The Soviet T-72 was one of the most important Warsaw pact battle tanks and had a worldwide distribution. It was impressive due to its innovations, reliability and above all due to its capable weapons system. In 1979 the T-72A appeared with its improved armour and a laser range finder. The East German army received their T-72 M1s, the export version of the T-72A from 1987 onwards. After the reunification of Germany 90 of these were transferred to Finland. The Iraqi T-72s were unable to demonstrate their strengths in the Gulf War due to bad leadership and quickly fell victim to the American combat units.