NST-130 [USSR, MT-10]
Historical Reference:
By the end of the 1950s, research work was being conducted in Soviet design bureaus to determine the future appearance of tanks. Taking into account scientific achievements and production capabilities, development paths for the next 10 years were proposed.
The NST (New Medium Tank) project was proposed by VNII-100 in cooperation with TsNIIM. The tank’s design was partly determined by an autoloader with a cylindrical carousel ammunition rack protruding beyond the hull sides in the central section, resulting in a suspension layout with road wheels of two different diameters: larger ones at the front and rear, and smaller ones in the middle. One suspension variant was hydropneumatic, with the ability to change the hull’s angle of inclination. The NST, with a crew of three, was intended to be armed with a 130 mm rifled gun. The turret’s protection was reinforced with additional spaced armor screens. The project received high evaluations; however, it never reached the implementation stage due both to competition among factory design bureaus and the large number of potentially problematic innovations.
