On the Internet, you can stumble upon a rather rare series of archival photographs depicting the T-62 tank, on the cannon of which some kind of mysterious "umbrella" is put on. Who invented it, and most importantly why? Why is there nothing like this on modern combat vehicles? In fact, the mysterious "umbrella" is one of the most interesting experiments of Soviet engineers. But first things first.
The first decade after the Second World War was a real "golden age" of cumulative shells and hand grenade launchers. In just a few years, weapon designers managed to almost double the armor penetration capability of this kind of ammunition. Therefore, both the USSR and the USA desperately rushed to look for new ways to protect armored vehicles.
The designers could not then offer some fundamentally new concept of protection against a cumulative jet, and therefore most projects was reduced to another rethinking of the experience of the end of World War II with the installation of various protective screens and grids. It was also not possible to endlessly build up "classic" armor due to the sharp weighting of combat vehicles with all the ensuing consequences for the chassis.
>>>>Ideas for life | NOVATE.RU<<<<
Actually, photographs of T-62 and T-55 tanks with mysterious “umbrellas” on guns are one of such attempts to “rethink” anti-cumulative grids. The protection was developed in 1964 and it is called the complex protection of the ZET-1 tank. It consisted of several solid side screens, as well as an umbrella net stretching on the gun. The idea was the same as before: to create an obstacle in the path of the cumulative jet, which would cause it to deviate from a straight path, reducing efficiency.
The "umbrella" ZET-1 weighed about 60 kg. It should be installed at a distance of 1,800 mm from the frontal armor of the tank. The trained crew fixed the protection on the gun of their car in 15 minutes. Bringing the protective "umbrella" into a combat (deployed) position took another 2-3 minutes. The protective grid was divided into several sections. Each could withstand the impact of one 85 mm cumulative projectile. It was possible to replace the damaged section of the "umbrella" in 2 minutes. Although mesh screens performed well in tests, they never took root in the army. For several decades, the few produced ZET-1s simply gathered dust in warehouses. Including because tanks with new armor appeared very soon. And some time later, dynamic protection technology was created, which came into wide use already in the mid-1980s.
In continuation of the topic, read about "Churchill": why the Red Army loved this strange Lend-Lease tank.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/240422/62807/