T-55 tank: specifications, photos and the history of creation

The Soviet T-55 tank was produced serially in the period from 1958 to 1979. It is the successor of the T-54 combat vehicle, but it surpasses it in many ways. The new model features a more powerful power plant (traction increased by 60 hp at once). The upgraded T-55 engine added a maneuverability to the car. The speed of movement over rough terrain also increased.

Further modernization

Before the developers had the task - in the shortest possible time to create a version of the tank with increased combat capability. As part of further improvements in the body, additional storage tanks were installed, which significantly increased the fuel reserve. The ammunition of the main gun was increased from 34 to 43 shots. Instead of air receivers used at engine start, a compressor was installed. In the tower of the tank there was one more novelty of that time - the automatic fire-fighting system "Dew", which, when an open flame appeared, instantly found the source of fire and extinguished the fire with a directed jet.

Radiation

But the most important improvement was the installation of an antinuclear protection system with a set of Geiger counters that fix the level of X-ray radiation. The fighting capacity of the tank in the attacking radiation stream did not suffer, but the crew could lose the physical ability to perform their functions. From these considerations, the T-55 tower was shielded from within by special modules of lead plates reflecting gamma rays.

Anti-aircraft weapons

Defense of the combat vehicle is needed in a comprehensive manner, including from an attack from above. Nevertheless, the outer small arms were abolished, since the regular antiaircraft machine gun of the brand DShKM in the conditions of increased military aircraft speeds became obsolete and became a useless attribute. However, ten years later, when helicopter gunships carrying anti-tank bombs appeared, the machine gun was returned. Screw machines flew low, and to bring down the bomber was not difficult.

A bit of history

The full-scale serial production of the T-55 tank was deployed in the USSR in 1958 at defense plants No. 75, No. 174 and No. 183. The issue continued until 1979. A total of about twenty thousand cars came off the assembly line. The T-55 tank, the photo of which is posted on the page, was widely exported. A modern war machine of Soviet manufacture was readily bought by all the Warsaw Treaty countries, as well as Arab states.

The effective T-55 medium tank, except in the USSR, began to be produced in some other countries, friendly to the Soviet Union. The issue was established in Poland, between 1964 and 1978, 1500 units were collected. In Romania, from 1970 to 1977, there were 400 combat vehicles. In Czechoslovakia, at a factory in the city of Martin, from 1964 to 1973, under license, 1700 units were produced.

T-55 tank: specifications

The T-55 model had a lot in common with the predecessor T-54, this determined the high level of unification of spare parts, units and separate units. The nomenclature of material security for a long time was common. In some documents, technological maps and drawings, the machine was designated as a T-54/55 tank. This simplified the production of the new model, since the entire process of assembly was already completed.

Even the instruction manual for the T-55 tank on all points corresponded to the characteristics of the T-54. Numerous improvements of the new model existed, as it were, separately from the basic parameters, their functions concerned the machine indirectly. The T-55 tank, whose drawings were copied from the original predecessor calculations, was an exact repetition of the T-54.

Below are the main parameters of the basic version of the T-55:

• Number of people in the crew - 4;
• Combat weight - 36.5 tons;
• The length of the tank with a gun - 9000 mm;
• Length of the body only - 6200 mm;
• The height along the line of the hatch of the tower is 2218 mm;
• Width - 3270;
• Ground clearance - 500 mm;
• Type of main gun - D10T2S / NP;
• Machine guns on the armor turret, one course, one coupled, type SGMT, caliber 7.62 mm;
• Set of combat - 43 shots;
• Machine gun ammunition - 3,500 cartridges;
• Power plant - brand V-54, diesel;
• Engine power - 580 liters. from.;
• Speed, close to the maximum, - 50 km / hour, on the road with a hard surface.
• Power reserve - 480 kilometers;
• Specific pressure - 0,81 kg / cm ² ;
• Confident overcoming of obstacles - the wall is vertical, height - 0,8 m; Trench, width - 2.7 meters;
• Overcoming the ford - 1.5 meters;
• Descent - 30 degrees;
• The rise is 32 degrees.

The T-55 tank, the characteristics of which were constantly being improved, was the most popular combat vehicle of the late fifties in Eastern Europe.

Modifications

In 1961 on the basis of the T-55 was created T-62 with improved characteristics. The model was produced simultaneously with the T-55 until 1983. Then, a deep modernization of the combat vehicles was carried out, and thus new modifications appeared: the T-55M, the T-55AM, and the T-62M, which were distinguished by increased firepower and a higher degree of protection without loss of mobility. Passive protection consisted of additional reservations, the active one consisted of a Drozd complex with two mortars, charged with a pair of 107mm shells each, and also large-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns. In addition to arming the tanks, two independent radar stations were assigned.

Later, the T-55M tank was equipped with a more advanced 9K116 "Bastion" guided armament complex, and the "Sheksna" with similar characteristics was installed on the T-62M, but more dynamic in operation. These two complexes are equipped with a 100 mm rifled barrel and a 115 mm smoothbore gun. Shot of the first trunk is a guided missile 9M117. Characteristics of the projectile are multistage, with very high damage efficiency. The missile is controlled by a semi-automatic laser guidance system.

Measuring instruments

In addition to the damaging weapons, the T-55M tank is equipped with a KTD-2 range finder, a ballistic calculator BV-55, a 32PV-TMSM sight and a M1 Meteor stabilizer. The T-62 tank is equipped with a 41PV-TShSM sight and a ballistic calculator BV-62. Laser rangefinders on both tanks cover a distance of 500 to 4000 meters with a measurement accuracy of up to 10 meters.

Ballistic computers provide automatic detection of the angles of aiming along with lateral lead data during firing artillery shells, but can not calculate the trajectory of a guided missile.

An anti-aircraft machine gun, when firing in the horizontal perspective, can be tied to the data of ballistic computers, but the direction of shooting should be determined to a greater extent by visual observation.

disadvantages

A large-caliber anti-aircraft cannon mounted on a turret is supplied with ammunition of three hundred cartridges in strips arranged in boxes. The shooter is instructed in the shooting plan in small bursts, since the thin and long barrel of the machine gun can be unevenly heated from the long lines and deformed. To stabilize the temperature, a heat shield is installed on the armament.

Reservation

In addition to the existing protection, the T-55 tank was modernized several times during its production in terms of its strengthening. The last time additional armor protection was installed in 1985. The upper frontal sector was duplicated with sheets 30 mm thick. Additional armor is located on both sides of the embrasure of the main gun, close to the trunk. The angle of its inclination assumes the reflection of any enemy shells, except for cumulative, whose destructive effect can not be neutralized.

However, soon the T-55M tank was equipped with anti-cumulative rubber-fabric screens, which were stacked in several layers throughout the front of the combat vehicle. The effectiveness of such protection is indirectly confirmed by tests at the test site. Shells fired from a distance of 150 meters, crashing into rubber "mats", lost about thirty percent of their strength, and the main layers of armored protection remained without through holes.

Crew equipment

Special attention of the developers of the T-55 tank was given to radiation protection. The goal is to preserve people's lives and health. All the crew members are equipped with special anti-radiation vests, each seat also covered from all sides by lead modules in the fabric skin.

The driver's area of the driver's seat is reinforced from below by 20 mm armor plates, which are welded to the bottom. It turns out effective anti-mine protection. The rest of the crew are on the march in the back, the most secure part of the turret space.

Means of disguise

The T-55 tank, whose photograph is made in the desert, introduces the principles of disguise. The armor of the combat vehicle, painted in sand color, allows to merge with the environment. The tank becomes indistinguishable for enemy observers, and its combat calculation can take advantage of this to change the location of the dislocation, as well as spontaneous attack.

Other standards

For camouflage in the European landscape, camouflage is used, a greenish-gray coloring or a grid of the same color stretched over the location of the tank. In the conditions of the battle, a smoke screen is used, which is possible at any time thanks to the staff unit 902B, located on the right side of the tower. The system consists of eight launchers, emitting smoke grenades caliber 81 mm. The smoke zone allows you to hide not only the tank, but also several infantry units that participate in the battle, provided that the personnel have respiratory equipment. The effectiveness of such maneuver is unquestionable.

The smoke zone at the start of four charges with a volley is 120 meters wide and 8 meters high. The launch of one grenade covers a zone with a radius of 60 meters around the tank. Smoke grenades are activated by a signal from the commander's console. The system has only one drawback - during the fight, recharging the smoke can not be possible, because for this you need to leave the tower of the tank and spend a few minutes on the open armor, which is very risky under the enemy's crossfire. But some crews found a way out of the difficult situation. The shooter goes to the armor at the time of the greatest smoke from the action of the last two grenades, when the visibility is zero, and recharges the system.

Tank T-72

In 1967, the development of the most massive, main combat tank of the USSR Armed Forces began, which was accepted for combat duty in 1973 and is currently in service, in Russian tank forces. In terms of its characteristics, the T-72 surpasses all previous modifications from the category of armored combat vehicles. The difference between the T-55 tank and the T72 is the greater firepower of the latter, the overall length of the seventy-second is 9530 mm against 9000 mm for the T-55. The crew of the T-72 consists of only three people, the duties that ensure the life of the machine are evenly distributed among the three without damaging the combat regulations.

Prototype of the Soviet T-55 tank

It turns out that there are twins in the tank industry. Even before the collapse of the USSR in East Germany, the T-55A tank was created. This is almost a complete analogue of the Soviet T-54/55. The Germans did not start their development in mass production, because it was unprofitable for them for economic reasons. In addition, the tank troops of the GDR did not need so many combat vehicles, for which it was worth starting a large-scale production.

At the same time, in the Soviet Union almost the same tank was produced in huge quantities, and after short negotiations the German model began to be produced in the USSR in parallel with Soviet tanks. T-55 A, a German tank of the middle class, was supplied in small batches to the army of the GDR. The technical characteristics of the model were not bad, the machine was characterized by a strong tower, good maneuverability and a high-precision gun. The tanks cost the German side inexpensively, since the political component of the project was taken into account, East Germany was at that time a "close friend" of the USSR.

Models

The T-55 tank is highly rated as a source material for modeling in the field of military equipment. The crooks use the image of a popular combat vehicle to create miniature copies that are completely identical to the original. The cytogram of such a model as the T-54/55 tank represents a number of model developments at a scale of 1:35 with elaboration of the smallest details. Models of the T-55 tank Are considered the most interesting in the manufacturing process after the American "Sherman".