T-62 Main Battle Tank

The T-62 was developed in the late 1950s and was first seen in public in May 1965. The programme was similar to the US M-48 / M-60 transition in that it took components of an existing tank to create a new one equipped with a superior gun, in this case the 115mm smoothbore U-5T.
T62 with ERA
T-62 MBT
The T-62 has a longer and wider hull than its predecessor but again has a low silhouette which is bought at the price of crew comfort. Many of the improvements that had been added to the T-55 were standard equipment on the T-62, such as the PAZ NBC system and OPVT snorkel layout. The PAZ system came with an RBZ-1m gamma ray detector, which triggers the system, hermetically sealing the vehicle. The Soviet Ground Forces were always interested in unconventional river crossing techniques due to their bloody experiences during the advances of 1944 - 1945. The tank can be quickly sealed and allows it to cross rivers up the 18 feet (5.5 m) deep so long as the banks are fairly gentle. The thermal smoke system sprays diesel fuel into the exhaust manifold and creates a 275 - 450 yd (250 - 400 m) opaque smokescreen which lasts for 2 - 4 minutes. The 115mm smoothbore U-5T gun was a major advance on the 100mm rifled D-10T and could kill up to 1,600 m with an armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS) round but even though the turret was bigger than the T-55's, there was still little room for the crew. An automatic shell ejection system was fitted, but was prone to malfunction. The fire control system and optics were initially basic but later models can be fitted with enhanced systems including infra-red night-fighting equipment, a laser rangefinder and can fire a modified version of the AT-10 Stabber. The T-62 has the same torsion bar suspension system as the T-55 but is distinguishable by having a recognisable spacing between the road wheels. Later variants included the T-62K command version, which had extra radios and can be fitted with an extra tall radio mast when stationary, and the T-62M, which has the track and drive sprocket of the T-72. The T-62 has been exported to a number of countries, including Egypt, Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Yemen. The Israelis also outfitted a brigade with vehicles captured of their Arab opponents and added external panniers to increase storage capacity and change the vehicle's profile.

Hull length: 6.63m. Hull width: 3.3m. Height: 2.4m. Crew: 4. Ground Clearance: 0.43m. Weight: 40,000kg (combat) Ground pressure: 0.77kg/sq.cm Max speed: 50km/h. Max range (internal fuel): 450km on road. Armament: 115mm smoothbore main gun, 1 x 7.62mm MG coaxial, 1 x 12.7mm anti-aircraft MG.

How to cite this article: Antill, P. (6 February, 2001), T-62 Main Battle Tank, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_t62.html

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