MBT entered production in 1970. The T-72 was the most common tank used by the Soviet Army from the 1970s to the collapse of the Soviet Union.