Designed to keep the edge.

By 1955, the T54 and T55 had been mass-produced and upgraded, but the western po
wers kept on innovating as well and unveiled excellent medium tanks. There was a
lready a pressing demand to find an answer fit to western models like the M47 Pa
tton and Centurion which frontal armour can deflect or defeat 100 mm rounds. As
a result, engineers devised the 100 mm HEAT round, at first costly (and at that
time the crew did not have the required training to deal with these ammo), altho
ugh it had the theoretical advantage to fit into a similar (but smoothbore) barr
el. No new tank model was envisioned, but this was infirmed in january 1961, whe
n a disgruntled Iranian officer defected to USSR with his brand new M60A1. At th
at time engineers devised an APFSDS round which was easier to operate and could
be produced in larger quantities. However the latter was 115 mm in caliber, and
needed a higher muzzle velocity to be effective.
Therefore new guns were tried. In 1957-58 with the D54T. Later in 1961 with the
new smoothbore 115 mm (4.53 in) integrated into the T-55, but trials eventually
failed. There was no way to obtain the room needed for the recoil other than dra
matically increasing the turret ring. And to support the new, heavier turret, to
have a lenghtened chassis. This modified T-55 became the T-62, eventually 25 pr
e-series were built in the summer of 1961, and by july, a full-scale production
was ordered. When the production stopped in 1980 in North Korea (it stopped alre
ady in 1978 in Czechoslovakia, and 1975 in USSR) a total of 22 700 has been deli
vered, more than any other western model, but still far less than the combined T
-54 and T-55 which were not completely replaced due to the introduction of new m
odern rounds compatible with the rifled gun. It found its mark on the soviet ars
enal, was used by around thirteen operators, and well-proven in combat. Its nume
rous limitations and issues only appeared recently and explained its replacement
early on by the far better T-72.
Prototype developments
The Ob'yekt 140
The T-62 originated in the OKB-520 design bureau of Uralvagonzavod factory (UVZ)
in Nizhny Tagil, headed by a young engineer Leonid N. Kartsev. He was responsib
le for the modernization program of the T-54A and T-54B (Ob'yekt 137G/G2). The T
54M (Ob'yekt 139) being eventually abandoned, the team worked on the Ob'yekt 140
, a 37.6 ton prototype which featured six light aluminium roadwheels, a new V-36
, lowered engine, and the 100 mm D-54TS gun coupled with the new Molniya two-pla
ne stabilization system. Trials performed in 1957 on the two Ob'yekt 140 prototy
pes showed a complicated maintenance and expensive parts which will made the pro
duction too costly. When in turn this project was terminated, the team worked on
the (Ob'yekt 155) -The T55- and passed onto it some of the features developed o
n the Ob'yekt 140, like the upper fuel tanks mounting extra ammo.
The Ob'yekt 165
At the end of 1958, Karstev began to concentrate on the Ob'yekt 140 turret. It w
as given a brand-new cartridge-case ejector, and the diameter was enlarged by 25
cm (2245 mm turret ring). This led to marry it on a specially-stretched T55 cha
ssis as all the central part of the hull had to be redesigned. Therefore the tor
sion beam were rearranged -although using the same roadhweels- and he poured int
o it mostly elements from the T-55 to ease production. Eventually three Ob'yekt
165 prototypes were built and tested in november 1958 with the 100 mm D-54TS and
"Kometa" two-plane stabilizer. Two more were built for a total of 5. The T-62A
(produced to 25 units only) were derived from these in january 1962.
The Ob'yekt 166
In the meantime, there were attempts to recalibrate the 100 mm D-54TS tank gun.
The rifling was eliminated (producing a 115 mm caliber), then the muzzle brake,
and the barrel was lenghtened and fitted with a an automatic cartridge-case ejec
tor. The bore evacuator was relocated in the middle of the gun tube rather than
at the base. In effect, this experimental U-5TS "Molot" Rapira became the world
first smoothbore tank gun. Fire trials were performed against the D-10TS, showin
g a great muzzle velocity (700 kmh), doubled range, but poorer accuracy, as expe
cted with the loss of rifling. The final production U-5TS "Molot" (2A20) Rapira

was fitted into the new Ob'yekt 140 for trials in 1958, followed by trials on th
e Ob'yekt 165 in 1960. Added to this were the TKN-3 commander's day/night sight,
TSh-2B-41 gunner day sight (3.5/7x magnification) and the TPN1 41 11 night sight. T
he commander cupola was blended in the turret casting.