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T-62 Tanks - History

By The end of 1950-ies the main weapons of mass Soviet medium tanks from T-54 to T-55 was 100-mm of the D-UT gun, created in 1944. The Process of its modernization, carried out in these years and led to the emergence of the Artsystems D-10TG and D-10T2S, was connected mainly with the solution of the issue of stabilization of the gun first in one, and then in two planes. Ballistic characteristics remained unchanged. The ammunition consisted of shots with obsolete fragmentation-fugasnymi and armour-piercing shells of-412, BR-412, BR-412 B and BR-412 D. And only the latter was developed after the war on the model of trophy German munitions. As a result, The D-10 guns could no longer effectively deal with new samples of British and American tanks.

Therefore, in March 1954 in the OKB-9 under the direction of F. F. Petrov was created prototype 100-mm riven gun D-54 with the initial speed of armor-piercing projectile 1015 m/s. By October 1954 at the plant #183 in Nizhny Tagile (UZ) This gun was installed in a prototype Medium Tank T-54 M ("Object 139"). His tests took place in 1954-1955 years in The meantime for the weapon in the CNIA-173 developed two-plane stabilizer "Lightning", it has received the designation D-54 TC and was installed in the tank "object 140". It Should be emphasized that all the works on the placement of the new gun in the T-54 M and "Object 140", which were carried out at the UVZ under the direction of the chief designer L. N. Kartsev, were proactive. The fact is that officially according to the government's decision experimental design work on the creation of the tank with a new gun led KB under the direction of A.A. Morozova in Kharkiv. The Gun D-54 TC was installed on the first sample of the Kharkov "object 430"-a prototype of "Sixtenths", which was supposed to be launched into mass production at all tank factories of the country. Therefore, the work of the Tagilchan management of the GBTU and GRAU was perceived as a competition and, to some extent, as disturbance kharkovites, although not did not tolerate it. By November 1958, in the framework of the same factory initiative, three samples of a new tank ("Object 165") were produced by the UW. This Machine was a turret with a cannon from the "object of 140", installed on the elongated hull of the tank T-55 with an enlarged pogon. In Addition, the position of the support rollers has been changed to equalize the load on them.

By February 1960, the gun D-54 TS withstood repeated polygonno-military tests, which, however, was not without problems. In particular, the military caused a criticism muzzle brake. This Is what the eyewitness of the tests Yu. P. Kostenko, who worked at the office of the Head of the Armament and turret Bureau at that time: "The Day was sunny and frosty (below 20°c), snow dry and loose. The New gun had a muzzle brake. At the first shot the muzzle wave lifted the snow cloud. When The cloud dissipated, I saw a "blind" tank in front of me. Snow dust hit the protective glass of the viewing devices and instantly turned into a thin frosted ice crust. The Most strongly iced devices of the mechanic-driver. With the closed hatch, in a position in combat, the tank could not move. The Artillery telescopic sight was inside the turret and its lens escaped icing. On me the muzzle brake, in principle, has produced sharply negative impression. In the Winter it lifted a snow cloud, in the summer-dusty or sandy. All this badly influenced the protective glasses of devices, and most importantly-prevented from the tank to observe the results of the shooting. The question Arose about the influence of the muzzle wave on the infantry escort and on the landing on the tank armor.

A Similar view was also maintained by the military leadership. However, the gun D-54 TS did not go into the series for another reason. IN the Autumn of 1958 the representatives of GRAU showed N. S. Khrushchev a new 100 mm smooth-bore anti-tank gun T-12 "Rapira". Her Armor-piercing shell had a half times greater speed and bro-penetration, compared with the 100-mm RIV gun. Khrushchev asked the question: "Is it Possible to install this gun on a tank?" He was told: "It Is possible". "Then let's make 200 tanks with this gun next year," the head of state ordered. In this connection to Moscow was urgently summoned by L. N. Kartsev. After reading the drawings of the gun, he said that it is not possible to install it in the tank, in particular, and because the length of the shot was 1200 mm, and it could not be inside the tank neither deploy nor charge. According To Kartsev, this value should not exceed 1100 mm. Such a shot had a gun D-54, which Leonid Nikolaevich proposed to remove the rims, after which its caliber would have amounted to 115 mm. The Chief designer of shots V.V. Yavorsky began to object, pointing out that the projectile at the same time would have bad ballistics, and the military tried to intimidate L. N. Kartsev by the order of Khrushchev, to which he replied: "If you do not believe me, lead me to Khrushchev, I He will prove that your gun in the tank is not installed! "After the controversy that lasted all day, it was decided to create new rounds of caliber 115 mm length of 1100 mm, identical in size with those in the 100-mm cutting gun.

Together with the advers, D-54 removed the muzzle brake. So appeared the first in the world smooth-bore tank gun U-5TS "Hammer" (Index GRAU 2A20). After It was set to "Object 165", it was labeled "Object 166". During 1959, several prototypes were manufactured. By The autumn of 1960, the machines had successfully passed the testing. The Commission that conducted them recommended that the tank be adopted. The Efficiency of the gun U-5TS was higher than that of the foremother-100 mm anti-tank smooth-bore gun T-12. Shells had good ballistics and all the fears of the designer V.V. Yavorsky were in vain.

In addition to the smooth-bore cannon "zest" of the new tank was a solid-cast turret. The T-54/55 Tanks had cast turrets with welded rolled roofs, and the base of the hatches was fastened to the roof by bolts. All of these were, in terms of equipment, weakened zones. According to the technical conditions, the turret's armor was "holding" an armour-piercing projectile at a distance of one and a half calibers from the weld or bolted connection. On the new machine decided to try to install a completely cast turret. The Ideologist of this decision was the deputy chief designer of UZ I. S. Bushev, who headed the Armament Bureau until 1957. At one time he took part in the development of the cast turret of the tank T-34, the Direct design of the turret led designer F. J. Berkovich. Three Months later the first prototype was produced. The head of the armament Bureau Yu. P. Kostenko wrote in his memoirs About How the tests were carried out then: "The Tests by firing on the serial program were conducted by Voenpred. He was grinding a cross on the surface of the turret at the point at which the ought to make a shot, checking the exchange angle under which according to the TTT turret was installed in relation to the gun from which the shot was fired, and commanded shooting. I was present at the shelling of all three turrets (that's how much they were made-the author's note), but clearly memorized only the final stage of the third turret tests. The Tests of this turret were directed by Major Belyanskiy. Chief He worked a long time, his business knew to the subtleties, the test held clearly. But the program of firing of the serial turret did not foresee shooting on the welded roof and on the bases of hatches fastened by bolts to a turret. These were weakened zones. At All-Cast turret it was not, therefore, Belyansky should check armour protection and roofs, and hatches.

Having Finished the shelling on the program, Belyansky and I thoroughly inspected all the dents on the armor and finally made sure that the turret had withstood this part of the test. In Silence we stood for a minute or maybe more. Belyanskiy in the right hand held a piece of chalk and looked at the roof of the turret. Then his hand lay on the front of the roof, and the chalk touched the armor at the point where three welds were converging on the serial turret and never shot. Without taking his hands from the turret, Belyansky turned and looked straight into my eyes. I understood his dumb question. But He asked him aloud, "Can we shoot here?" He gently struck a chalk cross, and we went to the gun. Belyanskiy himself brought himself up and fired himself. The Projectile just hit the cross, left in the armor trace depth of 6-7 mm and a length of 200 mm and ricocheted. Inside the turret there were no armor chips, no cracks. The Second shot, also with my consent, Belyansky has made on base of a hatch of the commander. For this point I was not afraid, and she did not bring surprises.

So the completely cast turret of the future tank T-62 was created.

During the tests of the "Object 166" one circumstance was revealed. At the required rate of firing the gas separation of the combat department doubled the norm. To reduce it, designers Yu. A. Kovalev, v. M. Bystritskyy, E. A. Kri-Voyshej and Yu. S. Tsybin proposed to implement the mechanism of ejection of liners. The Principle of its work was such: extracted sleeve (and for the gun U-5TS used two types of liners-steel weight 7.95 kg and brass weight 8.45 kg) fell into the trap of ejection mechanism, in the back of the turret opened a special hatch and sleeve spring was thrown out, and then the hatch was closed. At The shot during the rollback of the gun mechanism was cocked for another throw. The Tests showed that this device allowed to reduce the gas pollution in the tank more than twice and rid the crew of the need to lay the cartridge in place of the used shots.

Despite The fact that the Ministry of defense work on the installation of a new gun in the tank was framed by a decision of the Military-Industrial Commission at the central COMMITTEE CPSU and the USSR Council, the military strongly opposed its production, because the power of armaments he Surpassed Kharkov "Object 430", which has already been spent a lot of money. On the Ural wagon for water was hard to experience the situation, but, nevertheless, began the design of a new combat vehicle With a power of 700 hp and undercarriage, borrowed from the "Object 140", by The summer of 1961 were manufactured two prototypes " Object 167 ".

Meanwhile, the scandal in the Ministry of defense in early January 1961 put an end to all procrastination with the "object of 166". The fact is that as early as 1958 on the armament of the English tanks "Centurion" {see. "Armored Collection" #2, 2003) was adopted 105-mm L7 gun, which had a very long barrel in 62 caliber and a huge at the time the pressure in the trunk channel-5500 kg/m2. Podka-Libera 105-mm Shell had an initial speed of 1470 m/s and the armored pro-bivaemosti significantly surpassed the shells of Soviet 100-mm guns. And all would be nothing-because "Centurion" was produced in relatively small quantities, new 1960 in the UNITED states began serial production of the main tank M60, also armed with a 105-mm gun. In GERMANY and France This weapon was planned to be installed on prospective tanks "Leopard" and "AMKH-30". When the commander of Land troops Marshal V.I. Chuykov learned about it, he was furious. Having caused the commander of the tank Troops Marshal P. P. Paul-Boyarov and other leaders of the GBTU, the hero of the Battle of Stalingrad inquired whether the Soviet Army had something that could be countered by the tank of M60. He was told that in Nizhny Tagile there is a tank with a 115-mm gun, but it has disadvantages, for example, when testing the head with some balance? I'm at least a pig, and put that gun! "Following This followed a very characteristic for Chuikov Tirada, consisting entirely of profanity vocabulary.

After the arranged postings a group of representatives of the BBTU came to Nizhny Tagil and began to ask the director of UZ I.V. Okunev to start the mass production of "Object 166" in the shortest possible time. The Director categorically refused, citing the fact that the plant is preparing for the release of a more perfect tank-"object 167". Neither the persuasion nor the subsequent calls from Moscow helped. And only in July 1961 at the meeting of the MIC, which was held by the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Dr. Ustinov, Okunev gave his consent to the production of "Object 166" to manufacture since July 1962. On August 12, 1961 the decision of CC CPSU and Council of Ministers of the USSR #729-305 "On acceptance on armament of the Soviet Army of the medium tank T-62" has appeared.

In 1961, the plant #183 manufactured an installation batch of 25 machines that came to the Carpathian Military District. On January 1, 1962 the plant was stopped for six months to re-equipment the welding conveyor in the hull shop, to replace the carousel machines for the processing of the turret and to carry out other activities to prepare the production. The mass production of the T-62 tank began on July 1, 1962.

This machine, compared to its predecessor tank T-55, had a number of structural features. It installed a smooth-bore 115-mm gun U-5TS with two-plane stabilizer "METEOR"; All-cast turret with a diameter of a pogon in light of 2245 mm (at T-55 — 1816 mm); Mechanism of ejection of liners through the hatch in the aft part of the turret; Changed the mount of the cannon, the sight and the paired machine gun in the turret; Increased the length of the hull by 386 mm and the height by 27 mm; The slope of the feed sheet reduced from 17 ° to 2 °; To ensure the required angle of lowering the gun roof of the hull from the turret to the stern had a slope of 3 ° 15 ', and in the direction of the nose-0 ° 30 '; To protect the turret and the commander's hatch from direct hits bullets welded armour rings section 10x30 mm; Eliminated the Exchange machine gun; Constructively changed the mechanism of rotation of the turret; The observation device of TPCU was replaced by a combined commander's device TKN-2 "Carmine"; Installed a small-sized forsuochny heater increased heat performance, 19-disc friction with hydro-pneumatic drive control, which eliminated excessive disc slipping during operation and reduced the force on the pedal, Brake pads made of plastic on the brake tapes of the turn; To increase the smoothness of the tank, the dynamic course of the support rollers increased from 142 to 162 mm; By lengthening the supporting surface of the caterpillars lowered the specific pressure on the ground to 0.75 kg/m2, and also made a number of other smaller improvements.

According to the decision NE 729-305, together with the tank T-62 was taken to the armament of the medium tank T-62 A, equipped with a 100-mm threaded gun U-8TS with two-plane stabilizer "Comet". Such a decision was dictated by by the fact that this weapon was supposed to equip Kharkiv "object of 430". U-STC (index GRUM2A24) was a modernized gun D-54 TS, it strengthened the barrel, which resulted in its mass increased to 2390 kg, In connection with the development of a new Podka-Libera projectile steepness of RIDs changed from 25 to 35 kb. (However, by the time of the adoption of the weapon, the engine was not ready yet.) The Initial speed of the caliber armor-piercing projectile weighing 16.1 kg was 1015 m/s; Direct shot range (at target height 2m)-1200 m; Armor penetration at an angle of 0 ° on the range of 1000 m-235 mm, 2000 m-200 mm. The Initial velocity of the fragmentation-explosive projectile weighing 15.8 kg was 940 m/s. The Maximum range of firing at the elevation angle of 16 ° is 14 650 m.

In March 1962, it was decided "in connection with the need to reduce the nomenclature of tank guns production of T-62 And not to start." By the Decision of the Council of Ministers of 29 June of the same year the work on the gun U-8TS was stopped "in connection with the development of more promising samples." The Serial production of the T-62 tank was carried out by Uralwagavzavod until 1973, when the T-72 tank was replaced by the Assembly conveyor. For 10 years of production was made about 20 thousand. Six-dozen.

The only serial modification of T-62 became the commander Tank T-62 K, which differed from the linear machine by the installation of additional radio station R-112, tank navigation equipment of the TNA-2 and Charger AB-1-P/ZO-U Was added one set Four-metre bayonet antenna, changed the fastening of the seat of the charger, as well as some changes in the circuit of electrical equipment, in the placement of ammunition and ZIP and in the layout of devices TPU, Ammunition reduced four artillery shots and three Boxes with ribbons for paired machine gun.

As for the linear T-62, they have changed little during the serial production. All the improvements were mainly to the installation of more modern equipment and weapons. Thus, since August 1964, the submachine gun of the SMT has been replaced by the PKT, and the commander's surveillance device TKN-2. In 1965, instead of the radio station R-113 and TPU R-120 began to install the radio station R-123 and TPU R-124. In the same year the armored cap of the night sight of #PN-1-41-11 was introduced. Since May 1966, the GPK-48 gyro-Compass was replaced by the GPK-59, and in 1967 the hatches in the roof of the motor-transmission compartment were liquidated. In 1972, the tank was armed with an anti-aircraft machine gun of DSHKM, Since 1975 a part of the produced machines were equipped with laser rangefinders KDT-1.

During the period 1961 – 1963, several prototypes were produced on the basis of T-62. First Of all, we should mention the "object of 167" already mentioned. This Machine was equipped with a V-26 engine with a capacity of 700 hp, equipped with a turbo-charge, and a new undercarriage of increased energy intensity, which included (for one board) six rollers of reduced diameter and three supporting rollers. The Modernized engine B-26 (Received index B-46) and the chassis of the "object 167" were subsequently used in the creation of the tank T-72. The variant of "object of 167", equipped with PTUR (according to the then terminology of PTURS) "Baby" was Tested. On one of the prototypes of this tank was installed gas turbine engine GTD-ZT. The Machine received the index "object 167 T".

Supporting rollers of reduced diameter installed and on the experimental "object 166 M". However, the number of them was five on board. This tank was equipped with diesel In-36 F with the capacity of 640 hp "Object 166 ML" As an additional weapon received the "Baby".

In 1964 on the tank T-62, as well as on other types of combat vehicles, the complex screen protection of the ZETA-1 was tested. It consisted of a mesh cannon and airborne anti-Kummulal screens. The Mass of the net screen was 60 kg, the minimum distance between the screen and the armor-1800 mm, the Time of transfer from the marching position in the combat was 2 to 3 minutes, and to install the screen on the tank was required no more than 15 minutes. The side screens of sectional type were made of duralumin.

On one of the serial tanks T-62 at the end of 1965 was tested automatic loading machine "Acorn" for 115-mm gun D-68 (2A21), which had the same ballistics as U-5TS. The Principal difference of D-68 was separate loading with partially burning sleeve. Only The brass pallet of the sleeve weighing about 4 kg was Extracted. In 1967, this machine was converted under 125-mm shots and in an experimental manner, assembled in the tank T-62 together with the 125-mm gun D-81. Engineering, repair and evacuation and other auxiliary machines on the basis of T-62 is not created. At the beginning of its production all of them were already developed on the chassis of T-54 and T-55 tanks and were produced serially. The Only combat vehicle on the chassis T-62 became a fighter tank IT-1.