"T-64 Tank Armament" Topic

Okay, after reading Wikipedia, I'm even more confused than before, about the armament of the T-64.

I get that the initial T-64 used the same gun as the T-62, for their prototype models (115mm smoothbore weapon).

However, I always thought the T-64s had 125mm guns from the start.

Later, it goes on to say that production models were upgraded to the 125mm cannon, e.g. on the T-64A (and also T-64B models).

However, the article also states that many of the T-64s were upgraded to the T-64R model (different equipment layout on the exterior of the vehicle), with a 115mm gun.

So, did some of the production T-64s really have 115mm guns, or is that perhaps just a typo?

David Isby only mentions 125mm models however it mentions that there were intermediate prototypes between T62 and T64 and implies some of those may have had the 115mm gun at first.

Not production models according to him though.

edit: Nevermind, I just repeated what you already said. Nothing to see here. Listen to some Slayer instead.

Per 'Soviet/Russian Armor and Artillery Design Practices:1945 to Present by Hull,Markov and Zaloga1999-

Prototype had d54t 100mm gun, then 115mm gun(but that was predicted to be obsolete by the time of mass production)then 125mm gun (with six missiles).

EVERYTHING was new on that tank from autoloader to firecontrol, suspension to armor.

The T-64R seems to be the problem – some sources think it was 115mm armed, and others that it was the designation for models refitted with the 125mm, which had originally had the 115mm.

The impression I get is that the latter is correct – the first few hundred (600 seems to be the usually quoted number) T-64s (no suffix, just baseline T-64) had the 115mm D-68 gun, and were later upgraded to T-64A or B standard, including 125mm armament, and designated T-64R. (R on Russian designations usually means Remontirovanny – rebuilt….)

Tank was probably forced into production before production of the gum was underway???

Anything less than a few hundred in USSR was just a prototype.

"Tank was probably forced into production before production of the gum was underway???"

What about the baling wire?

New Osprey Book on the T64 due in August 2015

Hopefully a fully revised T72 book at some point too

Some T64s were not upgraded. These were mainly training tanks. One of Zaloga's books shows a march column of T64s. Several have have the older gun. The picture was from the late-80s. It was supposed to be from some unit deep inside Russia.

I would imagine that all tanks designated to fight were upgraded.

You can tell the upgraded model from the stowage bin on the left (i think) front fender. The T64A and later didn't have this feature.

I hope this helps.

Joe Collins

Thanks for all the replies.

I appreciate them.

Wasn't the T-64 the first Soviet tank (and possibly the first tank anywhere) with an autoloader?

If that is the case, I would imagine changing from a 115mm to a 125mm (or vice versa) would require a significant change in design to the autoloader, or an even more significant change to add a manual (i.e. human) loader. Either seems a poor use of resources, although military procurements in general, and the Soviets in particular, never seem to to have much difficulty wasting resources.

Yes it was, but it was a non-issue. The autoloader capacity dropped from 30 rounds of 115mm to 28 of 125mm, but otherwise it was simply a case of rescaling the parts – the fact that the 125mm was simply a scaled up 115 (same 2-part ammo with same case type) meant the principles of operation were unchanged.

Yep, just a scaled up cannon.

It sounds like for the prototypes, they just re-bored the barrels, to make them 125mm.