Since 1945, the Soviet Union has been preparing for a possible Third World War with the United States and its allies. Nuclear war was considered as one of the most dramatic scenarios for the development of events. This circumstance introduced serious amendments to the process of designing absolutely all military equipment. And the tanks in this case were the best illustration.
During the Cold War, almost all tanks, both in the USSR and in the USA, were somehow created with the expectation of the need for potential combat operations in the conditions of chemical or radiation pollution. At the same time, there were also tanks with increased survivability in a nuclear strike, the design of which was supposed to help survive the "remnants" of the shock wave.
The most striking representative of such a machine on the part of the USSR can be considered project 279, developed and created in 1957 within the walls Leningrad Design Bureau by a team of engineers led by Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin and Lev Sergeevich Troyanova. "Object 279" was intended for operations in the most inaccessible areas for tanks and breakthroughs in enemy defenses in the conditions of a nuclear strike.
It is worth noting here that not a single tank could withstand a direct hit from a nuclear bomb.
"Object 279" was built according to the classic tank layout. With a combat weight of 59.2 tons, the vehicle had phenomenal cross-country ability. In many ways, it was provided through the use of four tracks at once. The dimensions of the tank, excluding the gun, were 6770x3400x2475 mm. Clearance - 687 mm. The specific shape of the hull was dictated by the need to increase the tank's cross-country ability, as well as the need to counteract the shock wave of a nuclear explosion. The armor and systems of the tank were supplemented with means to counteract radiation pollution.
>>>>Ideas for life | NOVATE.RU<<<<
The experimental tank was diesel. It was set in motion by a 2DG-8M power plant. The maximum power of the unit reached 1 thousand hp at 2,400 rpm. The cruising range on the highway was 250 km at a maximum speed of 55 km / h. The tank was armed with a 130 mm M-65 rifled gun with 24 rounds of ammunition. A 14.5 mm KPVT machine gun was used as an additional weapon. Aiming was carried out using a TPD-2S stereoscopic sight and a TPN-1 night sight. Since the "Object 279" was experimental from the very beginning, they created it in the amount of only one piece. Today you can look at the Soviet monster with four tracks in the Armored Museum in Kubinka.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about synthesis of "Abrams" and "Armata": what is the new North Korean tank.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/031121/61106/