The 85-mm antitank gun D-48 (russian: 85-мм противотанковая пушка Д-48) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

85-mm

calibre In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the finished bore matc ...

anti-tank gun An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...

used after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It was designed as the replacement for the

100 mm field gun M1944 (BS-3) The 100 mm field gun M1944 (BS-3) (russian: 100-мм полевая пушка обр. 1944 г. (БС-3)) was a Soviet 100 mm anti-tank and field gun. History Development The BS-3 was based on the B-34 naval gun. The development ...

. Distinguishing features of the D-48 include a very long

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...

and a pepper-pot

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwant ...

. The D-48 was itself replaced in the 1960s by the T-12 antitank gun.

Overview

The gun was designed by the

F. F. Petrov Fyodor Fyodorovich Petrov (russian: Фёдор Фёдорович Петров) (16 March 1902, Doktorovo, Tula Governorate – 19 August 1978) was a Soviet artillery designer. References 1902 births 1978 deaths People from Venyovsky Di ...

Design Bureau on the basis of the D-44 85-mm divisional gun and production of the D-48 began in 1953 at the No. 75 factory in Yurga. The D-48 used the

breechblock A breechblock (or breech block) is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a breech loading weapon (whether small arms or artillery) before or at the moment of firing. It seals the breech and contains the pressure generated by ...

from the BS-3 100-mm field gun in order to achieve a rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute at maximum cadence. The gun can transition from march to combat order in about two minutes. The D-48N was a version with an APN 2-77 or 3-77

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from aroun ...

imaging device fitted for night combat. A licensed version of the D-48 was produced in China as the Type 60. The gun fires a high velocity armor-piercing-capped-ballistic-cap tracer (APCBC-T) BR-372

Projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found i ...

at 1040 meters per second and can penetrate 185mm of

armor Armour (British English) or armor (American English; see spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, especially direct contact weapons or projectiles during combat, or ...

at a range of 1000 meters at an angle of obliquity of 90 degrees. The 3BK-7 high explosive antitank (HEAT) projectile can penetrate 192mm of armor at an angle of obliquity of 60 degrees. The effective range of armor-piercing shells for the D-48 is 1,230 meters (HVAP-T) or 940 meters (HEAT). Additionally, the D-48 antitank gun is capable of firing a 9.66 kilogram OF-372 high explosive projectile to a direct fire range of 1,200 meters or an indirect fire range of 18.97 kilometers. The

Ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weapo ...

for the D-48 was developed by necking down 100-mm ammunition in order to achieve higher muzzle velocities.Janes, p. 525. The gun is towed by a

URAL-375D The Ural-375 is a general purpose 4.5 ton 6×6 truck, which has been produced at the Ural Automotive Plant in the Russian SFSR since 1961. The Ural-375 replaced the ZIL-157 as the standard Soviet Army truck in 1979. It was itself replaced by the ...

truckJanes, p. 526. or an AT-P tractor with a maximum towing speed over asphalt roadway of about 60 km/h. The tires on the D-48 are those of the ZIS-5 truck. Designs with auxiliary power units were also investigated but never developed beyond prototype stage.

Use by other nations

The D-48 has been exported to Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Congo, India, Iraq, North Korea, Mongolia, Mozambique, Romania, Somalia, Sudan, and Vietnam.

Citations

References

* Brassey's Encyclopedia of Land Forces and Warfare, Brassey's Inc., Washington D.C., 2000, . * ''Die Landstreitkräfte der NVA'', Wilfried Kopenhagen, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttart, 2003, . * ''Jane's Armour and Artillery 1981-1982'', Jane's Publishing Company Ltd, London, 1982. * Shunkov V. N. - ''The Weapons of the Red Army'', Mn. Harvest, 1999 (Шунков В. Н. - ''Оружие Красной Армии.'' — Мн.: Харвест, 1999.) .

External links

Page in Russian on the D-48.
{{SovArtyColdWar 85 mm artillery Anti-tank guns of the Cold War Anti-tank guns of the Soviet Union Military equipment introduced in the 1950s