IS tank family

Iosif Stalin tank
IS-2 model 1943 and IS-3 at the Great Patriotic War Museum, Minsk, Belarus
TypeHeavy tank
Place of originSoviet Union
Service history
Used bySoviet Union
China
Cuba
Czechoslovakia
East Germany
Hungary
Egypt
Poland
North Korea
Wars
Production history
DesignerZhozef Kotin
Nikolay Dukhov
Designed
  • 1943 (IS-2)
  • 1944 (IS-3)
  • 1944–45 (IS-4)
ManufacturerKirov Factory, UZTM
Unit costIS-2: 264,400 rubles[2]
Produced
  • 1943–44 (IS-1)
  • 1944–45 (IS-2)
  • 1945–47 (IS-3)
  • 1947–49 (IS-4)
No. built
  • 207 (IS-1)[3]
  • 3,854 (IS-2)
  • 2,311 (IS-3)
  • 250 (IS-4)
  • 6 (IS-7)(prototypes)[4]
Specifications (IS-2 Model 1944[6])
Mass46 tonnes (51 short tons; 45 long tons)
Length9.90 m (32 ft 6 in)
Width3.09 m (10 ft 2 in)
Height2.73 m (8 ft 11 in)
Crew4

ArmorIS-2 Model 1943:
Hull front: 120 mm
Lower glacis: 100 mm at 30° angle
Turret front: 100 mm (rounded)
Mantlet: 155 mm (rounded)
Hull side: 90–130 mm at 9-25°
Turret side: 90 mm at 20° angle.
Main
armament
D-25T 122 mm gun (28 rounds)
Secondary
armament
DShK, 3×DT (2,079 rounds)
Engine12-cyl. diesel model V-2
600 hp (450 kW)
Power/weight13 hp/tonne
Suspensiontorsion bar
Fuel capacity820 L (180 imp gal; 220 US gal)
Operational
range
Road:
240 km (150 mi)
Cross-country:
180 km (110 mi) [5]
Maximum speed 37 km/h (23 mph)

The IS tanks (Russian: ИС) were a series of heavy tanks developed as a successor to the KV-series by the Soviet Union during World War II. The IS acronym is the anglicized initialism of Joseph Stalin (Ио́сиф Ста́лин, Iosif Stalin). The heavy tanks were designed as a response to the capture of a German Tiger I in 1943.[7] They were mainly designed as breakthrough tanks, firing a heavy high-explosive shell that was useful against entrenchments and bunkers. The IS-2 went into service in April 1944 and was used as a spearhead by the Red Army in the final stage of the Battle of Berlin. The IS-3 served on the Chinese-Soviet border, the Hungarian Revolution, the Prague Spring and on both sides of the Six-Day War. The series eventually culminated in the T-10 heavy tank.

  1. ^ Peck, Michael (2 July 2014). "The Ukrainian Rebels' New Weapon Is a World War II Tank". War is Boring. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Себестоимость некоторых типов советских танков по годам".
  3. ^ "IS-1 total production". Archived from the original on 2021-02-06. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  4. ^ Nicholas Moran (23 December 2014). "Inside the Chieftain's Hatch: IS-7 Part 2". Youtube. World of Tanks North America. Archived from the original on 2021-11-17.
  5. ^ Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two (Steven J. Zaloga, James Grandsen) page 176.
  6. ^ Zaloga & Grandsen 1984, p. 176.
  7. ^ Zaloga 1994.