The new realities of the bipolar world emerging in the second half of the 1940s and the confrontation between East and West, which led to the Cold War, forced us to rethink the newly acquired military experience. As a result, new types of weapons and military equipment appeared. In their ranks, a special place is occupied by the T-54 - one of the best tanks in the world created in the post-war years.
This medium tank is the direct successor to the legendary T-34 and T-34-85 models. Initially, it was created back in the war years as a means of combating heavily armored enemy equipment over long distances. The long-range gun D-10S, mounted on a
self-propelled artillery SU-100, proved to be excellent on the battlefield, but the transmission of the 34th turned out to be weak for him. The development of the reinforced tank T-44-100, also not without drawbacks, was carried out. The refinement of the new version was delayed, but as a result resulted in the creation of a new model.
Under the T-54 designation, the tank was adopted by the armored forces in April 1946, a month or so after Churchill’s speech in Fulton, which is considered the starting point of the
Cold War.Designers have ensured that the new combat vehicle has maximum reliability and at the same time is easy enough to maintain. In addition to the hundred-millimeter gun, two machine guns of 7.62 mm each were mounted on the tank, and a DShKM
anti -
aircraft machine gun. The case, borrowed from the T-44, basically left unchanged. In this design, two innovations were applied, which later extended to all armored vehicles: replacing the driver’s viewing slit with prism periscopes and the presence of a prestarting heater in the chassis, which helped to quickly start the tank engine in cold weather. The B-54 engine with a capacity of 520 "horses" gave out a speed on the highway of 50 km / h and half as much on rough terrain, however, having a power reserve on it.
According to the sum of combat characteristics, the T-54 for the whole 12 years remained the strongest medium tank in the world.
The most famous of its modifications was the T-55, created in response to the entry into the US Army of nuclear weapons. The main difference of the T-55 was the anti-nuclear defense system. In general, during the release of the tank (mainly - until 1967, partially - until 1979), many modifications and modernizations were carried out, including those outside the USSR. On the basis of a more than successful design, such variations were developed: commander’s tank, flamethrower tank, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun,
mine minesweeper, armored tractor,
fire truck, bridge layers and others.
The first real baptism of fire T-54 tank was held at the Six Day War (1967) as part of Egyptian and Syrian troops. A large number of tanks, lined or abandoned by the crews, were captured by the Israeli army, and after modernization adopted. It is characteristic that the USSR, being the ideological antagonist of Israel, in 1981-1982. sold him
50 T-54 tanks.The most active period of combat use of the T-54 was in 1979-1991: the conflict between the PRC and Vietnam, the war in Afghanistan (one of the main tanks, along with the T-62, in the Southern Group of Forces of the USSR), Operation Peace Galilee in Lebanon (in the Syrian and Israeli armies), in the Iran-Iraq war and the Persian Gulf war (in the Iraqi army).
The T-54 and T-55 tanks were actively supplied and sold by the USSR to their allies in the socialist camp, friendly countries, and some others. For example, Finland. T-54 tanks manufactured in Poland and Czechoslovakia were also supplied.
The industry has produced the T-54/55 for over 30 years. This is a record for a
modern tank.