[Vespers War]

I think I have managed to work out information for most of the Soviet missile tanks that pre-date the dual-use gun-missile launchers of the mid-70s and later. I still need to work out the exact stats, but here's the history I've found for the ones that actually had prototypes built as opposed to just being paper designs.

The development of missile tanks came around for a few reasons. Krushchev was opposed to heavy tanks and there were concerns that the D-10T on the T-54/55 couldn't penetrate the M60 from the front at reasonable combat ranges. So, various attempts were made to create a tank with missiles as the primary weapon.

The first of these was Object 757, a Chelyabinsk project in 1958 or 1959. It used the hull from a T-10M, with the engine upgraded to 850 horsepower and crew reduced from 4 to 3. The removal of the turret and replacement with a missile launcher reduced the mass to 44 tonnes. The original armament was a launcher for the KL-8 Sprut. This was a long (1.7 meter) 130mm missile with a 5 kilometer range. It was radio-guided until its IR seeker picked up the target for terminal maneuvers. 18 missiles were carried along with a coaxial PKVT and a SGMT. Around 1963 this would be refitted with the turret from Object 775, which is how it has been preserved to this day. The failure of the original version is the same problem that bedeviled pretty much all of these - the missile technology was insufficiently mature.

Next was Object 282, which also used a T-10M hull, but managed to fit a 1000 horsepower engine while also lightening the frontal armor since it was intended to fight at range. The intended armament was a 170mm Salamandra launcher with 16 missiles and a range of 3 kilometers. Salamandra failed quickly and the vehicle was modified to Object 282T.

Object 282T replaced the Salamandra with a pair of pop-up unguided anti-tank rocket launchers, one at each rear corner of the hull. There were two choices of rocket, the 132mm TRS-132 or the 152mm TRS-152. Each launcher could have either 15 of the former or 11 of the latter, for a total of 30 or 22 (or one launcher with each).

In 1964, Object 287 was introduced on a T-64 hull. This has one of the more interesting weapons layouts. In the center of the very flat turret is a pop-up launcher for the 9M15 Taifun radio-guided ATGM, with 15 of the missiles in the hull. On either side of the launcher is a weapons station, each of which has a 73mm 2A25 Molniya with 16 rounds and a PKT with 1500 rounds. The Molniya is similar to the 2A28 Grom on the BMP-1, possibly with a slightly shorter barrel. The Taifun was intended to have a 4 kilometer range but, once again, lack of maturity in missile technology left this as just a prototype.

Also in 1964, Chelyabinsk got back into the missile tank business with Object 775, also on a T-64 hull. Much like the MBT-70, this put the crew in the turret, with a driver/commander in a counter-rotating cupola to always face forward, with just a gunner for company. It had a fairly stubby 125mm rifled tube rocket launcher and the ability to carry 24 Rubin ATGMs, 48 Bur rockets, or 15 Rubin and 22 Bur. Rubin was another radio-guided missile with a 5 kilometer range, while Bur was a high explosive (not HEAT) rocket with a 9 kilometer range and higher speed (650 to 750 m/s compared to Rubin's 550 m/s). The turret also had a PKT coaxially mounted. This turret would be trialed on Object 757 as well. This apparently did not enter service because Rubin underperformed on armor penetration.

1968 would see the only missile tank to enter production, the Object 150/IT-1, which was built on a T-62 hull and used the 3M7 Drakon missile and a coaxial PKT.