T - 62 The T - 62 is a Soviet main battle tank , a further development of the T - 55 . Its 115 mm gun was the first smoothbore tank gun in use . The T - 62 was produced between 1961 and 1975 . It became a standard tank in the Soviet arsenal , partly replacing the T - 55 , although that tank continued to be manufactured in the Soviet Union and elsewhere after T - 62 production was halted . The T - 62 was later replaced in front - line service by the T - 72 . Development history . The initial requirements . By the late 1950s , Soviet commanders realized that the T - 55 ' s 100 mm gun was incapable of penetrating the frontal armor of newer Western tanks like the Centurion and M48 Patton with standard armor - piercing shells . While 100 mm HEAT ammo could have accomplished the task , they were considerably more expensive and required more training of tank crews for proper use . It was decided to up - gun the T - 55 with a 115 mm smoothbore cannon , capable of firing APFSDS rounds . Experimental trials showed that the T - 55 was inherently unsuited to mount the larger new cannon , and work therefore began on a new tank . The bigger gun required a bigger turret and turret ring to absorb the higher recoil . This in turn necessitated a larger hull , as the T - 55 hull was simply too small to accept the new turret . The T - 62 thus took shape , marking an evolutionary improvement upon the T - 55 . ( Perrett 1987 : 38 ) Ob ' yekt 140 . At the time when Morozov was working on his Ob ' yekt 430 tank , a young engineer , Leonid N . Kartsev , was the head of the OKB - 520 design bureau of Uralvagonzavod factory ( UVZ ) in Nizhny Tagil . He was responsible for the T - 54A ( Ob ' yekt 137G ) and T - 54B ( Ob ' yekt 137G2 ) modernizations of T - 54 main battle tank . After work on the T - 54M ( Ob ' yekt 139 ) modernization was abandoned he and his design team started working on a new tank , called Ob ' yekt 140 . The new tank had a suspension with six light roadwheels made of aluminium . The turret was cast and armed with a 100 mm D - 54 TS tank gun with the Molniya two - plane stabilization system . The tank carried 50 rounds and was powered by a V - 36 diesel engine developed by engineer Artiemejev . The engine was placed on the bottom of the hull , a solution which reduced the height of the engine compartment . The Ob ' yekt 140 weighed 37 . 6 tonnes . Morozov ' s Ob ' yekt 430 tank had a hull of welded rolled steel plates and a turret of cast and forged steel . The turret had three - layer armour with an overall thickness of 185 mm to 240 mm . It was armed with the same D - 54TS tank gun as Kartsev ' s Ob ' yekt 140 . In 1957 Uralvagonzavod built two Ob ' yekt 140 prototypes which were put on trials soon after . The trials showed that because of the complicated construction of many of the tank ' s systems , Kartsev ' s tank would be expensive in serial production and hard to maintain . Forced to abandon the Ob ' yekt 140 project , he started working on yet another T - 54 main battle tank modernization called the T - 55 ( Ob ' yekt 155 ) in which he included one of the key features from his Ob ' yekt 140 tank : the upper fuel tanks were fitted with mounts for tank gun ammunition . This increased the ammunition load carried by the tank to 45 rounds . T - 62A ( Ob ' yekt 165 ) . At the end of 1958 Kartsev decided to modernize the Ob ' yekt 140 turret . He fitted it with a cartridge - case ejector and mounted it onto a stretched T - 55 chassis with a new suspension . He also considered that designs based on already produced vehicles had higher of chance of acceptance . The Ob ' yekt 140 turret diameter , bigger than the T - 55 turret by 249 mm , made redesigning the central part of the hull necessary . Kartsev changed the arrangement of the torsion beams , which was necessary to keep the tank ' s weight balanced . The tank received the designation " Ob ' yekt 165 " and in November 1958 three prototypes were built . In January 1962 the Ob ' yekt 165 was accepted for serivce under the name T - 62A . In the same year 5 tanks were produced by Factory # 183 which were put into experimental service . Ob ' yekt 166 . While working on a new tank , Kartsev was looking for a more powerful tank gun . The 100 mm D - 10T and D - 54 tank guns had a fierce opponent in the form of the British L7A1 tank gun . The Soviets decided to " recaliber " the already existing 100 mm D - 54TS tank gun . The modifications done to the gun included removing the rifling of the gun , reducing the profile of the bullet chamber , removing the muzzle brake , lengthening the gun tube , adding an automatic cartridge - case ejector and adding a bore evacuator in the middle of the gun tube ( as opposed to the D - 45TS tank gun , which had a bore evacuator in the base of the gun tube ) . The new 115 mm tank gun was designated U - 5TS " Molot " Rapira , which was the first Soviet 115 mm smoothbore tank gun . When it went into serial production it received the designation 2A20 . It was put in trials against the D - 10TS tank gun , which armed the T - 54B as well as some T - 55 and T - 55A main battle tanks . These trials showed that the undercaliber projectiles shot out of the U - 5TS had a 700 km / h higher muzzle velocity . It became apparent that the maximum range of the new tank gun was almost double that of the D - 10TS . The only serious drawback of the U - 5TS tank gun was the fact that it was not as accurate as the D - 10TS , because of the lack of rifling . However , the greater range of the gun and its extremely high muzzle velocity made the poor accuracy less of an issue . The new 115 mm U - 5TS " Molot " ( 2A20 ) Rapira smoothbore tank gun was fitted into the Ob ' yekt 140 turret at the end of 1960 . The new tank received the designation " Ob ' yekt 166 " . In 1960 both Ob ' yekt 165 and Ob ' yekt 166 prototypes passed their trials . The Uralvagonzavod was preparing to start serial production of the new tank , though the General Armoured Directorate ( GBTU ) was paying much more attention to Morozov ' s Ob ' yekt 430 , which was in development since early 1952 . Morozov was supported by general Ustinov , who was in charge of Soviet military industry at the time . He didn ' t see it as necessary to produce the new tank from Uralvagonzavod but soon the situation changed dramatically with the appearance of a new American main battle tank , the M60 . Zaloga claimed in January 1961 , an Iranian officer defected with his new US - made M60A1 main battle tank across the border into the Soviet Union but it seems very unlikely as the M60A1 didn ' t exist in 1961 . The new American tanks were armed with a British 105 mm Royal Ordnance L7A1 tank gun , the same as the earlier British Centurion main battle tanks and the later German Leopard 1 main battle tanks . The M60 ' s armour layout and L7A1 tank gun granted superiority to the NATO main battle tanks over Soviet contemporary main battle tanks . This situation caused great concern in the Soviet armoured forces . In 1961 the Soviet intelligence discovered that the British were working on new a main battle tank armed with a 120 mm tank gun . Because of this , General Czuikov demanded an explanation of the " Kartsev ' s tanks " case . At a conference of GBTU and the Soviet ground forces committee it became apparent that Morozov ' s Ob ' yek 430 tank was only 10 % better than the serial T - 55 . Because of this , Morozov ' s project was deemed a complete failure . The representatives of Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau said that works on a new tank , the Ob ' yekt 432 , had already started . Czuikov demanded that production of the Ob ' yekt 166 main battle tank be started immediately . The OKB - 520 design bureau of Uralvagonzavod provided another design , the Ob ' yekt 167 , which was the Ob ' yekt 166 with a new more powerful V - 26 engine using a charger , developing 700 hp ( 522 kW ) . Two prototypes were built in the middle of 1961 and passed the trials . This time the GBTU decided not to wait for the new main battle tank to pass trials and send the Ob ' yekt 166 into mass production on July 1961 . The Ob ' yekt 165 also entered service in very small numbers , under the designation T - 62A . Design . The T - 62 has a typical tank layout : driver ' s compartment at the front , fighting compartment in the centre and engine compartment in the rear . The four - man crew consists of the commander , driver , gunner and loader . Although the T - 62 is very similar to the T - 55 and makes use of many of the same parts , there are some differences . Those include the hull , which is a few centimetres longer and wider , the different road wheels , and differences in characteristic uneven gaps between roadwheels . Unlike the T - 54 and T - 55 main battle tanks , the gaps between the last three pairs of roadwheels are larger than the rest . ( Perrett 1987 : 37 - 38 ) Armament . The armament consists of the 115 mm U - 5TS " Molot " ( 2A20 ) Rapira smoothbore tank gun with a two - axis " Meteor " stabilizer and 7 . 62 mm PKT coaxial general - purpose machine gun mounted on the right of the main gun . The 12 . 7 mm DShK 1938 / 46 antiaircraft heavy machine gun is mounted on the loader ' s hatch . It was optional until 1972 when all newly built tanks were fitted with the AA HMG . The tank carries 40 rounds for the main gun ( although only 4 are placed in the turret while the rest are stored in the back of the fighting compartment and in the front of the hull , on the right of the driver ) and 2500 rounds for the coaxial machine gun . All of the vehicle ' s armament is mounted in or on the round cast egg - shaped turret from the Ob ' yekt 140 prototype main battle tank , mounted over the third pair of roadwheels . It takes more than 21 seconds for the T - 62 ' s turret to rotate through a full 360° , which is longer than the time needed by US and NATO tanks of the time . The T - 62 was armed with the world ' s first smoothbore tank gun , giving it considerably greater muzzle velocity than the Western 90 mm and 105 mm tank guns of its time . It can fire BM - 6 APFSDS - T , BK - 4 , BK - 4M HEAT and OF - 18 Frag - HE rounds . The 115 mm gun introduced the first successful APFSDS ammunition , albeit with a steel penetrator . A smoothbore gun allowed a significantly better performance ( from 10 % to 20 % ) from HEAT ammunition , which was considered the main ammunition type for fighting enemy armour at medium and long ranges . The gun can be elevated or depressed between −4° and + 16° . The tank has no autoloader and has to be reloaded by hand . To reload the gun it must be elevated or depressed to + 3 . 5° . Empty cartridges are automatically ejected outside the vehicle through a small hatch in the rear of the turret . The gun has range of fire of about 4 km during day conditions and 800 m ( with the use of night vision equipment ) at night . The T - 62 ' s practical rate of fire is 4 rounds per minute while the vehicle is stationary and is lower when the vehicle is moving . The low rate of fire falls behind the capabilities of Western 105 mm tank guns . When the tank and the target are stationary , the U - 5TS has almost the same accuracy as the American M60 Patton and the German Leopard 1 main battle tanks . When the tank or the target are moving the accuracy becomes very poor due to the tank ' s poor stabilization system and the lack of a fire control system . Even the APFSDS - T rounds at a range of 700 metres are half as accurate when the target is moving with a constant speed . Mobility . The T - 62 uses torsion bar suspension . It has five pairs of rubber - tired roadwheels , a drive sprocket at the rear and idler at the front on each side , with no return rollers . The first and last roadwheels each have a hydraulic shock absorber . The tank is powered by the V - 55 12 - cylinder 4 - stroke one - chamber 38 . 88 litre water - cooled diesel engine developing 581 hp ( 433 kW ) at 2 , 000 rpm . This is the same engine as the one used in the T - 55 . Because the T - 62 weighs more than the T - 55 , it is less maneuverable . Like the T - 55 , the T - 62 has three external diesel fuel tanks on the right fender and a single auxiliary oil tank on the left fender . The tank carries 960 litres of fuel in its internal and external fuel tanks . Two optional 200 - litre drum - type fuel tanks can be fitted on the rear of the vehicle for an increased operational range . Countermeasures . The T - 62 has 5 % better armour on the front of the hull ( 102 mm at 60° ) and 15 % better armour on the front of the turret ( 242 mm ) than the T - 54 / T - 55 . The turret armour is 153 mm thick on the sides , 97 mm thick on the rear and 40 mm thick on the roof . The hull armour is 79 mm thick on the upper sides , 46 mm at 0° thick on the rear and 20 mm thick on the bottom . Although the armour on the front of the hull is thicker than in the T - 55 , the lower side armour ( 15 mm ) and the roof armour ( 31 mm ) are actually thinner . Equipment . One of the many similarities between the T - 54 / T - 55 and T - 62 tanks is their ability to create a smokescreen by injecting vaporized diesel fuel into the exhaust system . Like the T - 54 and T - 55 , the T - 62 has an unditching beam mounted at the rear of the hull . The tank can be fitted with a thin snorkel for operational usage and a large diameter snorkel for training . The thin snorkel can be disassembled and carried in the back of the turret when not used . The commander ' s cupola is located on the left of the top of the turret . The loader has a single piece hatch located on the right side of the turret and further back than the commander ' s cupola . The loader ' s hatch has a periscope vision block that can be used to view the areas in front of and behind the vehicle . The commander ' s copula has four periscopes , two are located in the hatch cover while the other two are located in the forward part of the cupola . The driver has a single piece hatch located on the left front of the vehicle , directly in front of the left side of the turret . The tank uses the same sights and vision devices as the T - 55 except for the gunner , who received a new TSh - 2B - 41 sight which has x4 or x7 magnification . It is mounted coaxially with an optic rangefinder . The gunner has two periscope vision blocks , one of which is used in conjunction with the main searchlight mounted coaxially on the right side of the main armament . There are two other smaller searchlights . One of these is used by the commander and is mounted on his cupola . The tank has two headlights on the right front of the vehicle , one of which is infrared while the other one is white . Curved hand rails around the turret allow easier entry for the commander , the gunner , and the loader . They also help the infantry to mount and dismount the tank while performing a tank desant . The tank has a box - shaped radiation detector / actuator mounted on the right hand side of the turret , behind the compressed air tanks . While the T - 62 did not feature an automatic loader ( as would become characteristic of later Russian tanks ) , it had a unique " ejection port " built into the back of the turret , which would open as the main gun recoiled , ejecting spent shell casings outside . This was considered advantageous since the spent casings would otherwise clutter the floor of the tank and fill the interior with noxious burnt - propellant fumes . ( Perrett 1987 : 38 ) There is a blower mounted in the rear of the turret , to the left of the spent cartridge ejection port . Limitations . The T - 62 shares some of the T - 55 ' s limitations : a cramped crew compartment , crude gun control equipment ( on most early models ) , limited depression of the main gun and vulnerable fuel and ammunition storage areas . The automatic spent - cartridge ejection system can cause dangerous accumulations of carbon monoxide and possibly actual physical injury to the crew from spent cartridge cases ricocheting against the edge of a poorly aligned ejection port and rebounding into the crew compartment . Crew members often suffer blunt force injuries and burns from ejected cases bouncing around the interior of the tank . Later designs fitted a deflector behind the commander to protect him from this , but other crew members remain vulnerable . ( Perrett 1987 : 38 ) Opening the ejection port under NBC ( nuclear , biological , or chemical ) conditions would expose the crew to contamination . Each time the gun is fired , the tube must go into détente for cartridge ejection ; the power traverse of the turret is inoperable during ejection and reloading operations . Since manual elevation and traverse are rather slow and not effective for tracking a moving target , rapid fire and second - hit capabilities are limited . The turret cannot be traversed with the driver ' s hatch open . Although the tank commander may override the gunner and traverse the turret , he cannot fire the main gun from his position . He is unable to override the gunner in elevation of the main gun , causing target acquisition problems . To fire the 12 . 7 mm antiaircraft heavy machine gun , the loader must be partially exposed , making him vulnerable to suppressive fire , and he must leave his main gun loading duties unattended . The T - 62 never enjoyed the anticipated success for numerous reasons . First , the T - 62 was more than twice as expensive as the T - 55 , and many Warsaw Pact nations passed on the new tank because they did not feel that the improvements inherent in it warranted the cost . Secondly , in 1968 , a 100 mm HVAPDS tank shell capable of piercing Western armor was developed . Use of this shell made the T - 55 gun almost as effective as the T - 62s , undercutting the T - 62 ' s original selling point : a bigger , more powerful gun . Third , the T - 62 was almost immediately rendered obsolete upon its introduction by new Western tanks like the Chieftain , Leopard 1 and M60 , and it became clear to the Soviets that work had to begin on an even newer main battle tank to keep pace , even though the T - 62 was brand new ( this even newer Soviet tank would become the T - 64 ) . Finally , the T - 62 was slow and could not keep up with the new Soviet BMP ( Infantry Combat Vehicle ) – the principal infantry fighting vehicle which the T - 62 was supposed to accompany . All of these factors combined to ensure that the T - 62 enjoyed relatively low commercial success , and only briefly served in first line Soviet units before being relegated to training , to reserve status , or being exported to Third World clients . ( Perrett 1987 : 41 ) Production history . In July 1961 , Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil , Malyshev Factory in Kharkiv , Ukraine and Omsk Factory No . 183 replaced part of their T - 55 production with the T - 62 . The original plans were that the T - 62 would be produced until Morozov ' s Ob ' yekt 432 tank was developed . T - 62 production was maintained at Uralvagonzavod until 1973 when it was replaced on the production lines by the T - 72 . Until the end of production 20 , 000 T - 62 main battle tanks were produced by Uralvagonzavod . Production in the Soviet Union was stopped in 1975 . Czechoslovakia built more than 1 , 500 T - 62 main battle tanks for export after production ceased in the Soviet Union in 1975 , and it continued there until 1978 . North Korea produced the T - 62 under license until the 1980s . In the early 1990s the North Korean Second Machine Industry Bureau designed a lighter copy of the T - 62 which is mass - produced and is known locally as the Ch ' ŏnma - ho I ( Ga ) . Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau is offering three T - 62 conversions : Service history . Soviet Union . The T - 62 entered service with the Soviet Army in July 1961 . Because of the firepower of the new 115 mm gun , it was considered to be a formidable tank for the time , despite its drawbacks . Along with the T - 55 , the T - 62 was one of the most common tanks in the Soviet inventory . The two tanks together once comprised approximately 85 % of the Soviet army ' s tanks . Sino - Soviet border conflict . The T - 62 saw combat for the first time during 1969 Sino – Soviet border conflict during which one was disabled and captured by the People ' s Liberation Army . The T - 62 ( No . 545 ) was hit by a rocket - propelled grenade fired from the Type - 56 ( Chinese copy of RPG - 2 ) RPG launcher on the morning of 15 March 1969 during a PLA counterattack . The RPG penetrated the left side of hull , killing the driver . This tank was later studied and the information gathered from those studies was used for the development of the Type 69 main battle tank . Soviet war in Afghanistan . During the Soviet war in Afghanistan , the T - 62 was a primary tank used by the Soviet army . The Soviets used tanks in a similar way to what the US Army did in Vietnam , with the use of many in fire support bases . Towards the end of the war T - 62Ms , using the BDD appliqué armor , appeared in large numbers . Numerous T - 62s fell victim to Mujahideen attacks , especially from antitank landmines . Others fell into the hands of the Afghan Mujahideen after they were left behind by withdrawing Soviet forces . Russia . The T - 62 and T - 55 are now mostly used by Russian reserve units for a possible secondary mobilization while some are kept in storage . The active duty and primary mobilization units mainly use the T - 80 , T - 72 , and T - 64 , with a smaller number of T - 90 tanks in service in active units . War in Chechnya . The Russian army used both T - 62s and T - 62Ms in combat in Chechnya . The T - 62M is still being used for counterterrorism operations in this region . 2008 South Ossetia war . Were used in the war against Georgia . Foreign service . Bulgaria . The only other Warsaw Pact member to operate T - 62s on a mass scale was Bulgaria which bought 250 T - 62s , which were delivered between 1970 and 1974 . After the war in Afghanistan , Bulgaria received a number of T - 62s from the Soviet Union in the 1980s . These were modified , but due to several problems , they were quickly withdrawn from service and some were sold to Angola and Yemen . Many were converted into TV - 62 and TV - 62M armoured recovery vehicles and their turrets were scrapped . The TV - 62M is the standard armoured recovery vehicle of the Bulgarian Army . Other Warsaw Pact members . Both Poland and Czechoslovakia evaluated the vehicle but refused it because of the high price and low update value compared to the T - 55 . Israel . During the Yom Kippur war , the T - 62 was an effective adversary for Israeli Patton and Centurion main battle tanks armed with 105 mm tank guns . The T - 62 had an advantage in its better night - fighting capability , but Syrian losses were heavy . The Israelis captured several hundred of these tanks from the Syrians in 1973 , and put some of them into service as the Tiran - 3 . About 120 Tiran - 3 were modernized and received the designation Tiran - 6 . Only a small number was converted because the new US made M60 main battle tanks started arriving in Israel . A small tank brigade consisting of two enlarged tank regiments , each equipped with 46 Tiran - 6 tanks , was formed . The Tiran - 6 is used by reserve units . The Israelis have sold the rest to assorted countries , many in Latin America . Iraq . The Iraqi T - 62s performed well against opposing Iranian tanks such as M48 s , M60A1 s and Chieftain s in the Iran - Iraq war . Iraqi T - 62 participated in the biggest tank battle of the war in early 1981 . Iran has lost 200 Chieftain and M60A1 tanks during battle . In return , Iraq has lost 50 T - 62 tanks . The remaining Iranian armor , turned about and withdrew . Libyan - Chadian War . In 1982 , when Libya invaded Chad the T - 62 tanks were faced with militiamen who had made technical fighting vehicles from Toyota pickup trucks , most of them still in their civilian paint . The technicals were essentially makeshift tank destroyer s , as the militiamen had mounted MILAN ATGM firing posts and welded tripod mounts for assorted recoilless rifle s onto the beds of the trucks . Cuba . The first T - 62s arrived in Cuba in 1976 . Currently approximately 400 are in service with the Cuban armed forces and about 100 are in storage . They are modernized to the T - 62M standard with additional armor , laser equipment and fire control systems . In 1988 , Cuba deployed several T - 62s to Angola to support its MPLA allies during the Angolan Civil War . Throughout the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale , they engaged attacking South African Olifant tanks and Ratel - 90 armoured cars . The Cuban crews only enjoyed limited success due to the unsuitability of the demanding African terrain to tank warfare , and were frequently outperformed by enemy ATGM s and wheeled fighting vehicles . Ethiopian Civil War . The Ethiopian Army purchased T - 62s and used them against guerrillas .