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IS-9 / IS-10 / T-10 Heavy Tank

The T-10 tank was probably the least known of all the combat vehicles in service with the Soviet Army in the post-war years. Perhaps this was the reason for the secrecy - for example, the operating manual was transferred from the “Secret” to the “DSP” only in the early 1970s — perhaps a small number of manufactured samples (compared to other types of Soviet tanks). Thanks to N.S. Khrushchev, a big fan of rocket technology, the T-10 was the last in a series of Soviet serial heavy tanks (its production was discontinued in 1965, and since then, heavy tanks were no longer built in the USSR).

The T-10 heavy tank, adopted by the Soviet Army in 1953, as well as its subsequent modifications T-10A, T-10B and T-10M, was a further development of the IS-3 tank in accordance with the concept adopted for the combat vehicles of this class. Serial production of T-10 tanks of various modifications was organized in 1953-1965. at the Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant (from May 15, 1958 - the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant), and from 1958 to 1963 - at the Leningrad Kirov Plant, where the heavy T-10M tank was produced (“Object 272”). The post-war domestic heavy tanks IS-4 and T-10 of various modifications consisted only in service with the Soviet Army and were not exported to other countries. The price of the T-10 was about a million rubles. For comparison, the T-54 at that time was worth about three hundred thousand.

At the end of the 1940s, a rather strange situation developed in the Soviet Army with heavy tanks. On arms consisted of three types - IS-2, IS-3 and the IS-4, each of which could not be considered as the main heavy vehicle for the future. In this regard, at the end of 1948, the GBTU issued a technical task for a new vehicle. The main requirement was to limit the combat weight - no more than 50 tons. This was done, first of all, for the possibility of its unimpeded transportation by rail to any point of the vast country.

The developer determined the design bureau of the Chelyabinsk plant of the Ministry of Transport Engineering of the USSR. The chief designer responsible for the Object 730 (this designation received the design of a new tank), appointed J. Kotin. Officially, the vehicle was named the IS-8. In April 1949 the technical project was developed. It is no longer known who this idea came from, but object 730 became the direct development of the IS-3 tank line. The shape of the hull, especially the characteristic pike nose, a streamlined-shaped cast turret, caused direct associations with the IS-3.

In May, a full-size wooden model was built to test the basic functional solutions, and then the first prototype of the JS-8 was started in the pilot workshop. After carrying out factory tests, it turned out that, on the whole, the machine satisfied the technical specifications, and it was decided to issue an installation batch of 10 tanks. They went through two more stages of factory testing in 1949, after which in April-May 1950, state tests were held at the NIBT training ground at Kubinka near Moscow.

According to their results, the State Commission recommended starting the mass production of the IS-8, but with modifications. In particular, work was needed on the engine. Therefore, in the summer of 1950, in the area of the city of Mary in Turkmenistan, tests were carried out on the engine's service life, and in the fall - military tests. However, not everything was good with the new machine: it was necessary to make a lot of improvements, as a result of which the tank went through a large cycle of repeated and control ground and factory tests, which ended only by December 1952.

At the same time, the project was changed several times, as a result of which the vehicle first received the IS-9 index and then the IS-10. Despite the fact that in some sources the names of the T-10 tank were attributed to the final stages of the tests of the IS-9 and IS-10, other sources claim that these designations were not really assigned to it. The designation of the T-10 was given based on the fact that the IS-8 is the tenth serial heavy tank adopted by the Soviet Army. In March 1953, JV Stalin died, after which the abbreviation "IS" sank into oblivion. At the end of the year, the tank was put into service with the Soviet Army under the designation T-10.

The welded body had a complex box-like shape with a “pike nose” shaped frontal part. The sides of the composite, from the upper inclined and lower bent parts. The upper stern sheet of the hull was folded to provide access to the transmission units. The bottom of the case is stamped, trough-shaped. In the back (under power transmission) the bottom is flat. The rigidity of the bottom was also strengthened by the balancing brackets welded into it. For maintenance of the units and mechanisms in the bottom there were hatches and openings, closed with armored covers or traffic jams on the thread. The driver's seat was in front along the axis of the car. For landing there was a hatch of triangular shape, lockable sliding cover. The driver supervised the terrain through three devices: one of them TPV-51 was installed in the hatch cover, two other TYPE - in the windows of the upper part of the front hull plates.

The cast turret, streamlined shape with variable angles of inclination of the walls and variable thickness from 250 mm in the bow to 40 mm on the cast part of the roof. The turret was mounted on a ball bearing above the cutout of the turret sheet of the tank hull roof. The front part of the roof of the turret was molded together with the body of the turret, while the back was made of armor plate and welded into the roof. In this sheet to the right was the loader's hatch, above which the anti-aircraft machine gun was mounted. On the left there was a hatch, above which was placed the commander's cupola. In front of the hatch of the tank commander there was a TPKU observation device, and along the turret upper circumference - seven observation devices. In addition, there were three more TPB-51 devices in the turret: one for the gunner and two for the loader. The mechanism of rotation of the turret is planetary, with a self-braking worm pair.

The 122-mm tank gun D-25TA with a long barrel of 48 calibres and a 12.7-mm DShKM machine gun paired with it were mounted in a cast mask. The gun had a dual-chamber muzzle brake and a horizontal automatic wedge bolt. The initial velocity of the armor-piercing projectile was 795 m / s. The target firing range with the help of the telescopic sight TS-2-27 was 5,000 m, and with the help of the lateral level of 15,000 m. The rate of fire at the same time was 3-4 shots per minute, and when loading manually 2-3 shots per minute.

The anti-aircraft 12.7-mm machine gun DShKM equipped with a K10-T collimator sight was mounted on the loader turret hatch. The ammunition of the gun consisted of 30 shots of separate loading, placed in tie-clamp and tray styling. Ammunition of machine guns totaled 1,000 rounds of ammunition, 300 of them for a paired machine gun were packed in six regular cartridge boxes, and 150 for an anti-aircraft machine gun in three special cartridge boxes, 550 ammunition cartridges were in zinc boxes. 12-cylinder four-stroke V-shaped diesel engine B-12-5 liquid-cooled with a working volume of 38,880 cm 3and maximum power (without air cleaner and back pressure on the release) 700 liters. with. at 2100 rpm was mounted on a pedestal, which consisted of four brackets, welded to the sides and connected by longitudinal squares.

Engine B-12-5 belonged to diesel engines type B-2. Its main features are: installation of the AM-42 centrifugal air blower, which made it possible to increase its capacity; installation on the upper crankcase of the engine two breathers; engine equipment with a combined Kimaf-3 oil filter; the presence of a double supply of oil to the crankshaft; installing an oil pump with an electric motor to provide the engine with lubrication at start-up; the presence of a drive for the electric tachometer; lack of exhaust manifolds. The tank's fuel system consisted of three internal tanks — two rear tanks with a capacity of 185 liters each and one front tank of 90 liters. All three tanks were connected to each other by pipelines, and the front tank was also connected to the fuel distribution valve. On the wings in the stern of the tank was installed one external fuel tank with a capacity of 150 liters each. External tanks connected to the fuel system of the tank. Thus, the total capacity of all tanks was 760 liters.

Since June 1955, internal rear fuel tanks with a capacity of 270 liters each were installed. As a result, the total capacity of tanks increased to 930 liters. The tank had combined inertia-type air cleaners. The cooling system is liquid, closed, ejection. The engine was started using an ST-700 electric starter or compressed air. Rear-wheel drive wheels had removable rims with 14 teeth. On each side there were 7 cast double track rollers with a metal rim and three supporting rollers. The suspension is independent, with a beam torsion and an elastic stop. Beam torsion bars had 7 hexagonal rods. Caterpillar finely ground, tsevochnogo gearing. Each caterpillar consists of 88 tracks 720 mm wide with a pitch of 160 mm.

The tank was installed radio station 10RT-26E and an internal intercom TPU-47-2 for four subscribers. In 1955, two experimental machines were created - an object 267 sp.1 with a stabilizer pointing in a vertical plane and an object 267 sp.2 with a two-plane stabilizer. A year later, these innovations were introduced on a new modification of the T-10A (object 730A). The gun with a stabilizer in the vertical plane PUOT-1 "Hurricane" received the designation D-25TC. On the T-10A instead of the sight TSH-2-27 installed periscopic optical-gyroscopic sight TPS-1 and duplicating telescopic sight TUP. The driver got an active night vision device TVN-1 and for orientation the gyropolucompass GPC-48. As a result of the installation of the gun with modified drives, as well as to improve the body armor, the turret and the gun mask were modernized.

To reduce the gas content of the fighting compartment, an ejector was installed on the gun barrel. Additionally, they introduced a mechanism for discharging a projectile and a charge, a new lifting mechanism with a delivery link and a galvanized shock device in the gate. In 1957, a new modification of the T-10B tank (object 730B) was put into service. Its main difference is the use of the already two-plane stabilizer PUOT-2 “Thunder” and the sight T2S-29-14. The rest of the tank was similar to the T-10A. Soon followed by a more serious modernization. In the Perm Plant Design Bureau No. 172, a new 122 mm M-62-T2 (2A17) gun with improved ballistic characteristics was created. The initial velocity of the armor-piercing projectile was 950 m / s. The gun was equipped with a two-plane stabilizer 2E12 "Rain" and a T2S-29-14 sight. (In 1955, a prototype of this gun was installed on the experimental object 264.

Instead of DShK machine guns, as on previous models, 14.5-mm KPVT were installed - paired with a gun and anti-aircraft. The new tank - object 272 - was also equipped with a complete set of night instruments: the commanding TKN-1T, gunner TPL-1-29-14 ("Luna II") and the driver-TVN-2T. Guidance coaxial machine gun was carried out using the sight T2S-29, which had for this special scale. The anti-aircraft machine gun was equipped with a VK-4 collimator sight, and for firing at ground targets it was equipped with a PU-1 optical sight. The ammunition consisted of 30 rounds with a high-explosive fragmentation grenade and an armor-piercing tracer projectile and 744 rounds for KPVT machine guns.