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T-25 (STZ-25)

1938 WORLD WAR 2 X-TANK

History of the T-25 (STZ-25)

Despite the success of the T-26 light tank in the Soviet Army in the early to mid-1930s, engineers continued to work on improving the design. This culminated in a series of test and pilot vehicles that were essentially no larger than their ancestors. One such project became the "T-46" (described in detail elsewhere on this page), which consisted of a T-26 frame mated to the American Christie suspension (different from the original T-26 bogie arrangement). The tests proved the car's sound, but cost was a key factor in its failure (a T-28 medium tank with better performance and tactical value could be obtained for the same price).

Another entry that saw success with the T-26 during this period was the "T-25" - also known as the "STZ-25".

Once again, mobility was at the heart of this work, and development work began in the mid-1930s, leading to the introduction of a pilot form in 1938. This work was carried out by the Stalingrad tractor plant, and the Christie's suspension system was again at the heart of the T-26 branch project. The landing gear consists of four road wheels on the fuselage side, the drive sprocket is located in the front, the track idler is located in the rear, and only one track idler is used.

Engineers retained the internal landing gear components and most of the original fuselage and turret components of the existing T-26 design, but made modifications to the forward fuselage structure to improve basic ballistic protection against frontal attack.

The turret retains a 1 x 45mm 20K L-46 main gun and is partially defended by a coaxially mounted 1 x 7.62mm FT machine gun. Power comes from a single GAZ-T-26 Otto 6-cylinder gasoline engine with a sprocket arrangement of 95 hp. Road speeds can reach 28 km/h, and the range is 200 km.

The combat weight reached 11.7 tons, with a total length of 4.85 meters, a width of 2.68 meters and a height of 2.37 meters. The crew is still three (driver, commander and gunner). Armor protection up to a maximum of 24 mm.

Like the BT series of fast tanks (detailed elsewhere on this site), the T-25 will be able to walk on wheels without tracks. This significantly increases road speed and range (on prepared roads), and the vehicle now has a range of up to 400km.

The T-25 was tested in 1939, but the mechanical system proved to be unreliable under certain conditions, so production costs became an issue for the future. Engineers tried to solve this problem by developing a simplified "STZ-35"/"ST-35" design, but even this tank did not evolve.

With the start of World War II in September 1939, side projects such as the T-25 took a back seat to the more pressing issues of the Red Army.