Chinese newspaper comments on Vietnam's iron fist T-62
Before receiving the modern T-90S/SK main battle tanks, the T-62 was still the strongest iron fist of the Vietnam Armored Corps.
China's Sina website has just posted a series of photos about the Vietnamese Army's combat training activities with T-62 main battle tanks.
The Chinese newspaper reported that development of the T-62 began in the Soviet Union in the late 1950s, officially entering production in 1964, and the assembly line ceased operations in 1975 with a total of more than 400,000 vehicles produced.
Over the past few decades, the T-62 main battle tank has remained the strongest "iron fist" of the Vietnamese Army.
Thanks to its reliable performance, it is often used for training as well as combat operations.
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| Vietnam's T-62 main battle tank |
The T-62 main battle tank has a combat weight of 37 tons, is operated by a crew of four, and uses a 115 mm smoothbore gun that is much more powerful and advanced than the 100 mm rifled gun on its predecessor, the T-54/55.
The first time it appeared on Red Square in a parade in 1965, the T-62 attracted great attention from the Western press.
But in detail, the technical solution of the T-62 does not really have many breakthroughs when placed next to the T-54/55. The number of T-62s in Vietnam is estimated to be not large, perhaps they were aided by the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
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| Introducing the features of the T-62 tank to officers participating in technical training |
The T-62 tank still has the common characteristics of Soviet tanks: low height, small gun depression angle, it is equipped with 5 rows of double-bearing wheels on each side with the 3rd, 4th and 5th wheels far apart (in the T-54/55, it is the opposite).
Emphasizing combat performance, the crew's operating space is quite narrow, the T-62's armor does not really provide safe protection against modern armor-piercing bullets, and is vulnerable because it does not have explosive reactive armor.
According to Chinese newspapers, the T-62 had modernized versions such as the T-62M in the mid-1970s, which are still effective on the Syrian battlefield. This is probably the option that Vietnam will consider applying to its T-62s.
Sina page also provided more information about China capturing a Soviet T-62M during the border war between the two countries. The design of this MBT greatly influenced them to create later generations of tanks like the Type 69.
