The first Soviet T-55s appeared in the Peruvian army forty-seven years ago. A total of 250 such medium tanks were delivered. For a long time, these machines practically did not differ from the thousands of "fifty-fifths" serving in almost seven dozen other countries of the world.
Over time, the intensively operated equipment wore out, it had to be sent to storage bases until better times or written off for scrap. Therefore, now there are only a little more than 160 units left in the combat formation.
Some of them underwent modernization, which consisted in strengthening firepower. They provided it with the installation of anti-tank missiles "Baby" and their Chinese clones - HJ-73.
At first, two guides were mounted, and then four, which are located on the sides of the tower.
At the very first tests, the tankers were able to evaluate this relatively simple innovation. If earlier the D-10T2S 100-mm rifled tank weapon could hit the enemy with armor-piercing sub-caliber shells at a distance of no more than 2000 meters, then the ATGM reaches the enemy already at 3000 meters.
Existing cannon shaped ammunition hits at the same distance, but in their accuracy they significantly lose to guided missiles, which also lead in terms of armor penetration characteristics. The modified "rocket" T-55s became known as the Leon 1.
It should be noted that the "Babies" and HJ-73 in this country also began to be installed on Fiat/GRT Melara 6616 two-axle armored reconnaissance vehicles purchased in Italy and on combat buggies operated in special forces.
Peruvian T-55M1 MBT variant with 4 AT-3 ATGMs. pic.twitter.com/CGwzHKJeHz
— Caesar (@Ninja998998) November 15, 2021
Alexey Brusilov
