There was a photo of a mysterious T-62 tank with a "folding" gun barrel

An unusual T-62 with a "folding" gun barrel surprised users of social networks. The machine was used by one of the units of the 40th Combined Arms Army of the Limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan (OKSVA).

What such a strange "improvement" is intended for is unknown even to veterans of military operations, including those with experience in operating armored vehicles.

Various assumptions are made: that this is a fully exhausted combat unit, and it was photographed before being sent to the Union for repair, and the gun was shortened to make it easier to transport. Perhaps this sample was no longer used as a tank, but as a well-protected tractor.

Judging by the appearance of the "sixty-second", in particular the presence of an on-board rubber screen, it entered service in the early 80s, when certain conclusions were already drawn from the experience of operation and combat use of tanks in units and formations of the OKSVA.

Later, since 1983, deliveries of the deeply modernized T-62M began with additional armor of the turret and the front of the hull, enhanced mine protection of the bottom, a more advanced sighting system with a laser rangefinder, a ballistic computer and anti-tank missile guidance equipment.

Since the mass of the tank increased to 41,500 kg, engines with a capacity of 620-690 hp were installed on it, which allowed to maintain the mobility characteristics at the same level.

Fans of the history of domestic tank building also remembered Omsk Object 610 - artillery mobile armored observation post (APBNP) "Buffalo", created on the basis of the SU-122-54 self-propelled gun. A mock-up of a gun barrel with a 14.5 mm KPVT machine gun mounted inside was installed on it.

Also in Omsk at the end of the 60s, an Object-618 was developed on the T-64A chassis - a tank division commander's car, which instead of a real gun had a full-size imitation of a 125 mm cannon.

Alexey Moiseev