So, let's begin. My warm greetings to the German "experts" who saw in the "Armata" the developments of German designers of the 70s and the guys from Ukraine, who saw the Kharkov "Hammer" of the 80s in it, since this story began in the USSR in the second half of the 50s … At that time, it became clear that an urgent change in the series of T55 tanks was needed and the design teams were given the go-ahead to design a new tank. As a result of fruitful work and according to the results of tests, the "object 430" of the Kharkov design bureau was recognized as the best and most promising, for which, as they say, "I take off my hat"
in front of the great Alexander Aleksandrovich Morozov, a tank designer.
But this tank, which later turned into the T64, was as new as it was "raw" that it took a lot of time to fine-tune it. The country did not stand still, the country strove into space and created a missile shield, which greatly impressed the then General Secretary N. S. Khrushchev. Guided missiles took their place under the wings of aircraft, portable anti-tank missile systems developed rapidly, and the idea of making a missile the main caliber of a tank was born in the minds of our generals, and they were actively supported in this by Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers V. A. Malyshev.
As a result, on May 8, 1957, a government decree was adopted "On the creation of new tanks, self-propelled guns - tank destroyers and guided rocket weapons for them" and on the basis of it, the corresponding terms of reference were sent to our tank and artillery design bureaus. And soon several missile tanks were tested and one of them, namely the Leningrad "Object 287"
I want to draw your attention, because I think that "Armata" is clearly a close relative of him. The chief designer of this rocket tank was the great Soviet designer Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin.
In order to simplify the development of this tank in the army and to maximize ease of maintenance and provision of spare parts, Kotin took the Morozov "object 430" as the base chassis, but took it only as a starting point, since the changes he made were significant. and in fact it turned out to be a new tank.
As a small lyrical digression. The chief designer of the Kharkov plant, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Morozov, was a native of the city of Bezhitsa, now within the city of Bryansk and lived and worked most of his life in Ukraine, and Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin was born in the city of Pavlograd, Yekaterinoslav province (now still Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine), and the main part of his life he worked in the tank design bureau of the Kirov plant in the city of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). But who then looked at these little things, everyone worked for the same goal, now we are measuring who is better "Ukrainian" Morozov or "Russian" Kotin. As it is not correct and insulting that they could not keep what the ancestors bequeathed.
Well, let's continue our story about "Object 287". What did Kotin breakthrough?
First. The shape of the hull was changed, especially in the front and on the sides. The Upper Frontal Detail, aka VLD, was straightened and shifted somewhat forward than on the "Object 430", as a result of which the weakened zone in the area of the fur-water viewing device was significantly reduced. In the protection of the VLD, both an increase in the angle of inclination and "combined" booking were used, which made it possible to significantly increase protection without a significant increase in weight. In any case, at that time not a single enemy projectile could have penetrated it, so during the test, the armor provided protection against a 122-mm armor-piercing projectile and from cumulative weapons that had armor penetration up to 600 mm. Moreover, this "sandwich": 90-mm armor - 130-mm fiberglass layer - 30-mm armor - anti-radiation lining, qualitatively protected not only from enemy shells, but also from fragments of broken armor and radiation thanks to anti-radiation lining.
Second. The armament was placed in an uninhabited tower, which was equipped, as they say, with a newfangled weapon module. It installed a launcher for the 140-mm TURS 9M15 Typhoon, developed by OKB-16,
it stabilized in a vertical plane: thus, the tank could fire aimingly at speeds up to 30 km / h. The 9M15 guided missile was guided to the target manually by radio commands using the tracer luminous spot control equipment. To increase the likelihood of a missile hitting the target, an autopilot and a software mechanism were introduced that provided automatic transmission of the command along the course, depending on the relative angular velocity of the tank to the target. The radio signal transmitted to the rocket was received by its onboard equipment, decoded and converted into an electrical command impulse, which controlled the rocket rudders using jet relays. The fragmentation-cumulative warhead of the rocket had armor penetration of 500 mm, and its fragmentation effect was equivalent to the action of a 100-mm high-explosive fragmentation projectile.
As auxiliary weapons, two 73-mm 2A25 Molniya cannons were used, which were used for firing PG-15V grenades.
and PG (OG) -15P
similar to those used on the 2A28 "Thunder" cannon BMP-1 and coaxial machine guns.
Third. The crew was housed in a separate capsule and consisted of two people: the driver and the tank commander, who simultaneously served as the gunner, the driver was on the left side of the hull, and the operator commander was on the starboard side. Both crew members had personal entry-exit and emergency exit hatches.
Fourth. A panoramic combined non-illuminated sight with an independent line of sight and a field of view stabilized in two planes was used.
The car turned out to be very innovative, even more than the T64, and its fine-tuning took a long time. But the precise work of the main caliber of the rocket tank was not achieved. During trials in 1964, the tank failed, primarily due to the extreme unreliability of the rocket launcher.
Of the 45 test launches, 16 hits and 8 misses were recorded, while the rest of the launches were accompanied by failures! The "Object 287" was no longer brought into service and its competitor, the Nizhny Tagil "Object 155", created on the basis of the T62 and in the series became the IT-1 "Dragon", was adopted.
But if it was possible to achieve better and more reliable operation of the Typhoon ATGM and 73mm guns, then, of course, the 287 had a great chance of winning. And if you consider that on its basis Leningraders also carried out tests of the GTE as the main power plant,
Experimental tank "Object 288" based on the tanks "Object 287" and "Object 430" with a gas turbine installation of two GTD-350
(1963)
it could generally have turned out to be a very interesting combat vehicle with powerful weapons, high speed and maneuverability, as well as small dimensions, especially in height. Together with MBT, and on its own, this vehicle could greatly "upset" enemy tanks and infantry both in the offensive and in defense.
From a modern point of view, of course, it raises questions about the presence of only two crew members, as a result of which the tank commander ceased to be such, and became a more gunner and the use of a pair of 73-mm guns, but I think that over time, thanks to the experience of operation and combat use, there would appear a place for the third crew member and instead of 73-mm cannons, automatic cannons of 20, 23 or 30-mm caliber appeared
Yes, of course it is a pity that this rocket tank did not appear then in our troops, but the main thing is that the ideas inherent in this machine did not disappear, and when the time came, they were embodied in metal at a higher level
Used materials:
1. Guided weapons
2. Late to the war: Rocket tanks
3. Experienced medium tank "Object 287". A forgotten masterpiece.
