page_title: T-26 variants
section_title: Flame-throwing (chemical) tanks
hierarchical_section_title: T-26 variants / Flame-throwing (chemical) tanks
caption_attribution_description: English: OT-26 flame-throwing tank, front view
context_page_description: More than 50 different modifications and experimental vehicles based on the T-26 light infantry tank chassis were developed in the USSR in the 1930s, with 23 modifications going into series production. The majority were armoured combat vehicles: flame tanks, artillery tractors, radio-controlled tanks, military engineering vehicles, self-propelled guns and armoured personnel carriers. They were developed at the Leningrad Factory of Experimental Mechanical Engineering by talented Soviet engineers P.N. Syachentov, S.A. Ginzburg, L.S. Troyanov, N.V. Tseits, B.A. Andryhevich, M.P. Zigel and others. Many Soviet tank engineers were declared "enemies of the nation" and repressed during Stalin's Great Purge from the middle of the 1930s. As a result, work on self-propelled guns and armoured carriers ceased in the USSR during that time. T-26 light tanks were also modified into armoured combat vehicles in the field during wartime.
context_section_description: Flame-throwing tanks formed around 12% of the series production of T-26 light tanks. It should be mentioned that the  abbreviation "OT" (Ognemetniy Tank which stands for Flame-throwing Tank) appeared only in post-war literature; these tanks were originally called "KhT" (Khimicheskiy Tank which stands for Chemical Tank), or BKhM (Boevaya Khimicheskaya Mashina; Fighting Chemical Vehicle) in the documents of the 1930s. All chemical (flame-throwing) tanks based on the T-26 chassis (KhT-26, KhT-130, KhT-133) were designated BKhM-3. The vehicles were intended for area chemical contamination, smoke screens and for flame-throwing.
  The TKhP-3 chemical equipment for smoke screens and chemical contamination was developed in 1932. This equipment could be easily installed on any T-26 light tank and was produced by the "Compressor" Factory, (introduced for smoke screening as the TDP-3 from summer 1934; 1,503 such sets were produced to the end of 1936).
  KhT-26 (OT-26) — Flamethrower variant developed in 1933. Based on the twin-turreted T-26 mod. 1931 tank but using a single turret armed with a flamethrower, the second turret was removed.
  KhT-130 (OT-130) — Flamethrower variant of model 1933, using a larger 45 mm gun turret (a gun was replaced with a flamethrower).
  KhT-133 (OT-133) — Flamethrower variant of model 1939 (a gun was replaced with a flamethrower).
  KhT-134 (OT-134) — Flamethrower variant of model 1939, with 45 mm gun.
caption: KhT-26 flame-throwing tank. This vehicle was produced in 1935 and partially modernized between 1938 and 1940, when new road wheels with removable bands and an armoured headlight were installed. Kubinka proving ground, 1940.
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