OVERVIEW: The T-62 was a Soviet medium tank.

DETAILS: The T-62 MBT was introduced in 1961. It has a four-man crew, a diesel engine, and mounts a 115mm smoothbore cannon along with a 7.62mm coaxially mounted machine gun and a 12.7mm machine gun on a flex mount on the commander's cupola. The 115mm gun was supplied with standard HE frag rounds, High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) shaped charge rounds, and Hyper-velocity armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (HVAPFSDS) rounds. The T-62 featured an automatic casing ejection system that discharged spent main gun casings out of a port in the back of the turret. Original versions of the T-62 were equipped with a stadiametric rangefinder and active infrared gunners illuminator and drivers headlights. Later versions of the T-62 saw many systems upgrades and were retrofitted with laser rangefinders and passive IR sighting systems. As with most Soviet main battle tanks, the T-62 was capable of deep water fording at depths up to 5.5m, and it was equipped with Nuclear-Biological-Chemical (NBC) detection and protection equipment. The T-62 was widely exported to many countries, copied by others, and modified by many, and has seen extensive combat service throughout the world.

NOTES: The Soviet tank company consists of 10 tanks with three platoons of three tanks each and one tank for the company commander. The Soviet tank battalion consists of 31 tanks in three 10-tank companies and one tank for the battalion commander. Soviet tank battalions can be independent or are part of the tank regiment (three tank battalions). Each motorized rifle regiment also has an organic tank battalion and each motorized rifle division has an organic tank regiment. Until the mid to late 1980's when Soviet tank battalions were standardized across the board to 31 tanks each, the tank battalions in the motorized rifle division had four tanks in each platoon which gave the battalion a total of 40 tanks (13 x 3)+ 1.

SOURCES: FM 100-2-3. Washington D.C.: Headquarters, Department of the Army, 1991