BT tank

BT-2, BT-5, BT-7, BT-7M
BT-5 side view
Type	Light cavalry tank
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	1932–45
Used by	Soviet Union Spanish Republic Francoist Spain (captured)  Republic of China People's Republic of China Mongolian People's Republic  Finland (captured)  Hungary (captured)  Romania (captured)  Nazi Germany (captured) Kingdom of Afghanistan
Wars	Spanish Civil War Second Sino–Japanese War Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Invasion of Poland Winter War World War II
Production history
Designer	J. Walter Christie, Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau (KMDB)
Designed	1930–31
Manufacturer	Malyshev Factory
Produced	1932–41
No. built	BT-2: 650 BT-5: 1884 BT-7: 5556
Variants	BT-2, BT-5, BT-7, BT-7M
Specifications (BT-5)
Mass	11.5 tonnes (12.676 tons)
Length	5.58 m (18 ft 4 in)
Width	2.23 m (7 ft 4 in)
Height	2.25 m (7 ft 5 in)
Crew	3
Armour	6–23 mm
Main armament	45 mm Model 1932 tank gun
Secondary armament	1-3 7.62 mm DT machine guns
Engine	Model M-5 400 hp (298 kW)
Power/weight	35 hp/tonne
Suspension	Christie
Fuel capacity	360 litres (95 US gal)
Operational range	200 km (120 mi)
Maximum speed	72 km/h (44.7 mph)

The BT tank (Russian: Быстроходный танк/БТ, romanized: Bystrokhodnyy tank/BT, lit. "fast moving tank" or "high-speed tank")^[1] was one of a series of Soviet light tanks produced in large numbers between 1932 and 1941. They were lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for their time, and had the best mobility of all contemporary tanks. The BT tanks were known by the nickname Betka from the acronym, or by its diminutive Betushka.^[2] The successor of the BT tanks was the famous T-34 medium tank, introduced in 1940, which would replace all of the Soviet fast tanks, infantry tanks, and light tanks in service.