60 years ago, in conditions of absolute secrecy, the "atomic tank" was created.

In 1956, Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev instructed the designers to begin work on the project unique tank who were not afraid of either nuclear explosion, no radiation contamination of the crew, no chemical or biological attacks. The project received article 279.

Armor is strong at 300 millimeters

And such a heavy tank weighing 60 tons was designed by 1957 at SKB-2 of the Kirov Plant of Leningrad (KZL) under the leadership of the chief designer, Major General Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin. It was immediately and rightly called atomic. Moreover, the lion's share of its weight was armor, in some places reaching up to 305 millimeters. That is why the internal space for the crew was much smaller than that of heavy tanks of a similar mass.

The atomic tank embodied the new tactics of World War III and a more "vegetarian" era, when human life was worth at least something. It was the concern for the crew of this armored vehicle that dictated some of the tactical and technical of this tank. For example, if necessary, the hermetically closing hatch of the tower and the breech of the gun prevented even a speck of dust from entering the interior of the machine, not to mention radioactive gases and chemicals infections. Excluded for tankers and bacteriological danger.

So, even the sides of the hull were protected by almost twice as thick armor than the German Tigers. It reached 182 mm on the 279th. The frontal armor of the hull generally had an unprecedented thickness - from 258 to 269 mm. This exceeded the parameters of even such a cyclopean German development of the Third Reich as the heaviest monster in the history of tank building, as if jokingly named by its developer Ferdinand Porsche Maus (“Mouse”). With a vehicle weight of 189 tons, its frontal armor was 200 mm. Whereas in a nuclear tank, it was covered with simply impenetrable 305-mm high-alloy steel. Moreover, the body of the Soviet miracle tank had the shape of a turtle shell - shoot, don't shoot, and the shells simply slid off it and flew on. In addition, the giant's body was also covered with anti-cumulative screens.

Oh, not enough shells!

This configuration was chosen by the leading designer of the SKB-2 KZL, Lev Sergeevich Troyanov, not by chance: after all, the tank was not just called nuclear - it was designed to conduct combat operations directly near nuclear explosion. Moreover, the almost flat body excluded the overturning of the car even under the influence of a monstrous shock wave. The armor of the tank withstood a frontal hit of even a 90-mm cumulative projectile, as well as a shot from close range armor-piercing charge from a 122-mm cannon. And not only in the forehead - the board also withstood such hits.

By the way, for such a heavyweight, he had a very good speed on the highway - 55 km / h. And being invulnerable, the iron hero himself could deliver a lot of trouble to the enemy: his gun had a caliber of 130 mm, and could easily break through any armor that existed at that time. True, the supply of shells led to pessimistic reflections - according to the instructions, only 24 of them were placed in the tank. In addition to the gun, the four crew members also had a heavy machine gun at their disposal.

Another feature of the Project 279 was its tracks - there were already four of them. In other words, an atomic tank, in principle, could not get stuck - even on complete impassability, thanks also to the low specific pressure on the ground. And he successfully overcame mud, deep snow, and even anti-tank hedgehogs and gouges. On tests in 1959, in the presence of representatives of the military-industrial complex and the Ministry of Defense, the military liked everything, especially the thickness of the armor of the atomic tank and its complete protection from everything. But the ammunition load plunged the generals into despondency. They were not impressed by the difficulty in operating the undercarriage, as well as the extremely low ability to maneuver.

And the project was abandoned. The tank remained manufactured in a single copy, which is now exhibited in Kubinka - in the Armored Museum. And the other two unfinished prototypes were melted down.

flying tank

Another exotic development of our military engineers was the A-40 or, as it was also called, "KT" ("Tank Wings"). According to the alternative title, he could even... fly. Design "KT" (namely we are talking about a glider for the domestic T-60) began 75 years ago - in 1941. In order to lift the tank into the air, a glider was attached to it, which was then taken in tow by a TB-3 heavy bomber. The idea of ​​such a non-standard solution was none other than Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, who then worked in the Glider Directorate as the chief engineer at the People's Commissariat of the Aviation Industry.

It is clear that with a weight of almost eight tons (together with a glider), a tank equipped with wings could fly behind a bomber at a speed of only 130 km / h. Nevertheless, the main thing they wanted to teach him was to land in the right place, having previously unhooked from the BT-3. It was planned that after landing, two crew members would remove from the T-60 all the flight “uniforms” that had become unnecessary and be ready for combat operations, having at their disposal a 20 mm caliber gun and a machine gun. The T-60s were supposed to be delivered to the encircled units of the Red Army or partisans, and they also wanted to use this method of transportation for the emergency transfer of vehicles to the necessary sections of the front.

The flying tank was tested in August-September 1942. Alas, due to the low speed, the glider just kept at a height of forty meters above the ground due to poor streamlining and its rather solid mass. There was a war, and at that time such searchlights were out of place. Only those developments that could become combat vehicles in the very near future were welcomed.

For this reason, the project was cancelled. This happened in February 1943, when Oleg Antonov was already working in the Design Bureau of Alexander Sergeevich Yakovlev - his deputy. Another important point, because of which work on the A-40 was stopped, was the condition of transporting its ammunition along with the tank - this question remained open. The flying tank was also made in just one copy. But he was not the only project of our designers. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of such developments. Fortunately, there have always been enough talented engineers in our country.

In the middle of the last century, active implementation began in everyday life energy sources based on nuclear reaction, ranging from colossal nuclear power plant projects, fantastic icebreakers and submarines to consumer household needs and nuclear cars. Unfortunately, most of these ideas have not yet been implemented. The desire of mankind to simultaneously minimize and globalize contributed to the emergence in history of attempts to use the reactor where it is impossible to even imagine it - for example, in a tank

The history of atomic tanks began (and ended too) in the United States of America. IN post-war years conferences bringing together amateurs and professional figures science under one roof. The luminaries of scientific thought staged a populist brainstorm whose purpose was to find new technical solutions for the needs of modern society, capable of turning its life around once and for all.

One of the most popular of these conferences was called "Question Mark" (English "Question Mark"). It was at one of these meetings in 1954 that the idea of ​​creating a tank powered by atomic energy. Such a combat vehicle could almost completely rid the American army of oil dependence, which was especially important during the silent expectation of a nuclear war. To have a full power reserve after a forced march, and, accordingly, the ability to engage in battle “on the move”, without the necessary maintenance, was the main hope placed on the project, called TV-1 (“TrackVehicle-1”, eng. - “ Tracked vehicle-1").

The very first technical proposal for an atomic tank project contained the following items: armor thickness - 350 mm, weight - no more than 70 tons, armament - a 105 mm caliber gun.

The design of the tank was quite simple. The reactor was located in front of the vehicle, and immediately behind it were the crew, fighting and engine rooms. The reactor for the tank was planned to be made with forced air cooling - hot air after the heat exchange process was supposed to drive the engine turbine.

It was assumed that nuclear fuel would be enough for 500 hours of continuous operation, however, according to theoretical calculations, during this time TV-1 would infect several hundred cubic meters of air! In addition, no unambiguous decision was made on reliable emergency protection of the reactor itself. This made the tank more dangerous for friendly troops than for the enemy.

The first project was followed by the second. In 1955, an upgraded TV-1 was introduced, given the R32 marker. The main differences from its predecessor were smaller dimensions and weight, as well as more rational armor slope angles. The most important difference was in reducing the danger of the reactor. They abandoned the air turbine, as well as reduced the size of the reactor itself, as well as the maximum cruising range of the machine. Thus, the safety of the reactor for the crew increased, but all the same, these protection measures were not enough for the full operation of the tank.

On this attempt to interest the army nuclear projects have not ended. One of the most "colorful" developments was the project of an armored vehicle based on heavy tank M103. This project was made by the well-known American company Chrysler, which developed a tank with a nuclear reactor as part of the ASTRON program.

The result of the development was to be an effective combat vehicle capable of surpassing enemy armored vehicles for many decades to come. An experimental tank concept with an original turret was hidden behind the TV-8 index - its size exceeded the length of the vehicle's hull! The turret contained all the crew members, a 90 mm gun and ammunition. The tower was also supposed to accommodate both the reactor and the diesel engine. As you might guess, the TV-8 (known as the "float tank") had, to put it mildly, an original appearance.

The paradox lies in the fact that the TV-8 was the most successful project of a tank with a nuclear reactor and the only one brought by the developers to the prototyping stage. Unfortunately or fortunately, the project was later closed due to an unreasonable balance of prospects and risks associated with the operation of the tank.

TV-8 can be attributed to one of the most unusual design tanks in the history of military equipment. Now it looks at least ridiculous, and the layout principle seems to be extremely irrational - when it hit the turret, all the life-supporting systems of the tank turned out to be in the affected area - from the engine, weapons and crew to the nuclear reactor, the damage of which seemed fatal not only in relation to the tank itself, but also to the environment.

In addition, the autonomy of the operation of a nuclear tank still did not seem possible, since the ammunition and fuel and lubricants were in any case limited, and the crew members were subjected to constant radiation exposure, which jeopardized human lives. Together with the extremely high cost of such a machine, their mass production and operation even now look like a very dubious enterprise. As a result, the atomic tank remained the product of the nuclear fever that swept the world in the 50s of the XX century.

This tank can be considered a symbol of a nuclear war that never started. Its design is optimally suited to resist the shock wave, and the four-track chassis- for movement in conditions of a probable nuclear winter ...

Heavy tank - "Object 279", the only one of its kind and, without any doubt, the most unique. Its hull had a cast curvilinear shape with thin-sheet anti-cumulative screens, complementing its contours to an elongated ellipsoid. This hull shape was supposed to prevent the tank from being overturned by the blast wave of a nuclear explosion.

Let's take a closer look at this project...

Maybe the beginning of the post is somewhat pretentious and exaggerated, but first let's rewind the events a bit.

In 1956, the GBTU of the Red Army developed tactical and technical requirements for a heavy tank, which was supposed to replace the T-10. The design bureau of the Kirov Plant in Leningrad began to create a tank, with extensive use of ideas and individual components from the IS-7 and T-10 tanks. Received the index "Object 277", new tank was created according to the classical layout, its undercarriage consisted of eight road wheels and four support rollers on board, suspension on beam torsion bars, with hydraulic shock absorbers on the first, second and eighth rollers. The hull was assembled from both rolled and cast parts - the sides were made from bent plates of rolled armor, while the bow was a single casting. The tower was also made of a cast, hemispherical shape. The developed niche accommodated a mechanized ammunition rack to facilitate the actions of the loader.

The armament consisted of a 130mm M-65 gun, stabilized in two planes with the Thunderstorm stabilizer, and a coaxial 14.5mm KPVT machine gun. Ammunition 26 shots of separate loading and 250 cartridges for a machine gun. The gunner had a TPD-2S stereoscopic rangefinder sight, the tank was equipped with a full set of night vision devices. The power plant was a 12-cylinder V-shaped M-850 diesel engine with an HP 1050 power. at 1850 rpm. The transmission is planetary, type "3K", made in the form of a single block of the mechanism for changing gears and turns. Unlike the transmission of the T-10 tank, the band brakes of the planetary turning mechanism were replaced with disc brakes. The crew consisted of 4 people, three of whom (commander, gunner and loader) were in the tower. With a mass of 55 tons, the tank showed top speed 55 km/h.

Two copies of the "Object 277" were produced, and shortly after the start of testing, work on it was curtailed. The tank favorably differed from the T-10 with more powerful weapons and a more advanced FCS, including a rangefinder, but the ammunition load was small. In general, the "Object 277" was created on the basis of well-developed units in the series and did not require long-term refinement.

The second competitor was the tank of the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant - "Object 770". Unlike the "Object 277", it was decided to design the tank "from scratch", relying only on advanced solutions and using new units. characteristic feature The tank became a completely cast hull, the sides of which were distinguished by both a differentiated thickness and a variable angle of inclination. A similar approach can be traced in the booking of the forehead of the hull. The turret is also completely cast, with variable armor thickness, reaching up to 290mm in the frontal parts. The armament and control system of the tank are completely similar to the "Object 277" - a 130mm M-65 gun and a coaxial 14.5mm KPVT machine gun, 26 rounds of ammunition and 250 rounds of ammunition.

Of interest is the power unit of the tank, made on the basis of a 10-cylinder diesel engine DTN-10, with a vertical arrangement of cylinder blocks, which was installed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tank. Engine power was 1000 hp. at 2500 rpm. The transmission of the tank included a torque converter and a planetary gearbox, the parallel inclusion of which made it possible to have one mechanical and two hydromechanical forward gears, and one mechanical reverse gear. The undercarriage included six large-diameter road wheels per side, without supporting rollers. The roller suspension is hydropneumatic. The tank was distinguished by ease of operation and good dynamic characteristics.

The unique and one of a kind prototype of a heavy tank - object 279 - was developed in 1957 by a team of designers from the Leningrad Kirov Plant under the leadership of L.S. Troyanov according to the tactical and technical requirements for a heavy tank proposed by the Office of the Chief of the Armored Forces of the Soviet Army in 1956. The tank was intended to break through the prepared enemy defenses and operate in difficult terrain for conventional tanks.

In defiance of the conservative "Object 277", the car was created completely anew, and not only in terms of the units used, but also in concept. Cast hulls with differentiated armor, elliptical shapes have been seen before, but in this car the idea was brought to the absolute. Assembled from four cast parts, the body was covered along the entire perimeter with an anti-cumulative screen, which complemented its contours to an elliptical shape (not only in plan, but also in vertical section). Thanks to the armored volume reduced to the limit, which amounted to only 11.47 m 3, it was possible to achieve unprecedented values ​​​​of armor thickness both normal and given - the frontal armor of the hull reached 192 mm at large angles of inclination and underturn, side armor up to 182 mm, at smaller angles. The cast tower of a flattened hemispherical shape had a circular armor of 305 mm, with the exception of the stern.

Armament was the same 130mm M-65 gun and 14.5mm KPVT machine gun, with 24 rounds of ammunition in a mechanized ammo rack with semi-automatic loading and 300 machine gun rounds. The combined efforts of the loader and semi-automatic cassette loader ensured a combat rate of fire of 5-7 rounds per minute. The SLA included a stereoscopic rangefinder sight with independent stabilization of the field of view TPD-2S, a two-plane electro-hydraulic stabilizer "Groza" and a complete set of night vision devices.

The power plant of the tank was developed in two versions - a DG-1000 diesel engine with a capacity of 950 liters. With. at 2500 rpm or 2DG-8M with a capacity of 1000 liters. With. at 2400 rpm. Both engines are 4-stroke, 16-cylinder, H-shaped with a horizontal arrangement of cylinders (to reduce the height of the body). The transmission of the tank was also distinguished by its unusual and innovative approach - a hydromechanical and planetary 3-speed gearbox, and switching between the two highest gears was automated.

But the most conspicuous detail of the tank is certainly its undercarriage, whose feature was the use of four caterpillar propellers!

The undercarriage was mounted on two longitudinal hollow beams, which served as fuel tanks. The design of the caterpillar mover provided high cross-country ability in deep snow and wetlands. It excluded the landing of the tank on the bottom when overcoming vertical obstacles (hollows, stumps, hedgehogs). The average pressure on the ground was only 0.6 kgf / cm², that is, it approached the same parameter for a light tank. It was a unique example of a heavy cross-country tank.

For one propulsion unit, the undercarriage consisted of six road wheels, three support rollers, a sloth and a drive sprocket. The suspension is individual, hydropneumatic, adjustable. Thus, the concept of clearance became only a formality, and the tank could overcome vertical obstacles without the threat of landing on them.

The specific pressure was also very low - only 0.6 kg / m 2, which made it possible to overcome deep snow and marshy areas. The disadvantages of the selected undercarriage were poor maneuverability and increased resistance to movement, especially on heavy soils. Maintainability left much to be desired, due to the high complexity of the design and the inaccessibility of the inner pair of tracks.

A prototype tank was built in 1959 and began to be tested, but it immediately became clear that such an expensive vehicle had no chance of mass production. The successor to the T-10 was supposed to be one of the two tanks "seven hundred and seventy" or "two hundred and seventy seven", but none of the contestants was put into service.

The crew of the tank consisted of four people, three of whom - the commander, gunner and loader - were located in the tower. The driver's seat was in the front of the hull in the center, there was also a hatch for getting into the car.

Of all the tanks developed simultaneously with it, object 279 was distinguished by the smallest booked volume - 11.47 m3, while having a very complex armored hull. The design of the undercarriage made it impossible to land on the bottom of the car, provided high cross-country ability in deep snow and wetlands. At the same time, the undercarriage was very complex in design and operation, and did not make it possible to reduce the height of the tank.

At the end of 1959, a prototype was built, the assembly of two more tanks was not completed.

Object 279 is located in the Museum of armored weapons and equipment in Kubinka.

In the fifties of the last century, mankind began to actively develop a new source of energy - the fission of atomic nuclei. Nuclear power was then seen, if not as a panacea, then at least as a solution to a great many different problems. In an atmosphere of universal approval and interest, nuclear power plants were built and reactors for submarines and ships were designed. Some dreamers even proposed making the nuclear reactor so compact and low-power that it could be used as household source energy or as a power plant for cars, etc. The military became interested in similar things. In the United States, options for creating a full-fledged tank with a nuclear power plant were seriously considered. Unfortunately or fortunately, they all remained at the level of technical proposals and drawings.

The history of nuclear tanks began in 1954 and its appearance is associated with scientific conferences Question Mark, which discussed promising directions science and technology. At the third such conference, held in June 1954 in Detroit, American scientists discussed the project of a tank with a nuclear reactor submitted for consideration. According to the technical proposal, the TV1 combat vehicle (Track Vehicle 1 - Tracked Vehicle-1) was supposed to have a combat weight of about 70 tons and carry a 105-mm rifled gun. Of particular interest was the layout of the armored hull of the proposed tank. So, behind armor up to 350 millimeters thick, a small-sized nuclear reactor should have been located. For him, a volume was provided in the front of the armored hull. Behind the reactor and its protection, located workplace the driver, in the middle and rear parts of the hull they placed the fighting compartment, ammunition stowage, etc., as well as several power plant units.

Fighting vehicle TV1 (Track Vehicle 1 - "Tracked vehicle-1")

The principle of operation of the power units of the tank is more than interesting. The fact is that the reactor for TV1 was planned to be made according to the scheme with an open gas coolant circuit. This means that the reactor had to be cooled by atmospheric air flowing next to it. Further, the heated air was supposed to be supplied to the power gas turbine, which was supposed to drive the transmission and drive wheels. According to the calculations carried out right at the conference, with the given dimensions, it would be possible to ensure the operation of the reactor for up to 500 hours on one refueling of nuclear fuel. However, the TV1 project was not recommended for further development. For 500 hours of operation, a reactor with an open cooling circuit could infect several tens or even hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of air. In addition, it was not possible to fit sufficient reactor protection into the internal volumes of the tank. In general, the TV1 combat vehicle turned out to be much more dangerous for its troops than for the enemy.

By the next Question Mark IV conference, held in 1955, the TV1 project was finalized in accordance with current capabilities and new technologies. The new nuclear tank was named R32. It differed significantly from TV1, primarily in its size. The development of nuclear technology has made it possible to reduce the dimensions of the machine and accordingly change its design. The 50-ton tank was also proposed to be equipped with a reactor in the front, but the armored hull with a 120 mm thick front plate and the turret with a 90-mm gun in the project had completely different contours and layout. In addition, it was proposed to abandon the use of a gas turbine driven by superheated atmospheric air and to apply new protection systems for a smaller reactor. Calculations have shown that the practically achievable power reserve on one refueling of nuclear fuel will be approximately four thousand kilometers. Thus, at the cost of reducing the operating time, it was planned to reduce the danger of the reactor for the crew.

And yet, the measures taken to protect the crew, technical personnel and troops interacting with the tank were insufficient. According to the theoretical calculations of American scientists, the R32 "fonil" is less than its predecessor TV1, but even with the remaining level of radiation, the tank was not suitable for practical use. It would be necessary to regularly change crews and create special infrastructure for separate maintenance of nuclear tanks.

After the R32 failed to meet the expectations of a potential customer in the face of american army, the interest of the military in tanks with a nuclear power plant began to gradually fade away. It is worth recognizing that for some time there have been attempts to create a new project and even bring it to the testing stage. For example, in 1959 an experimental vehicle based on the M103 heavy tank was designed. It was supposed to be used in future tests of a tank chassis with a nuclear reactor. Work on this project began very late, when the customer stopped seeing nuclear tanks as promising equipment for the army. Work on the conversion of the M103 into a test bench was completed with the creation of a draft design and preparation for the assembly of the layout.

R32. Another project of the American atomic tank

The last American project of a tank with a nuclear power plant, which was able to move beyond the technical proposal stage, was completed by Chrysler during its participation in the ASTRON program. The Pentagon has ordered a tank designed for the army of the next decades, and Chrysler apparently decided to give the tank reactor another try. In addition, the new TV8 tank was supposed to embody a new layout concept. The armored chassis with electric motors and, in some versions of the project, an engine or a nuclear reactor was a typical tank hull with a caterpillar undercarriage. However, it was proposed to install a tower of the original design on it.

The large-sized unit of a complex streamlined faceted shape was supposed to be made a little longer than the chassis. Inside such an original tower, it was proposed to place the jobs of all four crew members, all weapons, incl. 90 mm gun on a rigid recoilless suspension system, as well as ammunition. In addition, in the later versions of the project it was supposed to place a diesel engine or a small-sized nuclear reactor in the aft part of the tower. In this case, the reactor or engine would provide energy for the operation of the generator that feeds the propulsion electric motors and other systems. According to some sources, until the closure of the TV8 project, there were disputes about the most convenient placement of the reactor: in the chassis or in the tower. Both options had their pros and cons, but the installation of all power plant units in the chassis was more profitable, although technically more difficult.

Tank TV8

One of the variants of atomic monsters developed at one time in the United States under the Astron program.

The TV8 proved to be the luckiest of all American nuclear tanks. In the second half of the fifties, a model of a promising armored vehicle was even built at one of the Chrysler factories. But things did not go beyond the layout. The revolutionary new layout of the tank, combined with its technical complexity, did not give any advantages over existing and developed armored vehicles. The ratio of novelty, technical risks and practical returns was considered insufficient, especially in the case of using a nuclear power plant. As a result, the TV8 project was closed for lack of prospects.

After TV8, not a single American atomic tank project left the technical proposal stage. As for other countries, they also considered the theoretical possibility of replacing diesel with a nuclear reactor. But outside the United States, these ideas remained only in the form of ideas and ideas. simple sentences. The main reasons for the rejection of such ideas were two features of nuclear power plants. First, a tank-mountable reactor cannot, by definition, be adequately shielded. As a result, the crew and surrounding people or objects will be exposed to radiation. Secondly, a nuclear tank, in the event of damage to the power plant - and the likelihood of such a development of events is very high - becomes a real dirty bomb. The chances of the crew surviving the moment of the accident are too small, and the survivors will become victims of acute radiation sickness.

The relatively large power reserve on one refueling and the general, as it seemed in the fifties, the prospects of nuclear reactors in all areas could not overpower dangerous consequences their applications. As a result, nuclear-powered tanks remained an original technical idea that arose in the wake of the general "nuclear euphoria", but did not give any practical results.

According to the websites:

Sometimes amazing, but unadapted to military realities, monsters were born in the imagination of tank designers. Do not be surprised that it did not come to their serial production. Let's find out about 14 unusual tanks born by designers who are carried away by the flight of thought.

Experts believe that the Italian self-propelled gun used to shell Austrian fortifications in the Alps during the First World War

The Italian self-propelled gun was invented around the same time as the Tsar Tank. But, unlike the latter, it was successfully used in the First World War.

The Italian self-propelled gun is one of the most mysterious tanks in history. There is very little information about him. It is authentically known that the unusual tank had big sizes, a cannon was installed on it, firing shells of 305 mm caliber. The firing range reached 17.5 kilometers. Presumably, the Italian self-propelled gun was used in the shelling of the Austrian fortifications located in the Alps. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the further fate of this car.


Tracklayer Best 75 tracked vehicle (USA) was not approved for mass production due to poor handling

Literally, the name of this model is translated as "rail layer". The American military developed it in 1916 after learning about the extent of the use of tanks in the First World War. The authorship of the project belongs to the company C.L. Best, which is why the strange vehicle is often referred to as the Best tank.

In fact, it was a tractor of the same production. An armored hull, a turret, a pair of machine guns and a cannon were superimposed on top of it. Most of all, this tank resembles a boat turned upside down. It's a pity, but the military commission decided not to allow Best's car to mass production. The experts did not like the small viewing angle, thin armor and poor handling. The last remark is true, because the Tracklayer Best 75 could only ride in a straight line with minor deviations.


A small nuclear reactor was supposed to be used to power the Chrysler TV-8

The TV-8 nuclear tank was designed by Chrysler in 1955. He had several distinctive features at once. The powerful fixed turret was rigidly mounted on a lightweight chassis with a solid monolith. In addition, the engineers decided that the tank would be powered by a small nuclear reactor located right in the turret. Finally, it was planned to mount television cameras in the body so that the crew of the car would not go blind when they were close to the epicenter of a nuclear explosion.

The TV-8 tank was considered a vehicle suitable for combat operations in a nuclear war. The vehicle was to be equipped with a pair of 7.62mm machine guns and a 90mm cannon. It is clear that the project impressed the management, but upon closer examination, several significant shortcomings were revealed. First, the creation of a small nuclear reactor was a difficult task. And secondly, in the event of an enemy getting into this reactor, the consequences would be disastrous for both the crew members and military equipment located close to TV-8, not to mention the soldiers. As a result, it did not even reach the creation of a prototype, and the project was forgotten.


39 meters long, 11 wide and 1000 tons of net weight - all this is a tank

This is interesting: Mass of 1 thousand tons, 39 meters in length and 11 meters in height. If the supermassive Ratte tank had been built in the 40s of the last century, it would have become the largest in history. Moreover, this record would not have been beaten to our time. The German military leadership, however, chose not to develop a project that would have required an incredible amount of resources to implement. The fact is that the "Rat" could not provide german army serious superiority on the battlefield. Therefore, things did not go further than drawings and sketches.

It was planned to equip the tank with a pair of naval guns with a caliber of 280 mm, a 128 mm cannon and 8-10 machine guns. Note that there was no clear idea regarding the type of engines for such a monster at the design stage. The possibility of installing 8 diesel engines or 2 ship engines was considered.


Armored quad had a power of only 2 horsepower

If Hollywood had started making films about the indestructible James Bond in 1899, the British armored quad bike would definitely become one of 007's vehicles. The engine power of this four-wheeled vehicle is less than 2 horsepower. The driver had to sit on a bicycle saddle. From armament there was a machine-gun cannon.

Note that the armor of the ATV protected only the torso and head of the driver, and only in front. The cross-country ability of such a machine was extremely low, so it was never mass-produced.


Laser complex 1K17 "Compression" was intended to disable optical and electronic devices of the enemy

Compression is a Russian self-propelled laser system designed to counter enemy optical and electronic devices. Of course, he couldn't fire laser guns like in " Star Wars”, but the significance of this machine was very high.

This is interesting: The 1K17 complex was equipped with a system for searching and automatically aiming lasers at enemy missiles, aircraft and armored vehicles. In other words, if during the war any of the above objects were under the gun of 1K17, he would not be able to fire accurately in the opposite direction.

The tank was also equipped anti-aircraft gun, which would allow him to destroy nearby enemy forces.

A prototype military complex was assembled at the end of 1990. After successfully passing state tests, 1K17 was recommended for adoption. Unfortunately up to series production it didn't work out. The high cost of the complex, the collapse Soviet Union and a sharp reduction in funding for defense programs forced the Russian Ministry of Defense to abandon its release.


Venezuelan tank

This tank was produced in 1934 in Venezuela. The purpose of creating the car was rather strange - intimidation of neighboring Colombia. True, the intimidation turned out to be doubtful. Suffice it to mention that the word "tortuga" in translation from Spanish means "turtle". The pyramid-shaped armor of the tank was attached to a four-wheel drive six-wheeled Ford truck. The turret was equipped with a single weapon, a 7mm Mark 4B machine gun. In total, 7 "turtles" were released in Venezuela.


The tank ball was preserved in a single copy

Almost nothing is known about this vehicle, the only copy of which is kept in the Kubinka armored museum. The mass of the tank was 1.8 tons, it was produced in Nazi Germany by Krupp. The car was captured by the Soviet army in 1945. According to one version, this happened in Manchuria, according to another - at a German training ground. There was a radio station in the cockpit, there were no weapons. The hull was solid, it was possible to get into it through a small hatch. The engine of the tank-ball is a single-cylinder motorcycle engine. It is assumed that the strange machine was intended to adjust the direction of artillery strikes.


New Zealand, not having sufficient production capacity, also wanted to create her own tank

Having learned about the grandiose tank battles on the fields of World War II, New Zealand also wanted to get its own tank. In the forties of the last century, New Zealanders, who did not have a sufficient production base, assembled a small armored vehicle. It looked like a tractor covered in metal and carried 7 Bren 7.62mm light machine guns. It turned out, of course, not the most efficient tank in the world, but it was working. combat vehicle named after Bob Semple, then the nation's building minister.

This is interesting: Mass production of the tank never started due to multiple design flaws. Nevertheless, he managed to raise the morale of the New Zealanders.


During the tests, the Tsar Tank got stuck in the mud and remained there for 8 years. And then it was dismantled for scrap

First there were the Tsar Bell and the Tsar Cannon, then the Tsar Tank and the Tsar Bomba. And if the latter went down in history as the most powerful projectile ever tested by man, then the Tsar Tank turned out to be a less successful invention. It was very cumbersome and inefficient in practice. The car was developed by engineer Nikolai Lebedenko shortly before the start of the First World War.

It is noteworthy that this unit was rather not even a tank, but a huge wheeled combat vehicle. Its undercarriage consisted of a pair of huge front wheels with a diameter of 9 meters, which were complemented by a one and a half meter rear roller. The central part with a fixed machine-gun cabin was suspended above the ground at an 8-meter height. The width of the Tsar Tank reached 12 meters, it was planned to strengthen the extreme points by installing machine guns. Lebedenko was going to supplement the design with a powerful machine-gun turret.

In 1915, the engineer presented his project to Tsar Nicholas II. He was delighted and, of course, approved the idea. Unfortunately, during forest testing, the rear shaft of the prototype got stuck in the mud. Pulling it out turned out to be an impossible task even for the most powerful Maybach trophy engines taken from a wrecked German airship. A huge tank was left to rust in the forest. They forgot about it for 8 years, and in 1923 the car was tritely dismantled for scrap.


Amphibious tank on trial successfully swam across the Hudson River

Built by inventor John Walter Christie in 1921, the amphibious vehicle was designed to carry military weapons or other cargo in combat areas. In addition, it was possible to conduct aimed fire from the gun mounted on it. On both sides of the hull above the tracks were fixed balsa floats hidden in casings made of thin steel sheets.

The 75 mm gun was placed on a special movable frame. The design made it possible to move it forward, which ensured an even distribution of mass and no roll when swimming. In the combat position, the gun was moved back to provide free space for the rollback and maintenance of the gun.

The amphibious tank was released in a single copy. On June 12, 1921, a demonstration of a new machine took place, in which she successfully swam across the Hudson River. However, the Department of Armaments was not interested in amphibians.


A7V - the tank that was defeated in the first tank battle in history

The A7V tank was designed and produced in a small batch of 20 vehicles at the end of the First World War to counter the British army. In fact, it was a huge steel box mounted on top of a tractor chassis. The only advantage of the A7V is a fairly good armament (8 machine guns). It is a pity, but most of the tanks of this series could not visit the battlefield. The crews of some of them lost consciousness from the heat inside the hull, other cars got bogged down in the mud. Low cross-country ability has become the main drawback of the A7V.

This is interesting: The first in history tank battle happened on March 21, 1918 on the banks of the Canal Saint-Quentin. Three A7Vs met with three English MK-IVs that had left the forest. The fight was sudden for both sides. In fact, it was driven by only one tank on each side (2 British vehicles were machine guns, and 2 German vehicles stopped at a disadvantage). Cannon British tank successfully maneuvered and fired from different positions. After 3 accurate hits in the A7V caterpillar, the oil cooler of the German car failed. The crew took the tank aside and left it. And the British got reason to consider themselves the winners of the first tank confrontation.


The A-40 flying tank made a single flight, after which the project was declared unpromising

The flying tank A-40 (another name is “winged tank”) was created by the famous Soviet aircraft designer Antonov. The well-proven T-60 model served as the basis for it. A hybrid of a tank and a glider was intended to quickly deliver a combat vehicle to the right place by air in order to assist the partisans. Interestingly, the crew had the ability to control the flight of the glider while inside the car. After landing, the glider quickly separated, and the A-40 was transformed into a standard T-60.

This is interesting: To raise an 8-ton colossus above the ground, it was necessary to deprive the tank of most of the ammunition. This made the A-40 useless in real combat conditions. Things did not go beyond the creation of a prototype, and the A-40 tank made its only flight in September 1942.


43 powerful steel chains were fixed on a rotating drum

The main task"Crab" was clearing minefields. On a special rotating drum (specially pushed forward) 43 thick metal chains were fixed. The mines detonated upon contact with the chains, without causing any harm to the tank itself. Along the edges of the drum, the designers also installed sharp disks. As they rotated, they cut barbed wire fences. A special screen protected the front of the car from dust and dirt.

The mine trawl was very wide, thanks to which tanks and trucks. An additional device was installed on the later analogues of the Crab, which made it possible to automatically maintain a given height of the trawl above the surface when moving through pits and potholes.

Some of the tanks discussed in the article are considered successful experiments, some are failures. But each of them is unique in its own way and has not so many analogues in the history of military equipment. From the mistakes made, the designers gained valuable experience, which made it possible to make the following models more perfect.