A story of what a Main Battle Tank is and how it came to be.
Tanks evolved considerably over the course of over 100 years of service. The first tanks were built to break through enemy fortifications, but still ended up being much smaller than the landships that H.G. Wells dreamed of. Nevertheless, the effect they had was considerable. All armies of the world wanted to have their own tanks, but not all managed to create one. A tank only seems simple, but in reality is quite a complicated fighting machine that requires a powerful industry to produce. Far fewer nations managed to build their own tanks than their own aircraft. In addition, like any weapon individual tanks quickly became obsolete. It is only in the last few decades that tank development slowed down from its breakneck pace. Tanks remain one of the key types of vehicles on the battlefield. There have been many attempts to write them off as a relic of the past, but practice shows that this time has not yet come.
|T-72, the most numerous Main Battle Tank. These tanks were developed in the late 1960s but continue to serve and will do so for decades to come.
|The first tanks were just tanks. Classification by weight only came around later.
|An attempt at creating a main tank was made in the 1920s. Medium tanks were not as slow and expensive as heavies, but also more effective than lights. It is no accident that British Medium Tanks Mk.I, Mk.II and Mk.III were their most numerous tanks of the 1920s, but they were ill-suited for the role of a main tank.
|Char B, the first attempt to create something close to a Main Battle Tank. General Estienne saw the Char B as the main tank on the battlefield, with the armour and armament of a heavy tank but mobility close to a contemporary medium tank.
|The result of the "battle tank" program. Instead of a medium tank with the armour of a heavy, France ended up with a heavy tank with the armour and armament of a medium. The biggest problem was that the Char B1 bis was astronomically expensive and produced in tiny numbers, unable to replace medium tanks.
|Despite conspiracy theories, the KV-13 tank that appeared in 1942 was developed as a heavy tank. No one was trying to replace the T-34.
|The Panther is sometimes classified as a heavy tank due to its weight, but it was a medium. The Panther was never a Main Battle Tank, since production of the Tiger continued in parallel.
|The Centurion is often classified as an MBT, but that is incorrect. It was intended to be a heavy cruiser tank, with its mass quickly growing from 40 to 50 tons. Its development did not stop work on heavy tanks.
|Attempts to make a heavy tank from the Pershing ended badly every time. This was a medium tank that was pushed to its weight limit.
|This was the status of IS-7 trials in 1948. The tank was 3 tons heavier than expected and the cost of a pilot tank exceeded 3 million rubles.
|FV4201 or Chieftain, the first tank called a Main Battle Tank. It fully meets this classification: its armament and front armour matched that of contemporary heavy tanks, but mobility and weight matched those of medium tanks.
|MBT 70, the German-American approach.
|T-64A, the first Soviet MBT.
Hadithi ya nini Main Battle Tank ni na jinsi ilivyotokea. Meli hizo zilikuwa na maendeleo makubwa katika miaka 100 ya utumishi. Meli hizo zilitengenezwa kwa ajili ya kuvunja ngome za adui, lakini zilikuwa ndogo sana kuliko meli za kivita zilizotengenezwa na H.G. Wells. Wells aliota. Hata hivyo, matokeo yao yalikuwa makubwa. Majeshi yote ya ulimwengu yalitaka kuwa na mizinga yao wenyewe, lakini si yote yaliyofanikiwa kuunda moja. Meli ya kivita inaonekana tu rahisi, lakini katika hali halisi ni mashine ya mapigano ngumu sana ambayo inahitaji sekta yenye nguvu ya kuzalisha. Mataifa machache sana yalifaulu kujenga mizinga yao wenyewe kuliko ndege zao wenyewe. Kwa kuongezea, kama silaha yoyote, mizinga ya kibinafsi ilichakaa upesi. Ni katika miongo michache iliyopita tu ambapo maendeleo ya mizinga yamepungua kutokana na mwendo wake wa kasi. Magari-jeshi ya kivita bado ni mojawapo ya aina muhimu za magari katika uwanja wa vita. """Kulikuwa na majaribio mengi ya kuziandika kama mabaki ya zamani, lakini mazoezi yanaonyesha kwamba wakati huu haujafika." T-72 ni moja ya mizinga ya vita kuu zaidi duniani. Mifuko hii ilitengenezwa mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1960 lakini inaendelea kutumika na itafanya hivyo kwa miongo ijayo. """Tangi za kwanza zilikuwa za kijeshi." Uainishaji kwa uzito ulikuja baadaye tu. Jaribio la kuunda tank kuu lilifanywa katika miaka ya 1920. Matofali ya kati hayakuwa polepole na ya gharama kubwa kama yale mazito, lakini pia yalikuwa yenye matokeo zaidi kuliko yale mepesi. Miongoni mwa mizinga ya kati ya Uingereza ya Mk I, Mk II na Mk III, ambayo ilitengenezwa katika miaka ya 1920, ilikuwa na uwezo mkubwa wa kuendesha mizinga ya kivita. Char B, jaribio la kwanza la kuunda kitu karibu na Main Battle Tank. Jenerali Estienne aliona Char B kama tank kuu kwenye uwanja wa vita, na silaha na silaha ya tank nzito lakini mwendo karibu na tank ya kati ya kisasa. <unk> Matokeo ya programu ya "tangi ya vita". Badala ya tank ya kati na silaha ya nzito, Ufaransa ilimalizika na tank nzito na silaha na silaha ya kati. Tatizo kubwa lilikuwa kwamba Char B1 bis ilikuwa ghali sana na ilitengenezwa kwa idadi ndogo, haiwezi kuchukua nafasi ya mizinga ya kati. KV-13 tank, ambayo ilionekana mwaka 1942, ilitengenezwa kama tank nzito. Hakuna mtu aliyejaribu kuchukua nafasi ya T-34. Panther wakati mwingine ni classified kama tank nzito kutokana na uzito wake, lakini ilikuwa kati. Panther kamwe alikuwa Main Battle Tank, tangu uzalishaji wa Tiger aliendelea sambamba. "Centurion"" ni aina ya meli ya kivita ya aina ya ""MTB"" ambayo ni ya kawaida." Mfano wa tank hii ni ya Cruiser, ambayo kwa muda mfupi iliongezeka kutoka 40 hadi 50 tani. Maendeleo yake hayakuacha kazi ya kutengeneza mizinga mizito. Jaribio la kutengeneza tangi nzito kutoka kwa Pershing lilimalizika vibaya kila wakati. Hii ilikuwa tank ya kati ambayo ilisukumwa hadi kikomo cha uzito wake. Hii ni kwa sababu ya majaribio ya IS-7 ya mwaka 1948. Meli hiyo ilikuwa na uzito wa tani tatu zaidi ya ilivyotarajiwa na gharama ya msafara wa majaribio ilizidi ruble milioni tatu. F420 (F420), tank ya kwanza ya vita Ni kikamilifu hukutana na uainishaji huu: silaha yake na mbele ya silaha alilingana kwamba ya tank nzito ya kisasa, lakini mwendo na uzito alilingana wale wa mizinga ya kati. MBT-70 - Njia ya Ujerumani-Amerika T-64A - kwanza Soviet MBT