Artilleriyskiy Tyagach Tyazholiy, or AT-T (, meaning "heavy artillery tractor") was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

-era

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked. Traction There are two m ...

. The AT-T is based on the chassis and drive system from the T-54 tank. However, the hull has been rotated 180 degrees, with the engine, clutch, gearbox, steering gear and drive wheels located at the front of the vehicle (on the tank, these are located to the rear). The crew cabin is also located in the front part of the vehicle with the cab is from the ZIS-150 and ZIL-164 trucks.

History

With the adoption of new artillery and missile systems by the Armed Forces of the USSR, a post-war program was approved in the Soviet Union to develop a heavy tractor for transporting artillery and missile systems along with their

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

, based on the T-54. The

GABTU The Main Automotive-Armoured Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (, abbr. GABTU; another translation: ''Main Directorate of Armoured Forces'') is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defence which is subordinated t ...

set the following requirements for the new tractor: *Towing artillery and missile systems and trailers with a mass of up to 25 tons (203-mm howitzers

203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4) 203 mm howitzer M1931 (B-4) (, GRAU index: 52-G-625) was a 203 mm (8 inch) Soviet Union, Soviet high-power heavy howitzer. During the Second World War, it was under the command of the Stavka's strategic reserve. It was nicknamed " ...

, 130-mm anti-aircraft gun KS-30, super-heavy caliber guns, missile system

R-12 Dvina The R-12 Dvina was a theatre ballistic missile developed and deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Its GRAU designation was 8K63 (8K63U or 8K63У in Cyrillic for silo-launched version), and it was given the NATO reporting name of SS- ...

) at speeds of up to 35 kilometers per hour in any climatic conditions of the USSR; *Platform load capacity of at least 5 tons; *Presence of a winch with a pulling force of at least 25 tons; *The tractor chassis should allow the installation of special equipment for various branches of the military and specialized forces, with the capability to operate it; *Potential use in civilian sectors. At the end of 1947, the first prototypes of "Product 401" were produced at the Kharkiv Machine-Building Plant. For testing, a road run was conducted along the route from

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

(

Kubinka Kubinka () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Odintsovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located on the Setun River, west of Moscow. Population: __TOC__ History Kubinka, founded in the 15th century, may have been named ...

). During the run, the tractor proved itself well as a powerful, durable, mobile, and operationally efficient machine with excellent towing capabilities, ease of use, and field maintenance. After comparative trials across a range of parameters, "product 401" turned out to be the most successful among all heavy artillery tractors of the first post-war generation. Its creators were awarded the Stalin Prize in 1948.

Variants

*BAT-M obstacle removing vehicle *BTM-3 high-speed trench digging vehicle * Kharkovchanka Antarctic off-road vehicle * MDK-2M pits digging vehicle * P-40 radar

Other

At the end of 1958, as part of the 4th Soviet Antarctic Expedition, the vehicles were delivered to Antarctica. On January 10, 1959, a convoy of all-terrain vehicles departed from Mirny Station. On December 26, 1959, a caravan consisting of two " Kharkovchanka" and an AT-T tractor reached the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

in the area of Amundsen–Scott Station.

External links

O. Protasov - AT-T heavy artillery tractor
{{in lang, ru Artillery tractors Military vehicles of the Soviet Union Military vehicles introduced from 1945 to 1949