Main Agency of Automobiles and Tanks of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Main Automotive-Armoured Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (Russian: Главное автобронетанковое управление МО РФ, Glavnoye Avtobronetankovoye Upravleniye MO RF, abbr. GABTU; another translation: Main Directorate of Armoured Forces) is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defence which is subordinated to the Chief of Armaments and Munitions of the Armed Forces, vice-minister of defense (nachal’nik vooruzheniya VS RF – zamestitel’ Ministra oborony RF). Its director appears to currently be General Major Vladislav Polonskiy, as identified by Krasnaya Zvezda on September 14, 2004.

Object numbers

GABTU is responsible for assignment of object (Russian: Объект) numbers to almost all the tanks and other combat vehicles entering service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Объект is often transliterated as obyekt, ob'yekt, obyect, obiekt, etc. These names are sometimes referred to incorrectly as "industry designation" or "factory names".

Object 279

Object 279 (Объект 279) was a Soviet experimental heavy tank developed at the end of 1959.

This special purpose tank was intended to fight on cross country terrain, inaccessible to conventional tanks, acting as a heavy breakthrough tank, and if necessary withstanding even the shockwave of a nuclear explosion. It was planned as a tank of the Supreme Command Reserve.

Design

The tank was developed at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad by a group headed by the engineer L. Troyanov. The work on the tank started in 1957, which was based on a heavy tank operational requirements developed in 1956, and a pre-production tank was completed at the end of 1959.

This unique tank boasted increased cross-country capability. It featured four-track running gear mounted on two longitudinal, rectangular hollow beams, which were also used as fuel tanks. The tank suspension was hydro-pneumatic with complex hydrotransformer and three-speed planetary gearbox. The track adjuster was worm-type. The specific ground pressure of this heavy vehicle did not exceed 0.6 kg/cm². The track chain, running practically along the whole track length provided for increased cross-country capabilities on swampy terrain, soft soils and area full of cut trees, Czech hedgehogs, antitank obstacles and the like.