Tank for nuclear war. American projects of atomic tanks Atomic tank in the USSR
In the 1950s and 1960s of the last twentieth century, all three major branches of the military considered the possibility of using nuclear energy in power plants. So, the army planned to use nuclear installations for tanks. Some of these projects involved installing small nuclear reactors on armored vehicles to generate electricity to power both the "nuclear" tank itself and an entire convoy of combat vehicles, saving organic fuel during marches. The creation of individual nuclear engines. First, let's say a few words for the USA ...TV1 - one of the tank projects with YASU
Nuclear tanks were also discussed at the "Question Mark" conferences. One of them, armed with a modified 105 mm T140 gun, received the designation TV1. Its weight was estimated at 70 tons with an armor thickness of up to 350 mm. Power nuclear plant included a reactor with an open gas coolant loop powered by a gas turbine, which provided 500 hours of continuous operation at full power. The designation TV-1 meant "tracked vehicle", and its creation was considered at the Question Mark III conference as a long-term perspective. By the time of the fourth conference in August 1955, progress in atomic technology had already indicated the possibility of creating a "nuclear" tank. Needless to say, the atomic tank promised to be extremely expensive, and the level of radiation in it required a constant change of crews to prevent people from receiving high doses of radiation. Despite this, as early as the end of 1959, studies were carried out on the possibility of installing nuclear reactor on the chassis of the M103 tank, however, only for experimental purposes - the tower had to be removed.
In general, considering the projects of American heavy tanks of the 50s, it is easy to note that the technical solutions worked out in them: smooth-bore guns, combined layered armor, managed missile weapons, really reflected in the promising tanks of the 60s ... but in the Soviet Union! A certain explanation for this is the history of the design of the T110 tank, which showed that American designers could well create tanks that meet modern requirements without using "crazy" layouts and "exotic" technical solutions.
The concrete realization of this was the creation of the American main battle tank M 60, which, with a classic layout, a rifled gun, conventional armor, through the use of advanced technologies, made it possible to achieve noticeable advantages not only over the then main Soviet T-54 / T55 tanks, but even over heavy Soviet tank T-10.
By the time of the next conference, Question Mark IV, held in August 1955, development nuclear reactors allowed to significantly reduce their size, and hence the mass of the tank. The project presented at the conference under the designation R32 assumed the creation of a 50-ton tank, armed with a 90-mm T208 smoothbore gun and protected in the frontal projection by 120-mm armor.
R32. Another project of the American atomic tank
The armor was placed at a 60° angle to the vertical, which roughly corresponded to the level of protection of conventional medium tanks of that period. The reactor provided the tank with an estimated cruising range of more than 4,000 miles. The R32 was considered more promising than the original atomic tank, and was even considered as a possible replacement for the M48 tank that was in production, despite obvious disadvantages, such as the extremely high cost of the vehicle and the need for regular replacement of crews to prevent them from receiving a dangerous dose of radiation irradiation. However, the R32 did not go beyond the preliminary design stage. Gradually, the army's interest in nuclear tanks faded, but work in this direction continued at least until 1959. None of the projects nuclear tanks did not even reach the stage of construction prototype.
And for a snack, as they say. One of the variants of atomic monsters developed at one time in the United States under the Astron program.
Whether combat nuclear tanks were developed in the USSR, I personally do not know. But sometimes referred to in various sources as an atomic tank, the TES-3 unit on a modified chassis of the T-10 heavy tank was a nuclear power plant transported on a caterpillar chassis (a complex of four self-propelled guns) for remote areas of the Soviet Far North. The chassis ("object 27") was designed at the Design Bureau of the Kirov Plant and, compared to the tank, had an elongated chassis with 10 road wheels on board and wider tracks. The electric power of the installation is 1500 kW. Full mass about 90 tons. Developed at Laboratory "V" (now the Russian Scientific Nuclear Center "Physical and Power Engineering Institute", Obninsk), TPP-3 entered trial operation in 1960.
One of the modules of the mobile nuclear power plant TES-3 based on the units of the heavy tank T-10
The thermal power of a double-circuit heterogeneous water-cooled reactor installed on two self-propelled vehicles is 8.8 MW (electric, from generators - 1.5 MW). On the other two self-propelled units turbines, a generator and other equipment were located. In addition to the use of a caterpillar chassis, it was also possible to transport the power plant on railway platforms. TPP-3 entered trial operation in 1961. The program was subsequently cancelled. In the 80s further development the idea of transportable large-block nuclear power plants small capacity received in the form of TPP-7 and TPP-8.
One of the sources -
In the middle of the last century, active implementation began in everyday life energy sources based on nuclear reaction, ranging from colossal nuclear power plant projects, fantastic icebreakers and submarines to consumer household needs and nuclear cars. Unfortunately, most of these ideas have not yet been implemented. The desire of mankind to simultaneously minimize and globalize contributed to the emergence in history of attempts to use the reactor where it is impossible to even imagine it - for example, in a tank
The history of atomic tanks began (and ended too) in the United States of America. In the post-war years, conferences were popular all over the world, bringing together amateurs and professional scientists under one roof. The luminaries of scientific thought staged a populist brainstorm, the purpose of which was to search for new technical solutions for the needs modern society capable of turning his life around once and for all.
One of the most popular of these conferences was called "Question Mark" (English "Question Mark"). It was at one of these meetings in 1954 that the idea of creating a tank powered by atomic energy was first born. Such fighting machine could almost completely eliminate American army from oil dependence, which was especially important in times of silent expectation nuclear war. To have a full power reserve after a forced march, and, accordingly, the ability to engage in battle “on the move”, without the necessary maintenance, was the main hope placed on the project, called TV-1 (“TrackVehicle-1”, eng. - “ Tracked vehicle-1").
The very first technical proposal for an atomic tank project contained the following items: armor thickness - 350 mm, weight - no more than 70 tons, armament - a 105 mm caliber gun.
The design of the tank was quite simple. The reactor was located in front of the vehicle, and immediately behind it were the crew, fighting and engine rooms. The reactor for the tank was planned to be made with forced air cooling - hot air after the heat exchange process was supposed to set in motion an engine turbine.
It was assumed that nuclear fuel would be enough for 500 hours of continuous operation, however, according to theoretical calculations, during this time TV-1 would infect several hundred cubic meters of air! In addition, no unambiguous decision was made on reliable emergency protection of the reactor itself. This made the tank more dangerous for friendly troops than for the enemy.
The first project was followed by the second. In 1955, an upgraded TV-1 was introduced, given the R32 marker. The main differences from its predecessor were smaller dimensions and weight, as well as more rational armor slope angles. The most important difference was in reducing the danger of the reactor. They abandoned the air turbine, as well as reduced the size of the reactor itself, as well as the maximum cruising range of the machine. Thus, the safety of the reactor for the crew increased, but all the same, these protection measures were not enough for the full operation of the tank.
Attempts to interest the army in atomic projects did not end there. One of the most "colorful" developments was the project of an armored vehicle based on the M103 heavy tank. This project was carried out by the well-known American company Chrysler, which developed the nuclear reactor tank as part of the ASTRON program.
The result of the development was to be an effective combat vehicle capable of surpassing enemy armored vehicles for many decades to come. An experimental tank concept with an original turret was hidden behind the TV-8 index - its size exceeded the length of the vehicle's hull! The turret contained all the crew members, a 90 mm gun and ammunition. The tower was also supposed to house both the reactor and diesel engine. As you might guess, the TV-8 (known as the "float tank") had, to put it mildly, an original appearance.
The paradox is that the TV-8 was the most successful project of a tank with a nuclear reactor and the only one brought by the developers to the prototyping stage. Unfortunately or fortunately, in the future, the project was closed due to an unreasonable balance of prospects and risks associated with the operation of the tank.
TV-8 can be attributed to one of the most unusual design tanks in history military equipment. Now it looks at least ridiculous, and the layout principle seems to be extremely irrational - when it hit the turret, all the life-supporting systems of the tank turned out to be in the affected area - from the engine, weapons and crew to the nuclear reactor, the damage of which seemed fatal not only in relation to the tank itself, but also to the environment.
In addition, the autonomy of the operation of an atomic tank was still not possible, since the ammunition and fuel and lubricants were in any case limited, and the crew members were subjected to constant radiation exposure, which endangered human lives. Together with the extremely high cost of such a machine, their mass production and operation even now look like a very dubious enterprise. As a result, the atomic tank remained the product of the nuclear fever that swept the world in the 50s of the XX century.
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USA
By the time of the next conference, Question Mark IV, held in August 1955, the development of nuclear reactors made it possible to significantly reduce their size, and hence the mass of the tank. The project presented at the conference under the designation R32 assumed the creation of a 50-ton tank armed with a 90-mm smoothbore gun T208 and protected in frontal projection by 120-mm armor, located at an inclination of 60 ° to the vertical, which approximately corresponded to the level of protection of conventional medium tanks of that period. The reactor provided the tank with an estimated cruising range of more than 4,000 miles. R32 was considered more promising than the original version of the atomic tank, and was even considered as a possible replacement for the M48 tank that was in production, despite obvious disadvantages, such as the extremely high cost of the vehicle and the need for regular replacement of crews to prevent them from receiving a dangerous dose of radiation exposure . However, R32 did not go beyond the design stage. Gradually, the army's interest in nuclear tanks faded, but work in this direction continued at least until 1959. None of the projects of atomic tanks even reached the stage of building a prototype, just as the project of converting the M103 heavy tank into an experimental vehicle for testing a nuclear reactor on a tank chassis remained on paper.
USSR
Nuclear tanks in art
Nuclear tanks were present in the Strugatsky brothers' novel The Inhabited Island.
Notes
Fedor Berezin - series "A huge black ship" - A world is described in which war is waged using megamachines, incl. and tanks with a nuclear power plant.
Literature
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- nuclear missile cruiser
- Atomredmetzoloto
See what "Atomic Tank" is in other dictionaries:
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Books
- Denis is an inventor. Tanks and self-propelled guns. Melee weapons (set of 3 books) (number of volumes: 3), Chernenko Gennady. "Denis the Inventor. A book for the development of inventive abilities of children of primary and secondary grades". This book was written by a Russian inventor, a specialist in solution theory…
Russia to Develop Nuclear Round for T-14 Main Battle Tank
Most deadly tank Russia's third-generation T-14 main battle tank, as well as the basis for armored personnel carriers on the Armata universal chassis system, may become even more deadly in the near future.
According to unconfirmed media reports, Uralvagonzavod (a Russian defense contractor and the world's largest tank manufacturer) is not only upgrading new versions of the mysterious T-14 with a new nuclear-capable 152mm gun, but is also developing uranium tank armor.
It is not yet clear to military experts how far the Russians have advanced on this issue. That is, whether the nuclear subkiloton 152-mm projectile is under development, or we are already talking about its possible combat use.
The use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield is not part of the official Russian military doctrine. However, in last years Russia has made significant progress in the development of tactical nuclear weapons.
The current version of the T-14 is armed with a 125mm 2A82 smoothbore gun capable of firing powerful ammunition at an effective distance of up to seven kilometers and at a rate of up to 10 rounds per minute. The 152mm 2A83 cannon will have a much lower rate of fire.
Armata is the first new tank Russian, developed by Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is reported that the tank is equipped with a new active protection system, which includes a new generation of active armor, supposedly capable of withstanding the world's most advanced anti-tank guns and anti-tank missile systems.
In addition, as we have already indicated in another article, the T-14 will eventually be a fully automated combat unit equipped with uninhabited tower and, if necessary, remotely controlled:
“The Armata Universal Chassis System is a platform for more than a dozen different tracked vehicles, including self-propelled howitzer, engineering vehicle and armored personnel carrier. 70 percent of tracked armored vehicles of the Russian Ground Forces are planned to be replaced by vehicles based on the Armata Universal Chassis System.
True while authentic combat capabilities The T-14s are unknown and will remain so until they are tested in real combat.
In 2016, the Russian Ministry of Defense ordered the first batch of 100 T-14s and intends to purchase up to 2,300 T-14s by 2025. However, it seems that these are only the official financial and production capabilities of Russia. According to experts, from 2018, Russia can produce no more than 120 such tanks per year. Currently in ground forces Russia is in service with about 20 T-14 units. It is not yet clear whether mass production of the tank has begun.
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