T-62 - armored predator of the Cold War

The outbreak of the Cold War gave a powerful impetus to the arms race in general and the tank-building industry in particular. The likelihood of an armed confrontation was extremely high, which required extraordinary design decisions in the sphere of creating new types of heavy weapons that could be effectively used as the decisive power argument of foreign policy.

Because of this, the period of the fifties and sixties of the last century became, perhaps, the most productive in the history of the domestic defense industry. Tank construction in these two decades was marked by the creation of several new models of combat vehicles. All of them were distinguished by original design decisions and a whole range of innovations, which concerned equipment, running gear, fire control systems, weapons, etc.

It was during the culmination of the Cold War, which took place in the sixties, that a new class of armored vehicles was created by the Soviet tank industry, which was called the "main tank". This tank family was replaced by traditional medium and heavy vehicles, which were soon withdrawn from production. The Soviet "defense industry" received a new direction of development. T-62 was the last domestic serial tank of the middle class.

This is the only armored car that was not immediately able to displace "the main tanks". Which is not surprising, because the T-62 had a number of unique technical characteristics, which at that time had no analogues in the world. The most advanced NATO technology of this class was much inferior to it in many ways.

The T-62 tank is the first armored vehicle in the world equipped with a special 115 mm smooth-bore gun U-5TS, specially for which the genius of Soviet engineering thought was used for the creation of armored piercing armor-piercing shells. The first BPS for this gun was released in 1959 year. These armor piercing shells had unprecedented armor penetration. And the range of a direct shot was about 1.6 times better than the best examples of similar Western weapons.

Cumulative projectiles, also designed specifically for the T-62, were twice as large as the identical ammunition for rifled guns. In general, this tank was an ideal predator of war. The T-62 was a fighting vehicle with a powerful cannon, super-reliable armor and stunningly high maneuverability. It seemed that he was created by a born hunter himself the god of war.

T-62 had quite a traditional layout, which provided for the placement of the engine-transmission compartment in the feed sector. The control department was located in the frontal segment, and the combat unit occupied the middle section of the armored vehicle. The crew of the tank consisted, as the classics of the genre requires, from 4 people: the commander, the loading, the gunner and the driver-mechanic.

The T-62 was equipped with a differentiated anti-ballistic armor. On this machine, even a special antinuclear protection system was installed, which was supposed to reliably protect the crew from the excessive pressure that occurs during an atomic explosion, and from the ingress of radioactive elements into the machine. For this, the tank body was maximally sealed.

As soon as this armored car appeared in the troops, Western specialists began to show increased interest in it. But for a long time they could not get at least a photo of the new secret military machine. This unique tank was publicly demonstrated only on the traditional parade on November 7, 1967. But by that time the modification of this armored vehicle T-62 was already adopted , which was equipped with a cast tower of a new type and a powerful rifled 100 mm gun. Soviet military equipment has always been one step ahead ...