The D-10 is a Soviet 100 mm

tank gun A tank gun is the main armament of a tank. Modern tank guns are high-velocity, large-caliber artilleries capable of firing kinetic energy penetrators, high-explosive anti-tank, and cannon-launched guided projectiles. Anti-aircraft guns can also ...

developed in late

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It originally equipped the

SU-100 The SU-100 ( Russian: самоходная установка-100, СУ-100 romanized: '' Samokhodnaya Ustanovka-''100) is a Soviet tank destroyer armed with the D-10S 100 mm anti-tank gun in a casemate superstructure. It was used extens ...

tank destroyer A tank destroyer, tank hunter or tank killer is a type of armoured fighting vehicle, predominantly intended for anti-tank duties. They are typically armed with a direct fire anti-tank gun, artillery gun, also known as a self-propelled anti-ta ...

s and was later selected for the

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2 ...

tank, equipping these as late as 1979. On the T-55 the D-10 continues to be in active service in many countries.

History

At the beginning of 1944, the

T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against Anti-tank warfare, ...

tank's F-34 76.2 mm tank gun was replaced by a more powerful 85 mm gun. This rendered the year-old SU-85 tank destroyer effectively obsolescent, since its D-5T 85 mm gun was now also fielded by a more flexible medium tank. F. F. Petrov's Design Bureau at Artillery Factory No. 9 was assigned the task of producing a 100 mm

anti-tank gun An anti-tank gun is a form of artillery designed to destroy tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, normally from a static defensive position. The development of specialized anti-tank munitions and anti-tank guns was prompted by the appearance ...

that could be used on the SU-85 chassis, for the proposed

. To achieve this goal, Petrov's team modified the S-34 naval gun for use in an armoured fighting vehicle. The D-10 is a high-

velocity Velocity is a measurement of speed in a certain direction of motion. It is a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of physical objects. Velocity is a vector (geometry), vector Physical q ...

gun of 100 mm calibre (bore diameter), with a barrel length of 53.5 calibres. A muzzle velocity of 895 m/s gave it good anti-tank performance by late-war standards. With its original ammunition, it could penetrate about 164 mm of steel armor plate at 1,000 m, which made it superior to the German 75 mm

KwK 42 The 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 (from 7.5 cm '' Kampfwagenkanone'' 42 L/70) was a 7.5 cm calibre German tank gun used on German armoured fighting vehicles in the Second World War. The gun was the armament of the Panther medium tank and two ...

mounted on the

Panther tank The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated Pz.Kpfw. V) with Sonderkraftfahrzeug, ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used in most European theatre of ...

as well as the

Tiger I The Tiger I () was a Nazi Germany, German heavy tank of World War II that began operational duty in 1942 in North African Campaign, Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent German heavy tank battalion, heavy tank battalions. It g ...

's 88 mm KwK 36 gun. Testing against Panther tanks at Kubinka showed the D-10T could penetrate the Panther's glacis up to 1500 m. Armor penetration performance increased further with the development of APDS (Armor-Piercing, Discarding Sabot) and other more modern ammunition types after WWII. A more effective high-explosive shell was also developed after the war, taking advantage of the larger 100 mm bore. It was originally designed to equip the

tank destroyer as the D-10S (for ''samokhodnaya'', 'self-propelled'), and was later mounted on the post-war T-54 main battle tank as the D-10T (for ''tankovaya'', 'tank' adj.). There was no significant difference in functionality or performance between the two versions. It was also tested on the

, T-44, KV-1, and

IS-2 The IS-2 (, sometimes romanization of Russian, romanized as JS-2The series name is an abbreviation of the name Joseph Stalin (); IS-2 is a direct transliteration of the Russian abbreviation, while JS-2 is an abbreviation of the English or Germa ...

(''obyekt 245''). In 1955 a stabilizer (vertical-plane STP-1 ''Gorizont'') and

bore evacuator A bore evacuator or fume extractor is a device which removes lingering gases and airborne residues from the barrel of an armored fighting vehicle's gun after firing, particularly in tanks and self-propelled guns. By creating a pressure differ ...

were added to the new D-10TG version of the gun. In 1956, the subsequent D-10T2S version of the gun began production for T-54B and T-55 tanks, equipped with two-plane ''Tsyklon'' gun stabilization. Versions of the D-10 were installed on new tanks as late as 1979, and thousands still remain in service in various countries. Returning to its naval roots, a version of the D-10 was installed as a coastal artillery piece in Finland in the 1960s. This weapon is designated 100 56 TK in

Finnish Navy The Finnish Navy ( , ) is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year. Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix "FNS", short for "Finnish Navy ship", but ...

service and consists of a complete T-55 tank turret without the stabilizer but furnished with a manually operated ammunition lift, a chute for used cases, and gun laying apparatus allowing indirect fire directed by remote fire control. The maximum elevation of the barrel was also increased and the turret was furnished with new aiming optics, in some cases including a thermographic camera for night use.Enqvist (1999), pp.217-219

Variants

* BS-3 - field gun 52-P-412 * ZIF-25 -

Casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...

s gun 52-PC-412 * D-10S - anti-tank gun 52-SS-412, designed for installation in ACS SU-100 and SU-101 ** D-10SU - anti-tank gun 52-PS-412U differs from the basic version of the presence of the balancing mechanism *D-10T - tank gun 52-PT-412 is designed for installation in the tank T-54 ** D-10T2 - tank gun 52-PT-412-2 is equipped with a balancing mechanism, designed for installation in the tank T-54 ** D-10TG - tank gun 52-PT-412c, and is equipped with an ejector one-plane stabilizer arms, designed for installation in the tank T-54A ** D-10T2S - tank gun 52-PT-412D is equipped with an ejector and two-plane stabilizer arms, designed for installation in the tank T-54B and T-55 * D-33 - tank gun 2A48 and 2A48-1, lightweight 600 kg, designed for installation in light/amphibious tanks object 685 and object 934 * D-50 / D-10 - anti-tank gun, designed for installation in SU-100P * M-63 - modification, designed for installation in Object 416 * Type 59 - Chinese copy gun D-10T for installation in the tank Type 59

Ammunition

During World War II, UOF-412 round carried the 15.6 kg (34.39 lbs) F-412 high-explosive fragmentation shell. Anti-tank ammunition available from World War II until the late 1960s was based on the UBR-412 round, including the BR-412 armour-piercing high-explosive projectile, with the ballistic-capped BR-412B and BR-412D ammunition becoming available in the late 1940s. There was also a D-412 smoke shell. In 1964, the NII-24 research bureau started design work on an improved 3UBM6 anti-tank round. In 1967 the 3BM6 hyper-velocity armour-piercing discarding-sabot round (HVAPDS) entered service: At a range of 2,000 m, it could penetrate 290 mm of flat armour, or 145 mm of armour angled at 60 degrees from the vertical. It was later replaced by the 3BM8 HVAPDS projectile, with a

tungsten carbide Tungsten carbide (chemical formula: ) is a carbide containing equal parts of tungsten and carbon atoms. In its most basic form, tungsten carbide is a fine gray powder, but it can be pressed and formed into shapes through sintering for use in in ...

penetrator.

High-explosive anti-tank High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) is the effect of a shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate heavy armor. The warhead functions by having an explosive charge collapse a metal liner inside the warhead into a high-velocity ...

(HEAT) rounds, which penetrate armour with the focused explosion of a

shaped charge A shaped charge, commonly also hollow charge if shaped with a cavity, is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, ...

, included the 3UBK4 with 3BK5M warhead, later replaced by the 3UBK9 with 3BK17M warhead. In the 1980s, 3UBM11 antitank rounds were introduced, with 3BM25 armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot (APFSDS) tungsten carbide penetrator, which increased its armor penetration. In 1983, the T-55M and T-55AM tank upgrade program also added the ability to some tanks to fire the 9K116-1 ''Bastion'' guided missile system (NATO reporting name AT-10 Stabber), for long-range engagements of tanks and low-flying helicopters. The

anti-tank missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a missile guidance, guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy armoured fighting vehicle, heavily armored military v ...

is encased in the 3UBK10-1 shell, which is handled, loaded, and fired exactly like a conventional tank gun round. 1.5 seconds after firing, a laser guidance window in the tail of the round is uncovered, and its rocket engine ignites to burn for up to six seconds, with a total missile flight time of up to 41 seconds. Missile ammunition includes: * 3UBK10-1 (9M117 ''Bastion''), penetrating 600 mm at up to 4,000 m * 3UBK10M-1 (9M117M ''Kan'') tandem warhead, penetrating 650 mm at up to 4,000 m * 3UBK23-1 (9M117M1 ''Arkan'') extended-range tandem warhead, penetrating 750 mm at up to 6,000 m * 3UBK23M-1 (9M117M2 ''Boltok'') extended-range warhead penetrating 850 mm at up to 6,000 m

Performance

Ammunition specifications

Notes

References

* Enqvist, Ove (1998). ''Itsenäisen Suomen rannikkotykit 1918-1998/Coastal guns in Finland 1918-1998''. Helsinki: Military Museum of Finland. . * Foss, Christopher F., Ed (2005). ''Jane's Armour and Artillery 2005–2006'', 26th edition, p 110. . * Zaloga, Steven J. and James Grandsen (1984). ''Soviet Tanks and Combat Vehicles of World War Two''. London: Arms and Armour Press. . * Zaloga, Steven J. and Hugh Johnson (2004). ''T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2004''. Oxford: Osprey. . * 中国人民解放军通用弹药图册

External links

100mm Tank Gun D-10
at battlefield.ru

at battlefield.ru

at battlefield.ru

{{SovArtyGPW Tank guns of the Soviet Union World War II artillery of the Soviet Union 100 mm artillery Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1944