Natural selection of domestic tank
Combat T-34
The first in line is the most massive medium tank of the times of World War II - the T-34. When it was created, the experience of using Soviet tanks T-26 and BT-5 in the Spanish Civil War, where the light armor of these vehicles was easily penetrated by quick-firing guns. It became clear that the army needed a medium high-speed tank with powerful armor protection and weapons. This concept was first implemented in 1934. T-34 was a harmonious combination of all the combat properties of the tank: mobility, armor protection and firepower. This set of excellent combat qualities allowed the "thirty-four" to win battles against German tanks of a similar class. The main feature of the car is its armor protection. The armor plates in it are located at an angle of 45 °, which significantly increased the survival of the combat vehicle on the battlefield. By the way, a similar concept is still applied. An important advantage of the T-34 was also a high cross-country ability and maneuverability. It is worth noting that not a single Russian tank further had such a test of its combat qualities as the T-34.
Postwar generation
In the post-war years, new military equipment was required, and the tension in world politics at that time only stimulated engineers for the caliber race and forced them to increase engine power. And if, in the first post-war generation of tanks, the developers, as a rule, corrected the errors of the previous models, the second required radical changes. Thus, in our country, there were three combat vehicles, fundamentally different from each other in their power characteristics.
The first tank of the three second-generation T-64 went through a thorny path to its best shape: the main complaints of the developers concerned the engine, which required a long warm-up in the cold season, the running gear, which worked for wear and the not quite successful arrangement of the ammunition in the conveyor, which turned the turret tank in a powder keg. But, despite this, the T-64 body was taken as the basis for the next combat vehicle - the T-72 tank. When developing the latter, the task was to increase the power of its power plant. The machine received "cross-pollination", taking the undercarriage from another experimental medium tank. The torsion bar suspension with original lever-blade hydraulic shock absorbers made the move smooth, which in the future allowed to increase the weight of the machine. As in the previous tank, composite materials were used in the T-72, which made it possible to make armor more stable without increasing weight. It was a three-layer construction. The first layer is steel armor, 80mm thick, the second is fiberglass, 105 mm thick, and the last, lower layer is steel, 20 mm thick. Such protection is equivalent to conventional steel armor, 410 mm thick. For comparison, the thickness of the T-34 armor was 45 mm. Having become a universal platform for a whole family of heavy vehicles, including civil ones, the T-72 has passed the test of time and is still valued all over the world. This formidable fighter does not slow down and even got into the Guinness Book of Records as the most massive tank.
Another post-war generation combat vehicle is the T-80 tank, which is fundamentally different from its previous counterparts. For the first time, a gas turbine engine was installed on it, the main feature of which is the operational combat readiness of the engine. Even in the most terrible cold after 45 seconds, it will be launched, and in just a few minutes the tank is ready to move in low gear. But even here there are some nuances: the cost of fuel is colossal, and in high-altitude conditions the engine no longer has enough air to pump, and it also does not do well in high dustiness. All this forced to abandon the breakthrough T-80.
Heavy artillery
The next fighter who adopted the successful and unsuccessful experience of his predecessors was the T-90 tank, designed to destroy the enemy’s armored and manpower. The car has significantly increased the speed of rotation of the tower. The firing range has reached 5 km, and thanks to a modern thermal sight, the tank can fire at night at a distance of up to 3,5 km. In addition, the steel fighter received a built-in dynamic protection of the new sample and a complex of optical-electronic suppression.
Tank "Armata", aka T-14 - the newest tank on the basis of a universal platform, which will be introduced into the troops everywhere. This is, above all, the leader of the pack. He can not only control ground vehicles, but also transmit data on the situation to the crews of helicopters. The car has a lot of innovations: built-in drone, ultraviolet hd-cameras, active protection complex and multi-layered ceramic reservation.
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