SU-152 "Taran"

The Object 120 "Taran" (Russian: Объект 120 «Таран») was a fully enclosed Soviet tank destroyer built in 1965, which never progressed past the experimental stage.

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Quick Facts Object 120 "Taran", Type ...

Object 120 "Taran"
The only prototype of the Object 120 at the Kubinka Tank Museum.
Type	Tank destroyer
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Production history
Produced	1965
No. built	1
Specifications
Mass	27 metric tons
Length	6.87 m (22 ft 6 in) (hull)
Width	3.12 m (10 ft 3 in)
Height	2.82 m (9 ft 3 in)
Crew	4

Armour	30 mm (hull front, turret front)
Main armament	152.4 mm M-69 "Taran" rifled gun (9.45m long barrel)
Engine	V-54-105 diesel engine 353 kW (473 hp)
Transmission	Mechanical
Operational range	280 km (173 mi)
Maximum speed	63 km/h (39 mph)

History

In the early 1960s, the Soviet military concluded that the armor-piercing ammunition used by the T-55 medium tank, and the T-10 heavy tank was unable to penetrate the frontal armor of the newest American M60 and British Chieftain main battle tanks. The Soviets, therefore, began parallel research on several different anti-tank weapon systems, such as the development of new armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot and shaped charge ammunition for existing tank guns, new rifled and smoothbore tank guns with calibers ranging from 115 mm to 130 mm with anti-tank missiles.

One of these projects became the Object 120 "Taran". The factory designation was Object 120 (Объект 120). In terms of firepower and mobility, it surpassed all foreign tank destroyers. The main reason the Object 120 "Taran" wasn't adopted was due to the development and adoption of more effective 125 mm smoothbore tank gun and anti-tank missiles.

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Armament

The Object 120 "Taran" was armed with the 152.4 mm M-69 "Taran" rifled gun, with a barrel length of 9,045 mm, fitted with a powerful muzzle brake. With an overall length of about 10 meters, it is the longest gun of any type ever installed in a fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicle. The gun had a maximum direct fire range of 2,050 meters. The Object 120 "Taran" carried 22 rounds of APFSDS and high-explosive ammunition. The gun had a semi-automatic breech block, with a rate of fire of 3–5 rounds/min. The high-explosive ammunition had a 43.5 kg shell and a maximum charge of 10.7 kg. Firing the 12.5 kg APFSDS shell with a maximum charge (10.7 kg), which gave it a muzzle velocity of 1,720 m/s, the M-69 "Taran" had an armor penetration of 290 mm of RHA at 90° at a range of 2,000 meters.^[1]

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History

Armament

See also

References

Further reading

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