Image source: vestnik-rm.ru
In the 50s, the leading armed forces of the world were preparing for an all-out nuclear war. The opponents were going to bring down an infinite amount of atomic and hydrogen ammunition on each other.
Therefore, the designers of armored vehicles tried to adapt their developments as much as possible to successful actions in the conditions of a nuclear apocalypse.
As you know, the first serial machine with an automatic anti-atomic protection system was the Soviet T-55, whose production began in 1958.
At that time, the Soviet Union was thinking about even more modern technology. For example, at the main institute of the tank industry of the VNII-100, a variant of a medium tank with a so-called concentrated crew location was being worked out. This sample can be considered one of the ancestors of the modern "Armata". On it, as on the T-14, the commander, gunner and driver were in the front of the hull, and the tower with a 115-mm smoothbore gun would be uninhabited.
The isolated mechanized ammunition load consisted of 40 shells. Another ten rounds of ammunition were in reserve.
The machine turned out to be quite compact and very streamlined, as a result, it would be maximally adapted for actions in the conditions of the use of tactical nuclear weapons by the enemy. So, the safe radius from the epicenter of a nuclear explosion with a capacity of 30 kilotons was 800 meters for it.
Unfortunately, in those years, the development of technology did not allow creating a tank with an uninhabited combat compartment. Such developments were seriously engaged only after several decades.
Lev Romanov
Dmitry Lemeshkabout
