Mo, I had completely forgotten about the Ukranian T-72 upgrades. It can be done (maybe not by '97, but that's not my point). But (you had to know a "but" was coming!
), I'm certain that the new gun and modified loader took at least a couple of years to design, test, install, etc.
The German army simply wouldn't have time to do this when its troops and armor were already engaged with Soviet and Pact forces. They would need those tanks at the front.
Here's a compromise solution that incorporates your prefered v2.2 statement that German T-72s have been "modified".
As soon as the German army was "unified", R&D (research and development) began on upgrading the T-72's main gun to NATO 120mm and modifying the autoloader accordingly.
Germany's T-72s, however, were not pulled off the line immediately. Badly needed on the front lines, they served with their original 125mm guns. A year or so into the conflict, once the 120mm gun and autoloader had been developed, tested, and produced en masse, remaining German T-72s were rotated back to the factory to be retrofitted with the new 120mm gun system. By the TDM, most, if not all of the T-72s in the German army had been modified in this way.
How's that?