About the automatic loader and ammo isolation in the USSR tank design

A. Tarasenko

There is an opinion that the Soviet tank design, unlike the USA and Western Europe, relied on the automatic loader and the placement of non-insulated ammunition in it. But this is not quite true - the USSR tank building is a rather vast subject, where there were different directions of development, some of which became serial, and some remained forgotten projects.

The T-64 layout was successful for its time and surpassed the contemporaries M60, Leopard-1, AMX-30, Chieftain in terms of protection. In the next generation tanks, full ammunition isolation is realized only on the Abrams tank. On other projects 2/3 of the ammunition is not isolated. The 1st attempt to create a tank with fully insulated ammunition was made in the early 1970s. 

This was a project known as the "Object 450" or T-74 (http://btvt.info/2futureprojects/450/450.htm), which was to replace the T-64. Designer Morozov wrote: One of the main, in our opinion, drawbacks of the existing "classic design" of the tank, which basically creates all the obstacles to further improvement of its tactical and technical performance, is the imperfection of its combat compartment layout. It resembles a very cramped one-room apartment or a soldier's duffel bag, in which the crew is crammed with weapons, ammunition, various mechanisms, rods, wires and other numerous devices and parts. In addition, all this is moving, rotating, smoking, a source of noise and injuries, an explosion and fire hazard, creates separation of the crew, makes it difficult to evacuate them from the tank, does not provide elementary conditions for work, habitability and much more. In the presented layout, the so-called combat compartment of the tank has been fundamentally changed by dividing it into separate, isolated from each other, independent compartments: fuel, ammunition, armament, crew compartment and support compartment. 

Thus, if the layout of a modern tank of the "classical scheme" is essentially a tank with two separate compartments: the engine and transmission compartment and the combat compartment, the presented layout provides for five hermetically sealed compartments: the motor-transmission, the ammunition compartment, the crew compartment, the fuel compartment and the armament. Such an isolated arrangement of the crew, ammunition, fuel and armament inside the tank made it possible to radically improve and redefine the crew habitability conditions.

The project was not implemented due to the lack of understanding on the part of the military and the fact that the design bureaus were busy with the production of tanks based on the T-64 modifications - the so-called clones - the T-72 and T-80.

The second attempt was made by the Kharkiv Morozov Design Bureau in the second half of the 1970s. This was a project designated "Object 490" (http://btvt.info/7english/490_eng.htm). All ammunition was isolated in the turret bustle and in an isolated ammunition compartment in the hull. Despite initial support the vehicle also did not become a production vehicle. Instead, the main priority was given to the Obiekt 490A project, where the ammunition was not isolated. There were other projects by supporters of Morozov's ideas, such as a tank with two guns by Mazurenko where the entire ammunition was removed from the armored space - http://btvt.info/7english/490_2gun_eng.htm

Object 490

The third attempt was made after the collapse of the USSR in Ukraine in the early 1990s. In general, it was proposed to install this automatic loader behind the turret (module) on any tank - T-55, T-64, T-72, and so on. For this purpose, the rear part of the standard turret was cut off, partitions and the "box" with the loading mechanism (height = 530mm, width = 2320mm) were installed. Additional armored containers housed electrical equipment and hydraulic cylinder. The module could be raised or tilted to the side for maintenance of the motor compartments.

Such implementation of the automatic loader allowed to increase maintainability, reduce irrecoverable losses on the battlefield and provide the possibility of re-equipping for shells of different calibers. This implementation of the automatic loader allowed to increase maintainability, reduce irretrievable losses on the battlefield and provide the possibility of re-equipping for shells of different calibers. Naturally, the entire ammunition package could not fit in the box - only 18-22 rounds, depending on the design. Therefore, in such projects as T-72-120, Yatagan and others it was also supposed to place part of the ammunition in a mechanized stowage with armored upper part and sides in the hull in place of the old autoloader.

The area of such a stowage for 16 rounds was 2 times smaller than the standard autoloader. But, still not ideal and common to all designs with turret autoloader like K-2, Leclerc, Type-90 and so on ( Although it would not have prevented to make blow out plates in the bottom of the hull), as, however, in all tanks - the same K-2 half of the ammo is in the hull, Leopard-2, Leclerc ... On the other hand, as experience shows, you can not take ammunition in the hull in battle. But again, the third attempt to create a tank with an isolated ammunition pack remained in the history of forgotten projects.

Approximate comparison of the area of the onboard projection occupied by ammunition in the autoloader (excluding the rack tank) and in the bustle autoloader and hull stowage.