The T-62 main battle tank (MBT) officially entered service with the Soviet Army on August 12, 1961. It was manufactured as a consolidated project based on certain T-55 tank components integrated with the larger 115mm U-5TS smoothbore gun. By the late 1950s, Soviet leaders recognized the standard 100mm high-explosive anti-tank rounds, and the armor-piercing shells lacked the kinetic energy to pierce certain armors on newer western tanks, or accurately hit moving targets. The strategy to up-gun the T-55 tank with the 115mm U-5TS smoothbore gun proved to be unsuitable due to the bigger guns’ higher recoil.
The T-62 tank had to be assembled with an enlarged hull to accommodate the recently designed “mushroom dome” cast turret and new, longer, thinner barreled 115mm U-5TS smoothbore gun. The new turret also incorporated an automatic shell ejector system. It worked from the recoil of the main gun and ejected the expended shell cartridge through a port in the rear of the turret. The T-62 was the first Soviet tank produced with a smoothbore gun that could fire rounds with higher velocities. It became the standard tank for the Soviet Red Army, but did not replace the T-55 tank. Higher manufacturing costs and reliability concerns restricted the exportation of the Soviet-built T-62s to client states.
