Obyekt 279

Infobox Weapon
name= Obyekt 279


caption= Obyekt 279 on display at Kubinka Tank Museum
origin= flagcountry|Soviet Union
type= Super-heavy tank
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production_date=1957
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weight= 60 metric tons
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crew=4
armour=305 mm (turret front), 269 mm (hull front)
primary_armament=130 mm 60 caliber M-65 rifled cannon
secondary_armament=Coaxial 14.5 mm KPVT machinegun
engine= 2DG-8M or DG-1000
engine_power= 1000 hp or 950 hp
transmission=
payload_capacity=24 cannon shells and 300 machinegun rounds
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vehicle_range= 300 km
speed= 55 km/h
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Obyekt 279 ( _ru. Объект 279) was a Soviet prototype heavy tank developed in the Kirov industrial plant, Leningrad by a group headed by the engineer L Troyanov in 1957. The special-purpose tank was intended to fight on cross-country terrain that was unaccessible to conventional tanks and act as a vehicle to break through enemy defensive positions. It was planned as a tank of the Supreme Command Reserve. This tank was a unique version boasting increased cross-country capability. The tank featured four-track running gear mounted on two longitudinal retangular hollow beams, used as fuel tanks. The tank hull (with 269 mm armour) was covered by a thin, elliptical shield protecting it against HEAT shaped-charge ammunition and preventing it from overturning due to the shock wave of a nuclear explosion. It comprised large cast irregular shape structures of variable thickness and slope. The all-cast front part of the hull was rounded in shape with thin armour panels against HEAT projectiles, which ran around the edges of the front and sides of the hull. The sides of the hull were also cast and had similar protective armour panels.

The all-cast turret (front armour thickness 305 mm) was rounded, with anti-HEAT protective panels mounted at a seventy degree angle. The turret ring was also heavily protected.

The tank was fitted with a 130 mm rifled M-65 (firing APDS rounds with a muzzle velocity of 1000 m/s), and a co-axial 14.5 mm KPVT heavy machine gun, stabilized in two planes by a "Groza" stabilizer. The gun was provided with a semi-automatic loading system. Firing control system comprised optical/radar rangefinder, auto-guidance system and L2 night-sight with IR searchlight.The tank suspension was hydro-pneumatic with complex hydrotransformer and three-speed planetary gearbox. The track adjuster was worm-type.

The tank was also fitted with NBC protection and auto fire-fighting systems, smoke laying equipment and combat compartment heating/cooling system.

The specific ground pressure of this heavy vehicle did not exceed 0.6 kgf/cm2. The track chain, running practically along the whole track length provided for increased cross-country capabilities on swampy terrain, soft soils and area full of cut trees, hedgehogs, antitank obstacles and the like. The powerful 16 cylinder 1000 hp engine 2DG-8M enabled the 60-ton vehicle to attain 55 km/h speed with active range of 300 km on one refuel.

The tank successfully underwent all trials. However, it was abandoned, like all new heavy tanks in 1959 by Nikita Khrushchev, who was a supporter of rocket tanks, such as the IT-1 (ИТ-1) which was armed with Dragon (Дракон) ATGMs. The only sample of this unique vehicle is today exhibited at the Kubinka Tank Museum, fifty kilometres outside Moscow.

General characteristics

*Year of production: 1957.
*Weight: 60 metric tons.
*Armor: 305 mm (turret front) 269 mm (hull front).
*Cannon: 130 mm 60 caliber M-65 rifled cannon.
*Loading speed: 5-7 shells in min.
*Loading system: semi-automatic.
*Machineguns: 14.5 KPVT machinegun, coaxial.
*Armament: 24 cannon shells and 300 machinegun rounds.
*Cannon stabilizer: "Groza" 2 dimensional stabilizer.
*Night sight: L2 with active IR searchlight.
*Engine: 2DG-8M or DG-1000.
*Power: 1000 hp or 950 hp.
*Roadspeed: 55 km/h.
*Range: 300 km.
*NBC protection: yes.
*Crew: 4 (commander, gunner, driver, loader).

External links

* [http://www.meshwar.vistcom.ru/models/ob279_big.jpgPicture 1]
* [http://www.meshwar.vistcom.ru/models/ob279-1_big.jpgPicture 2]
* [http://www.meshwar.vistcom.ru/models/ob279-2_big.jpgPicture 3]
* [http://armor.kiev.ua/Tanks/Modern/279/?
Объект 279 at trials, winter 1959/1960]