Object
279
1957
Prototype
Super heavy tank

Weight: 60? tons
Length: c. 7/11 m
Width: c. 4 m
Armour: 266-305 mm
Gun: 130 mm
Shells stored: 24
Machine-gun: 14,5 mm
Engine: 16/960 hps
alt.: 2DG-8M (1000 hps)
Speed: km/h
Crew: 4
In 1957, a group headed by engineer L.S.Troyanov, devel-oped a prototype of a heavy tank, named "Object 279".
Notable is the four-band design (two pairs) to lower the ground pressure of this heavy vehicle, probably the only one of its kind in the history of combat tanks. It had great tract-ability in snowy and swampy terrain. The hull was covered by a thin elliptical shield protecting it against HEAT ammu-nition and preventing it from overturning by the shock wave of a nuclear explosion.
The project was abandoned in the late 1957.
The only sample of this unlikely vehicle is today (2002) ex-hibited at the Kubinka Armour Museum outside Moscow.
photo