#24 — T-62: The First Tank With a Smoothbore Gun
The T-62 introduced the 115mm U-5TS smoothbore gun — the first smoothbore tank cannon ever fielded — firing APFSDS (armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot) rounds at 1,615 m/s. This single innovation established the smoothbore-APFSDS combination that every modern main battle tank on earth now uses.
Entering Soviet service in 1961, the T-62 represented a quantum leap in anti-armor firepower. Its APFSDS round could penetrate 270mm of steel at 1,000 meters, outperforming the rifled guns on contemporary Western tanks. Over 22,700 were built, making it one of the most produced tanks in military history. Syrian T-62s fought Israeli tanks in the 1973 Yom Kippur War with mixed results — the gun was excellent, but the fire control primitive. Egyptian, Iraqi, and Afghan forces all operated T-62s extensively. Its automatic spent-casing ejection system — which popped the hull rear hatch after each shot — was infamously dangerous to nearby infantry. The T-62 may not have been the best tank of its era, but its smoothbore gun technology reshaped armored warfare permanently.
