The T-10 was a Soviet heavy tank of the Cold War, the final development of the IS tank series. During development, it was called IS-8 and IS-9. It was accepted into production in 1952 as the IS-10, but due to the political climate in the wake of Stalin's death in 1953, it was renamed T-10. The biggest differences from its direct ancestor, the IS-3, were a longer hull, seven pairs of road wheels instead of six, a larger turret mounting a new gun with fume extractor, an improved diesel engine, and increased armour. General performance was similar, although the T-10 could carry more ammunition. T-10s were deployed in independent tank regiments belonging to armies, and independent tank battalions belonging to divisions. These independent tank units could be attached to mechanized units, to support infantry operations and perform breakthroughs.
The mobile nature of armoured warfare in World War II had demonstrated the drawbacks of the slow heavy tanks. In the final push towards Berlin, mechanized divisions had become widely split up as heavy tanks lagged behind the mobile T-34s. The Soviets continued to produce heavy tanks for a few years as part of the Cold Wararms race, but the more flexible T-54 and T-62medium tanks already had armour and armament comparable to the T-10's. In the 1960s, the Soviets embraced the main battle tank concept, by replacing heavy tanks with mobile medium tanks. In the late 1960s, the independent tank battalions with heavy tanks were re-equipped with the higher-technology T-64s, and later, the very fast T-80, while regular tank and mechanized units fielded the more basic T-55s and T-72s. T-10 production was stopped in 1966, and heavy tank projects were cancelled, such as the auto-loaded, 130 mm-armed Obiekt 770. Antitank guided missiles started to be deployed widely during this period, and would become an effective replacement for the heavy tanks' long-range firepower. The Soviets made use of them first on BMP-1infantry fighting vehicles, and later on the T-64 and other MBTs. Eventually, light, sophisticated reactive armour was used to give the MBTs a further edge in protection without slowing them down.
Name changes
The T-10 underwent a number of designation changes during its design process starting in 1944 and ending its acceptance into service as the T-10.
Production history
The T-10 served with the Soviet Union but was not known to have been provided to Warsaw Pact nations, though Soviet heavy tank regiments stationed in those countries may have been equipped with them. Prior to 1962, T-10Ms were in simultaneous production by two factories whose parts were incompatible with those of the other; Kirov's version was standardized in 1962. The T-10 was never exported outside of the Soviet Union. Some older western sources claimed that the T-10 was exported to Syria and/or Egypt, however no photographic evidence of it in service or combat has come to light. Heavy tanks were withdrawn from Soviet front-line service by 1967, and entirely removed from reserve service by 1996.. It is estimated that some 6,000 Soviet heavy tanks were built after the end of World War II, of which 1,439 were T-10s.
