T-64
| T-64 | |
|---|---|
A T-64 tank on display in June 2012
|
|
| Type | Main battle tank |
| Place of origin | Soviet Union |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1964–present |
| Used by | See Operators |
| Wars | |
| Production history | |
| Designer | KMDB |
| Designed | 1951–62 |
| Manufacturer | Malyshev Factory |
| Produced | 1963–87 |
| No. built | ≈13,000 |
| Specifications (T-64A) | |
| Weight | 38 tonnes (42 short tons; 37 long tons) |
| Length | 9.225 m (30 ft 3.2 in) (gun forward) |
| Width | 3.415 m (11 ft 2.4 in) |
| Height | 2.172 m (7 ft 1.5 in) |
| Crew | 3 |
|
|
|
| Armour |
Glass-reinforced plastic sandwiched between layers of steel. ERA plates optional Hull & turret –370 mm to 440 mm vs APFSDS 500 mm to 575 mm vs HEAT |
|
Main
armament |
D-81T (aka 2A46) 125 mm smoothbore gun |
|
Secondary
armament |
7.62 mm PKMT coaxial machine gun, 12.7 mm NSVT anti-aircraft machine gun |
| Engine | 5DTF 5-cylinder diesel 700 hp (522 kW) |
| Power/weight | 18.4 hp/tonne (13.7 kW/ton) |
| Suspension | Torsion bar |
|
Operational
range |
500 km (310 mi), 700 km (430 mi) with external tanks |
| Speed | 45–60 km/h (28–37 mph) depending on version |
Glass-reinforced plastic sandwiched between layers of steel. ERA plates optional
The T-64 is a Soviet second-generation main battle tank introduced in the early 1960s. It was a more advanced counterpart to the T-62: the T-64 served tank divisions, while the T-62 supported infantry in motorized rifle divisions. It introduced a number of advanced features including composite armor, a compact engine and transmission, and a smoothbore 125-mm gun equipped with an autoloader to allow the crew to be reduced to three so the tank could be smaller and lighter. In spite of being armed and armored like a heavy tank, the T-64 weighed only 38 tonnes (42 short tons; 37 long tons).
These features made the T-64 expensive to build, significantly higher than previous generations of Soviet tanks. This was especially true of the power pack. Several proposals were made to improve the T-64 with new engines, but chief designer Alexander Morozov's political power in Moscow kept the design in production in spite of any concerns about price. This led to the T-72 being designed as an emergency design, only to be produced in the case of a war, but its 40% lower price led to it entering production in spite of Morozov's objections.
Although the T-62 and the famous T-72 would see much wider use and generally more development, it was the T-64 that formed the basis of subsequent modern Soviet tank designs, such as the T-80.
The T-64 was conceived in Kharkiv, Ukraine, as the next-generation main battle tank by Alexander A. Morozov, the designer of the T-54 (which, in the meantime, would be incrementally improved by Leonid N. Kartsev's Nizhny Tagil bureau, by the models T-54A, T-54B, T-55, and T-55A).
A revolutionary feature of the T-64 is the incorporation of an automatic loader for its 125-mm gun, allowing one crew member's position to be omitted and helping to keep the size and weight of the tank down. Tank troopers would joke that the designers had finally caught up with their unofficial hymn, Three Tankers—the song had been written to commemorate the crewmen fighting in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, in 3-man BT-5 tanks in 1939.
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Wikipedia