>>
|
No. 18358
ID: 1e7cc7
File
142600631940.jpg
- (245.41KB
, 1944x1296
, Russian experimental nuclear blast tank, Obyekt 27.jpg
)
One of the reasons that this tank project was abandoned, as with other heavy tank projects, was the fact that the Russians stopped operating with heavy fighting vehicles of that type, tanks and similar, as of 1960. Since then, the heaviest ones are kept at about 50 metric tons of weight, that is without counting in any extra equipment such as additional reactive armor, mine clearing devices (mine ploughs, mine rollers) etc. It was something concerning the current Soviet policy (On July 22, 1960 at the demonstration of new technology on the range of Kapustin Yar, Nikita Khrushchev strictly forbade any tanks with a weight of more than 37 metric tons to be adopted by the military, having thus written off the entire program of heavy tanks which proven to be so successful).
Adding to this decision was the fact that Nikita Khrushchev himself was a supporter of an alternative - guided missile tanks, the most prominent of which was IT-1.
Furthermore, the Russians wanted tanks with a suitable weight for crossing their own bridges, in case of homeland defense situations similar to those that occurred during World War II, which at that time seemed to be unreliable for heavy vehicle crossings.
Another reason was the fact that a number of serious deficiencies of the running gear appeared during the trials. These deficiencies included low nimbleness, efficiency loss during swampy area crossings, complex and expensive production, maintenance and repair, and impossibility of reduction in the overall height of the tank.
|