Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker/Tank Battle: T-72U

The enemy has escaped with the nukes into the mountain tunnel and has blocked your pursuit. What's more, a tank unit has arrived to destroy you. You can't do anything else until they are dealt with.


 * Eliminate the tank unit.

Mission Prep
You should bring the ★1 RPG-2 and ★1 LAW. There are no ammo pickups in this area, but you won't need any; the two rocket launchers should be all the firepower you need. Bring the ★1 Supply Marker to recover your ammo if you miss any shots. Your top item should be ★1 Rations, and your second item should be ★1 Tortilla Chips (if you have it). When you run out of Rations, you can equip Tortilla Chips to do the same thing as Rations which is to recover your Life when it runs out. Camouflage isn't a consideration in this mission; go Naked for the boost to speed and weapon damage.

Destroy the T-72U
The T-72U is the main battle tank of the Soviet Union; why it employed in this CIA operation is a mystery. Regardless, the tank unit is hunting you and you have to stop it.

The vehicle unit is backed by 10 escorts: 4 on its flanks, and 6 in reserve. Unlike the LAV-Type G, the T-72U does not have a crew compartment. Therefore, reinforcements will enter the area through the gates on the edge of the area, annotated on the map below. When one escort is either killed or extracted with the Fulton Recovery System, another will spawn at one of the gates and rendezvous with the tank. When an escort is spawned, a Stun Grenade will appear at the gate and detonate. The gate at which an escort appears seems to be random, which will keep you on your toes. When you run out of ★1 RPG-2 rounds, just switch to the ★1 LAW and keep firing.

The tank itself can see directly in front of it and the turret acts as a second line-of-sight; you will be discovered if you cross in front of either of them. The T-72U is more maneuverable than the LAV-G. It will turn on a dime and move out of your sight at any moment. You could be chasing the tank one moment and it could immediately turn and run you over the next. Never make physical contact with the turret itself; even if the tank is immobilized, contact with the turret will knock you over.

Like with the LAV-G, the T-72U has 2 red fuel tanks on its rear which are where you should aim. When you hit the red fuel tanks, the T-72U will try and get some distance from you, so you'll be running after it often as the escorts are shooting at you. Whenever one of the fuel tanks is destroyed, the vehicle will be immobilized for a time. Keep firing at the other red fuel tank. If both are destroyed before the vehicle is, you should aim at the treads.

You may try to neutralize and extract any of the escorts if you can, but that will leave you vulnerable. Neither the rocket launchers are CQC-compatible so equip the ★1 Stun Rod if you're going to try and neutralize any of them. You can also try to remove the escorts from the mission and then sufficiently damage the tank to force out the Captain and kill him to capture the tank in a heavily-damaged state that can be repaired by the R&D Team between missions.

However, this is a stealth mission and as stealth walkthrough. There is a better way to complete this mission while acquiring every soldier for your employ and a tank to boot.

Mission Prep (No Casualties)
Bring the ★2 Mk.22 and the ★1 Smoke Grenades. You won't need any other weapons nor do you need the ★1 Supply Marker; if you run out of ammo you failed and should restart. You should also bring the ★2 Fulton Recovery System, as you will be extracting every soldier. Put away the ★1 Surround Indicator so that the ★2 Fulton Recovery System is your top item; your attention should be on the battlefield rather than your HUD in this case. Finally, for safety, place the ★1 Ration under your ★2 Fulton Recovery System and equip it when you extract all the soldiers. You might want to consider returning to this mission for your S-Rank after developing the ★1 Night Vision Goggles in Chapter 2.

Capture the T-72U and All its Escorts
Even during the stealth phase, there is a strong degree of randomness that will affect your strategy. Sometimes enemies unexpectedly turn around as you're approaching them. Sometimes an enemy may spawn with you in their path. Sometimes the tank may not stop when you expect it to stop. With all that randomness, your skill will also need to factor into this walkthrough.

The general strategy is to keep the escorts immobilized with Smoke Grenades while you neutralize them. The escorts have a high amount of Life and Psyche, which means that Throwing them against walls is an unreliable tactic in this mission. The best approach is to neutralize the soldiers with a Hold-Up. There are two approaches to this.

First, you can approach a soldier in the smoke and wait for them to stop waving their arms. They are vulnerable to a Hold-Up after they make slight vocalizations and stop waving their hands, but you need to be behind them before you press to perform the Hold-Up. This is risky and requires the other set of escorts to be immobilized by Smoke Grenades, lest they discover you with your back turned.

Second, you may perform a quick Throw (press while tilting ), then move toward the camera (keeping the tank and other escorts in sight) so that the soldier you threw to the ground is in front of you, and sight in with  to neutralize them with the Hold-Up. Decide what to do based on the situation.

Run to point 1. Take a long, curved approach to avoid being seen by the enemy. Wat at the southwest end of this railcar until the tank's left guard is no longer facing you. The front escort might linger a bit, so be careful. Once they're on the move, quickly toss a Smoke Grenade between them. You want to use a short throw by holding to aim and quickly pressing  to throw. Once you've thrown the grenade, get back behind the railcar until the grenade pops. Once it does, go around the south side of the smoke cloud and toss another smoke grenade at the right guard before returning to the left guard. Find them in the cloud of smoke and equip your Mk.22. Watch for them to stop waving their hands and to make slight vocalizations. Once they do, make sure you're behind them and the camera is facing them before holding down to neutralize each one of them with a Hold-Up. Approach the right guard and do the same. Once all four escorts are neutralized, get low and extract them, starting with the one closest to the tank. Extract soldiers while quickly making your way back to the railcar, as the reinforcements are well on their way.
 * 1. Take out the First Wave

Be advised that reinforcements spawn as soon as the extracted soldier is in the air, even before Miller reports that the extraction was successful.

Get some distance between you and the enemy and prepare to lob a grenade at the unit by first equipping the Smoke Grenades and holding down to aim. Try and get it as close to a clump of soldiers as you can. To throw at a long distance, release after finding your target. You want to immobilize the unit with Smoke Grenades as close to your safe zone, point 1, as you can.
 * 2. Watch the Reinforcements Rendezvous With the Tank.

This one will be harder because you will be further away from your safe zone. As you approach, toss grenades at both the left and right guard for safety. Then neutralize the left guard as you did before. If you did it quickly, you can do the same on the right guard before the smoke dissipates. Fulton-extract all four quickly before reinforcements see you.
 * 3. Neutralize the Reinforcements

You're down to 2. There will be no more. By now, the tank will likely be at the north side of the map, preparing to make its U-turn. Depending on how close to the tank the 2 escorts spawn, you might want to wait for them to rendezvous. If they are far away, take out the straggler with the Mk.22, getting 4 shots on his body. If you're not comfortable with the gunplay, wait for them to rendezvous.
 * 4. Neutralize the Final Two Escorts

Once the soldiers rendezvous with the tank, prepare to lob a grenade at a distance between the two and make your approach once it pops. As you get closer, toss another grenade for safety. Then find the soldiers in the smoke, neutralize, and extract them.

It is important at this point that the final two soldiers have some distance from the tank once they're neutralized, so consider Restraining them by holding and tilting  away from the tank. If any of the soldiers are too close to the tank, it won't hesitate to run them over and kill them.

Once all ten escorts are eliminated while maintaining stealth, the Captain will reveal himself. Like the Captain of the LAV-G, this Captain has a tiny hitbox, but you must fire at him with the Mk.22 and deplete his Psyche. Being seen by the Captain after all his escorts are eliminated does not count as an Alert Phase, but it will make neutralizing the Captain very difficult. Try and strafe around the captain as you shoot him while he rotates his turret. Remember that if you pass in front of the tank, he will see you.
 * 5. Neutralize the Captain

If the Captain does see you, immediately equip the Rations and prepare to dodge his attacks and chase him down to neutralize him. He'll fire at you with his machine gun and his smoothbore cannon. Remember to avoid the treads and the turret, or you'll get knocked over and risk your S-Rank.

Once the Captain is neutralized, he, his tank, and his escorts will be MSF assets.