One of the most-produced Soviet armored vehicles in history is the T-62 medium tank that was a result of a program to improve T-55 medium tank performance. That much is well-known – but how did it end up with a 115mm smoothbore gun? The bore is unusual to say the least and the Soviet Union didn't have any mass-produced weapons of such caliber before the T-62. So how did that happen and why?

To discover the answer, we have to go back to the fifties. By then the Soviets had realized that the 100mm D-10T T-54/55 gun was becoming obsolete. It was originally from 1944 and while it was powerful for its time, a decade later the technology had moved on.

Read more about the T-62 development!