After World War II, the Soviet Union was looking for a new main battle tank, and the incredible T-54 was born
At the end of the war, the T-34 tank line was no longer optimal
the Soviet Union was aggressively looking for another type of tank to replace its obsolete T-34s
even though they were "the hero" in the war against Nazi Germany
Until 1946, the Soviet Union officially invented the ultimate tank for its army
and only 1 year later, it was put into mass production, quickly becoming a "legend"
Over the next 15 years, a total of 83,500 were built, some of which are still trusted by some countries to this day
The popularity of this state-of-the-art T-54 main battle tank has spread like a "fever"
Even China copied it, and made sure that, from North Korea to Vietnam, or Laos and Cambodia, there were still enough quantities needed
After that, the T-54 even spread to the distant Middle East, from Egypt to Syria, or even Jordan, all possessing them in their armies
Dozens of countries operated it as a “reliable” ground combat platform
The T-54 proved to be an easy-to-operate, rugged armored fighting platform
with many spare parts available thanks to its "popularity", and very easy to carry out the necessary upgrade packages
This also resulted in dozens of variations of this “legendary” platform
Technological improvements took place over a long period of time, all the way up to 1990
Lessons from World War II in the face of the mighty Nazi army proved that firepower is the "key" of true strength, the decisive factor on the battlefield
T-54 was equipped with an extremely powerful 100mm gun, the barrel recoil was reduced to a minimum, more powerful than ever
In 1967, the improved 3BM-8 APDS round, which could penetrate 275 mm thick armour at a range of 2 km, was introduced
The armament of the T-54 was also greatly upgraded, the weight of this tank was increased to 39.7 tons
with a body length of 6.45m, a width of 3.37m and a height of 2.40m, with a crew of 4 people
It carried up to 34 rounds
Supporting fire including a 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun and a 12.7mm machine gun, allowing it to engage in the most optimal way
In terms of maneuverability, the T-54 is considered to be much superior to its predecessor T-34
It is equipped with a powerful 12-cylinder diesel engine, which helps to achieve a top speed of up to 32 mph
The combat capability of the T-54 is proven in the battlefields in which it has appeared, such as the Vietnam War
the Cold War and countless other wars and conflicts over time
It can be said that, compared to its contemporaries at that time, the Soviet T-54 was really a great fighting platform
and it is not surprising that it has really become a "legendary"