Soviet medium tanks, assault guns

The Tank Museum in Kubinka. Pavilion N2. The pavilion presents Soviet medium tanks and self-propelled guns from the legendary T-34 of World War II and ending with the main tank, standing in the Russian Army.
Soviet Medium Tanks and Assault Guns The WW2, “Cold War” and “Local Conflicts”

Kubinka tank museum, Moscow, Russia

Hall 2 after the rebuilding and re-opening at 2021

Actual status. During the opening in 1972, the pavilion showed the sequence of the development of Soviet medium tanks from the legendary T-34 to the modern T-72 and T-80, including experimental and prototypes. During the reorganization in 2014, part of the tanks, mainly of the Second World War, were moved to other pavilions in the Patriot Park to form expositions: Battle of Moscow, Battle of Stalingrad, Kursk Bulge and Battle of Berlin. After the reorganization in 2021, some of the exhibits were moved to other places, which made it possible to access tanks and self-propelled guns from all sides.

Time Machine. Back to the past of the pavilion.

History of the pavilion N 2. Virtual tour on the tank museum 1972-2014

“Pavilion № 2 can be regarded as a school of domestic tank building, to witness the transition from the middle to the main tank, in reality to imagine the power and vitality of a modern tank in a huge saturation of the enemy a variety of anti-tank weapons and the use of weapons of mass destruction. It is striking that in the years War, this formidable military equipment was collected not yet strengthened by the hands of hungry teenagers, the smallest of whom had to turn the box under their feet so that he could reach the machine (Director plant respectfully called them by name and patronymic), gentle hands of women and calloused fingers elderly … And if you say that they produced the assembly line every 30 minutes -. tank !? However, today some say, think, boys, women and old men collecting tanks! Yes he povoyuet 15 minutes and break? … and imagine that today, May 9, 1945, and the last tank Victory T-34 weapons, with these boys, under its own power entered and stood on a pedestal near the plant in Nizhny Tagil tribute to those who fought at the front and those who Oval arms of Victory in the rear. He stood for 36 years, then was wound up, with his own motion came down from one pedestal and froze on the other. It became a tradition: before the Victory Day the tank is turned on, it goes for cosmetic repairs, tinting and opens the Victory Parade. After the parade, he returns to the pedestal. Beautiful with rapid contours native thirty-four. During the war they made about 60 thousand. In different years it was used by 42 states. It is fighting today in Africa, in Yugoslavia. Warriors and defiled tanks-monuments left in Europe, in the Baltic … T-34 has long been removed from production, but there is still no order to remove it from the armament! Here embodied in life the credo of the Chief Designer of the legendary thirty-four Mihail Ilyich Koshkin: “To work not after, but – to overtake! In the design, use is not an analogue, but a trend. Introduce a new tank that would be long-term promising and did not require significant changes … ”
The continuation of these glorious traditions is the 1st generation of the postwar T-54 and T-55 tanks. For 1999, all models of the tanks under license issuance (including Chinese T-59) in the world there are about 100 thousand cars (!), And they are (were) in service with 60 countries of the world.
The tank was developed on the basis of the accumulated experience of the Second World War of domestic and the best examples of foreign tank building. Continuation of the glorious traditions of the T-34 – on July 19, 1999, there are more than 100,000 T-54 and T-55 tanks and their licensing modifications in the world. The tank was in service in different years in more than 60 countries. American experts, testing the T-55 tanks captured at the Aberdeen range from the Arabs, named our machine for its simplicity in mastery, reliability in combat and during operation – “Tank soldier”. Well, how can you not feel a sense of legitimate pride for our people, who created such a technique, for our Motherland?! … You say that this is an outdated machine? Yes, it has such reserves for modernization, that with a clever head and skillful hands, it can be brought to the level of the tank of the 80s!
Missile fighters of tanks, forgotten and unclaimed projects, colossal experience of tank building … A flying tank. Can you imagine how a 43-ton war machine in the experienced hands of a master with a springboard flies through the air 18 meters or into music whirls in a waltz? …

Tanks in Afghanistan, in Chechnya … our pain. ” (colonel B.Ozerov)

Kubinka tank museum an official catalogue*, P2 exhibits, (Soviet medium tanks and Assault guns) at 1993-2014.

the official catalog of the museum of BTWT (**) of Pavilion N2 “Soviet medium tanks and self-propelled units” (Copyright Mikhail Blinov, please do the link if referred).
N – Brand —- Object — Year of manufacture — Designation – type of production
1. Т-34                                       1940,        medium tank, serial, (open area)
2. Т-34-85  (in hall)                    1943          medium tank, serial
3.  SU-100                                 1944  Assault Gun (covered) on T-34 base serial
4. SU-122                                   1942 Assault Gun (covered) on T-34 base serial
5. Т-44                                        1944      medium tank, serial
6. SU-101                                  1944 Assault gun (covered) on T-34, single sample
7. Т-54 (М1946)             137     1947   medium tank, serial  (?)8. Т-54              137                  1949               ***
9. Т-54А            137                   1955              ***
10.  SU-122                                    1949  Assault gun on T-54 chassis serial11. ZSU-57-2                                   1950               anti aircraft   ***
12.  Т-55               155                    1955            medium tank, serial
13.  Т-55АМ                                    1982            medium tank, small serie
14. Т-55 flamethrower 483              1959 The flamethrower on the T-55, single sample
15. ТО-55  (ОТ-55) 482                     1957       The flamethrower, serial
16.   Т-62               166                     1960     medium tank       ***
17.  Object 167   167                         1961     medium tank, single sample
18. Т-55АD                                       1983     medium tank, small serie
19. IT-1                150                        1968    tank destroyer T-62 serial
20.                          432                      1960       medium tank, small serie
21.   Т-64               432                      1960 (?)         ***
22.   Т-64               434                       1967        main battle tank, serial
23.   Т-64А            446                       1969      main battle tank, serial
24.        Object  775                           1962     rocket tank on T-64  single sample
25.          Object 287                           1962   rocket tank on T-64  single sample
26.         Object  288                            1963  control post on T-64 single sample
27.         Object  172                               1970  main battle tank, small serie
28.         Object 172-2М                         1974  same
29.  Т-72             172М-1                      1975  main battle tank, serial
30.  Т-80               219                            1976   same                          ***
31.  Т-80BV           219АС                      1985  ***
32.  Т-54А             137                         1955  medium tank, serial (outdoor, monument) ?
33.  Т-34-85               1944  medium tank, serial  (outdoor, monument near pavilion N3))
Addition exhibits
Т-34  1943 (?)        found on WW2 battlefields in Pskov region
Т-34-85 from “Dmitry Donskoy” column, monument in outdoor exhibition

In this Pavilion N2 there are also additionally (not included in this catalogue):

*this catalogue was made in the Soviet era (the museum exhibits since 1972 till 2014) and will be added and changed… Any notes are welcome

Since 2015 some exhibits were moved (? temporary or forever) into the parc “Patriot” (15 km from Kubinka). The empty spaces sometime are filled by other pavilion vehicles (temporary)

The pavilion features Soviet medium tanks and automatic control systems from the legendary T-34 during the Great Patriotic War and ending with the main tanks that are in service with the Russian Army.
Near the pavilion is the legendary “Victory Tank” – T-34-85, the best middle tank of the Great Patriotic War. Exposition inside the pavilion also begins with a T-34 tank (76mm), found on real battlefields.
“Work not after, but overtaking! In designing, use is not an analogue, but a trend. Introduce such a new tank that would be long-term promising and did not require significant changes … “- these words belong to Mikhail Koshkin, the Soviet designer, the creator of the famous tank (Unfortunately, he did not live to see the victorious march of his offspring in the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War. participated in the test run of the tank, fell ill and died in September 1940 from pneumonia near Kharkov.It was buried in the city cemetery.When Hitler first saw the T-34 tank, he regretted that he attacked the USSR, an “unpleasant surprise.” The Fuhrer declared Koshkin his personal enemy after the death of the designer, and by his order in 1941 the cemetery was destroyed by Luftwaffe pilots – a purposeful bombardment whose main task was to eliminate the grave of the designer.

советские российские средние танки

Soviet (Russian) medium tanks, photos for 2014

Types of ammunition that are in service with the Soviet Army

In the pavilion for fans of military equipment, and, of course, cadets of military schools and cadets of Russian cadet corps, a magnificent exposition showing the internal arrangement and types of ammunition, including the period of the Great Patriotic War.

танковый музей Кубинка экскурсия на русском языке

Part of the exhibition of ammunition pavilion 2, the tank museum Kubinka

Legendary T-34  “Thirty-four” and its components

In the pavilion, the V-shaped engine, the main types of rinks and links of the T-34 track caterpillars and various machines on its base are presented for the joy of the fans of bench model and members of the research teams.

колеса танка Т-34, танковый музей Кубинка

T-34 tank wheels, the Kubinka tank museum

Based on the experience of using the T-34 and the round shape of the IS-3 turret, after the war, the medium tanks T-54 and its further modification T-55 began to be developed.

Well proven in local wars and conflicts, the tanks were massively purchased in the USSR. As of July 19, 1999, there were more than 100,000 T-54 and T-55 tanks and their modifications, licensed in other countries, in the world. Were and still are in service in more than 60 countries around the world. American specialists of the Aberdi training range named this machine for its simplicity in development, reliability in combat and during operation – “Tank soldier”.

Under Khrushchev, all began to develop missiles and rocket tanks. IT-1 is the world’s only mass-produced rocket fighter of tanks with a semi-automatic guidance system TURS (tank guided missiles) on the radio. The car was ahead of itself by 20 years. The original engineering solutions simplified and reduced the training of operators of guided tank armament to a level unattainable for foreign specialists.

After the “fashion” for rockets in the USSR, the “serie” of the T-54, T-55 tanks began to develop again. The main battle tanks T-64, T-72, T-80 were developed for conducting combat operations in the conditions of using modern powerful anti-tank weapons and weapons of mass destruction, but also reliably working both in a hot desert (Sahara in Africa and the Middle East) and in the Far North at an ambient temperature of +55 to -55 degrees Celsius.

It was the T-72 during the Desert Storm events (the Gulf War of January 17 – February 28, 1991), when it took 1000 km marches through the desert, passed and lost a single machine.

Modern technology of the Russian Army in the museum’s exposition

T-80 – the main battle tank with a gas turbine power plant, a “flying tank.” This name was given at a demonstration at the World Arms Show in Abu Dhabi, when the crew dispersed the tank to a speed of about 80 km / h and a 42-ton machine from a 1.5-meter springboard flew through the air 18 meters, landed on the sand and rushed farther. In this flight, the crew managed to aim, shoot and hit the target. No crew in the world could not repeat this …

Multimedia and modern museum technologies

Recently in the pavilion an audiovisual narrative system was installed for visitors about the history of tanks with modern multimedia methods (In 2016 during the holydays it was in the work condition, for the summer of 2017 they were moved to Park Patriot)

танковый музей Кубинка экскурсия

audiovisual series in pavilion 2 of the tank museum in Kubinka

советские самоходные установки

Soviet self-propelled units based on medium tanks. Archive photo for 2006. At 2017, the SU-122 was moved to the museum complex N1 (VKS)

The pavilion also presents Soviet self-propelled artillery installations during the Great Patriotic War

Some of the exhibits of this pavilion.

The Soviet medium tank T-54AD with the active protection system “Drozd”

The medium tank T-55AD (N18) with the famous active fire protection system “Drozd”, automatically destroying the incoming projectiles for 10-15 meters before the tank. Russia has been the world leader for the production of active tank protection systems for many years …

Pay attention, the appearance of the pavilion has changed a little, before it looked like this (photo below):