In the process of improving the T-64, designer Leonid Kartsev, joined by Valeri Venediktov, chose to combine the best features of that tank with those of the older, simpler T-62. The relatively modest 13,000 T-64s built between 1964 to 1987 reflected the tank’s difficulties and its excessive expense. In addition, the auto-loader had a tendency to “eat” the left arms of insufficiently attentive gunners. Also kept secret for as long as possible was the embarrassing frequency with which its technological innovations malfunctioned in the field.Īmong other things, the original 700-hp 5TDF diesel engine was unreliable and hard to repair. When it entered service in 1964, the T-64 was used exclusively by the Soviet tank regiments and its technical details were kept veiled in secrecy for many years. This added up to produce a tank weighing a mere 38 tons and carrying a three-man crew, capable – in theory – of taking on the standard four-man main battle tanks of its Western opposition. The T-64, in contrast, sought to gain qualitative superiority on the battlefield with unprecedented inventiveness, such as a compact engine arrangement and an auto-loader for its 125mm smoothbore cannon, which could fire shells or antitank missiles. The T-64’s chief designer, Aleksandr Morozov, had previously gained fame for two outstandingly simple but effective tanks, the T-34 and the T-54. or so the old proverb goes, but the necessity behind the T-72’s development lies in too much invention, too soon.
Amid recent problems arising from their most sophisticated tank, they went back to basics with the T-72. Tanks have acquired their own special refinements over the years, but the Russian arsenal includes a relic of 1973. This advancement in warfare has given the infantryman unprecedented parity against the tracked armored monsters. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been marked by a return to the type of armored warfare that hasn’t been seen since World War II - with at least one major difference - the development of “fire and forget” anti-tank guided missiles. That Design Is Being Put to the Test in Ukraine. Russia’s T-72 Tank Is Intentionally Old-School.
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