The famous Soviet tank designer Alexander Morozov, who was one of the creators of the T-34 medium tank, proposed his own design for a main battle tank back in the 1970s, which in all its characteristics was supposed to surpass the T-64 tank. Already in those years, the design engineer proposed equipping the future tank with an uninhabited turret and, in one of the options, considered the possibility of reducing the crew to two people. His project went down in history as the T-74 tank, or "Object 450". Adjusted for the time and industry capabilities of the early 1970s, this tank can be safely called the "Armata" of its time.
How Alexander Morozov abandoned the classic layout
The promising main battle tank (MBT) T-74 was designed in Kharkov at the famous Malyshev plant on an initiative basis. The chief designer of the tank was the famous engineer Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Morozov, who since November 1951 was the chief designer of the Kharkov Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau. It was under his leadership that the T-64 and T-64A were created in Kharkov. Developed in the 1970s, the T-74 was supposed to surpass the T-64A main battle tank in all respects. Chief designer Alexander Morozov made a report on the project of a new MBT, which originally had the internal designation "Theme 101" on May 26, 1972. Later, the new project of the Kharkov designer was assigned the official index "Object 450" by the Main Armored Directorate (GBTU).
The main goal of the work of Morozov and his design bureau was to create a tank that would surpass the machines of the previous generation in all respects. It was about improving not only the combat characteristics, but also the production and operational qualities of the new tank in comparison with the MBT T-64A, as well as foreign models of armored vehicles "XM-803" and "Keiler". XM-803 - An experienced American main battle tank with a 152mm cannon, developed in the early 1970s; The Keiler was a German main battle tank program of the late 1960s that eventually led to the Leopard 2.
Alexander Morozov imagined the ideology of a promising MBT in the following solutions:
- maintaining the weight and dimensions of the MBT at the level of the T-64A2M tank (no heavier than 40 tons);
- improving the working conditions of the tank crew (habitability);
- ensuring high protective properties of the tank;
- duplication of the work of crew members, so that each can replace the other;
- denser layout;
- increasing the combat readiness of the tank in any conditions (storage of ammunition, starting the engine, battery operation);
- ensuring autonomy during long marches in any climatic conditions, as well as in battle.
Taking into account the stated ideology and using all the positive experience of tank building already accumulated in the Soviet Union, Morozov proposed to create a fundamentally new combat vehicle. The engineer's analysis of the work of his colleagues from leading design bureaus specializing in the creation of tanks, as well as all available information on foreign developments of MBT of those years, showed that while maintaining the classic layout, further improvement of the tactical and technical qualities of the tank is not possible without a significant increase in combat weight and the size of the MBT, as well as the growth of costs for the production and operation of the machine. All of the above was disproportionate to the increase in the tactical and technical characteristics of the tank. As an example, Alexander Morozov cited the projects of the MBT-70, Keiler, and Chieftain tanks, the mass of which had already exceeded 50 tons. Despite the increase in weight and dimensions, the performance characteristics of these combat vehicles increased very moderately. At the same time, there was an increase in the cost and complexity of mass production, as well as the operation of a combat vehicle, problems could arise with the very deployment of mass production.
Taken together, all this forced Morozov to abandon the design of the next tank of the classical scheme. For a new combat vehicle, it was necessary to look for a new combat layout, which would not only increase all the tactical and technical characteristics, but also make it possible to keep the tank within the limits of the weight and dimensions of the already existing Soviet MBT.
The proposed design of the T-74 tank
To the main disadvantages of tanks of the classical layout, Morozov attributed the tightness of the fighting compartment, which reminded him of a one-room apartment or the simplest soldier's duffel bag. In this confined space, the crew of the combat vehicle was squeezed from all sides by weapons, ammunition, various equipment and parts, wires, as well as fuel tanks. Some of the parts and mechanisms "in transit" passed through the fighting compartment to the engine-transmission compartment. Such an environment was traumatic for the crew and during the march, when everything began to move and swayed, in battle, the risk of fire and explosion increased. In the aggregate, noise, smoke, and crampedness inside the fighting compartment reduced the habitability indicators, which directly influenced the crew and the conditions of their combat work.
In the new project of the T-74 tank, the layout was fundamentally different. It was the fighting compartment that Morozov subjected to a radical change. If all classic tanks were, in fact, a combination of a combat and engine-transmission compartment, then Alexander Morozov proposed a design of five sealed and isolated compartments: crew compartment, MTO, ammunition compartment, fuel and weapons. This arrangement, according to the designer, made it possible to improve the working conditions of the crew, as well as its protection. At the same time, it was assumed that the transported ammunition and the volume of fuel would also grow. These improvements were achieved with a reduction in the frontal silhouette of the tank by 5 percent, and the internal volume by 7.5 percent compared to the T-64A.
The gun, ammunition and main components of the tank were completely removed from the fighting compartment, while the crew was located in the body of the combat vehicle. The crew compartment was completely sealed and soundproofed. Carrying out the main armament into an uninhabited module automatically solved the problem of gas pollution in the fighting compartment. The frontal armor was more than impressive: 700 mm of armor set at an angle of 75 degrees. It was believed that this would be sufficient to protect against ammunition of all calibers and all types. It was also possible to additionally install dynamic protection on the tank, and it was planned to install a mesh screen at the stern, increasing protection against cumulative ammunition. In sum, this could make it possible to abandon the use of very complex protection complexes "Shater" and "Porcupine" on the tank.
The tank's crew consisted of three people: a driver-mechanic, an armament operator and a tank commander. All of them sat in one row shoulder to shoulder in an isolated compartment and could freely talk and communicate with each other. The project of the T-74 tank was supposed to work out the duplication of the functions of the crew members so that they could replace each other if necessary. Also, the designers in Kharkov worked out the option of reducing the crew to only two people. This decision was promising in terms of saving personnel. A regiment of about 100 tanks would then require not 300 crew members, but only 200 tankers.
The undercarriage of the promising tank was completely unified with the undercarriage of the MBT T-64A, consisting of 6 road wheels, the suspension is torsion bar. This decision was aimed at unifying and simplifying the serial production of the future tank. As a power plant, the designers from Kharkov considered a new gas turbine engine that develops power up to 1250 hp. At the same time, the engine-transmission compartment was also planned to be performed with the widespread use of components and assemblies of the serial T-64A tank, but to reduce its volume by about 1/5. All this looked good on paper, in fact, the designer did not have a perfect 1000-horsepower engine at his disposal, which slowed down the work on the project.
But the main element and the Achilles' heel of the tank was a separate uninhabited combat module. It was planned to use such a solution for the first time on tanks. A 125-mm smoothbore gun was considered as the main armament, but the option of installing a promising 130-mm gun was also discussed. The gun was supposed to work together with a loading mechanism, which was also borrowed from the T-64A, the ammunition load was up to 45 shells. In addition, it was planned to install two 7.62-mm machine guns in the uninhabited tower, and an option was also being worked out with the placement of a 30-mm automatic cannon, which was planned to be used as an anti-aircraft gun.
The decision to install an uninhabited tower on a tank required serious coordination of work and the use of advanced optics, fire control systems, onboard equipment, sensors, and electronics. For the 1970s, this was a daunting task. And the set of equipment proposed for installation was impressive: from laser rangefinders and sensors of the laser warning system to infrared observation devices, a navigation system (inertial reckoning complex) and an on-board information system that would operate on the basis of an on-board digital computer manufactured by the Scientific Research Institute "Argon ".
The fate of Object 450
We can say that the T-74 project was the last major project of the famous Soviet designer, his swan song. This project was never realized in metal.
For its time, a tank with an uninhabited turret was too complex, breakthrough, but expensive; it was not possible to implement it using the capabilities of the Soviet industry of the 1970s. At the same time, many experts believe that it was the "Object 450" that became the first project from which the history of the creation of a promising Soviet tank began.
Despite the fact that the concept of the T-74 main battle tank proposed by Morozov at the time of its presentation combined the most advanced and promising ideas in tank building, it was not possible to implement them in practice, and largely because of the futurism of the project. Those technical solutions that were supposed to provide the new main battle tank with an advantage in all basic characteristics over the combat vehicles of the previous generation, just did not allow to establish mass production and put the tank into service.
In the mid-1970s, many elements of the fire control system of the proposed tank, as well as onboard radio-electronic equipment, simply could not be implemented by the Soviet industry with a given level of reliability and with the required set of characteristics. At the same time, the Object 450 project is undoubtedly interesting and significant and serves as the first step towards a new generation of tanks. The backlog created by Alexander Alexandrovich Morozov was later used in the development of promising Soviet and then Russian main battle tanks.
