Unit of the Week #6 - T-55A

The T-55 is one of the long-livers of Soviet tanks engineering.
It was developed as an ideal main battle tank for war in Europe with the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons. T-54 series served as a basis for the T-55 tank. Overall more than 50,000 different modernized modifications of T-55 tank were produced in the Soviet Union between 1958 and 1979.

Renewed in 1962 modification T-55A became the world's first serial production tank equipped with an automatic NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) protection system. Its improved over T-55 NBC system offered protection against the blast of a nuclear explosion, fast neutrons and even gamma radiation.

Since the 1960s, various modifications of the T-55 were widely exported to Soviet allies and then extensively used in dozens of armed conflicts. Many of them are still in service with the armies of many countries. High popularity of the T-55 tank is due to its good tactical and technical characteristics, reliability, ease of repairs and operation, and ease of modification.