Object 279
Contents
Description
The Object 279 is a gift rank VI Soviet heavy tank with a battle rating of 9.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced during Update 1.97 "Viking Fury" as a reward for the "Space Race" event.
The Object 279's unique look comes with its design as being more capable of cross-country travelling in a possible nuclear warfare scenario. This produces its unique hull shape, four track designs, and a large 130 mm cannon to deal with its threats.
General info
Survivability and armour
Getting the exact armour thickness of this tank is quite tricky due to the cast nature of its outer shell. But that won't affect the way one may view its survivability, at the very least the armour thickness of the hull may reach up to 300 mm when faced frontally (excluding the driver's hatch, which is 30 mm flat). The middle of the hull (area below the driver's hatch) is the least angled part of the tank besides the tank's rear, and thus is usually the first spot that is shot at, whereas the sides surrounding this area (left and right parts of the hull when faced front) can reach absurd amounts of thickness, even reaching up to 1000 mm due to extreme angles. However, this will not stop any APFSDS rounds, which are abundant at its BR. Most, if not all tanks at your BR can penetrate you from the front.
The turret is arguably the most armoured part of this tank. Again, getting the exact thickness is difficult but it is guaranteed to be very hard to penetrate, even APFSDS shells will have trouble going through certain spots of this tank. The only prominent weak spot of this turret is the mantlet and machine gun port on the left side of the gun when faced front. Going through the mantlet will more or less only break the gun breech in most cases. One usually shoots the rear side of the turret because that is where the ready rack is located.
It is important to mention the cramped crew spacing. It is like most, if not all, Soviet tank designs where the engineers threw the entire concept of crew comfort out the window. This is important when it comes to the survivability of the crew whenever a shell is able to punch through its stubborn shell. The crew spacing is quite cramped and thus more susceptible to shrapnel damage caused by spalling. On the bright side, most nations have given up on the concept of APHE shell at around this tank's BR so the chances of one-shots are reduced to a degree. Though there are unlucky times when a shell goes through the plate and hit the ready rack behind the gun breech.
Another feature worth mentioning on this vehicle are its self sealing fuel tanks located along the tracks of the tank. To the inexperienced player, these may be an appealing target but that is not recommended unless the intention was to interrupt a repair, most of the time this will only cause a fire and maybe break some tracks (causing a fire is pointless due to the self extinguishing feature). A more recommended target on the side is the bulge made to accommodate the size of the turret (this bulge is also present on the T-62), it is the flattest part of the tank, besides the rear.
All around, this tank is a very hard nut to crack but one should not rely on its armour to stop incoming projectiles. It shares at least some similarities with the T-10M and it has a similar playstyle.
Mobility
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 59 | 20 | 60.4 | 1,291 | 1,908 | 21.37 | 31.59 |
| Realistic | 56 | 18 | 884 | 1,000 | 14.64 | 16.56 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Armaments
Main armament
The main armament is a powerful 130 mm gun. It has excellent ballistics and, coupled with the rangefinder, HE filler, and penetration comparable to some APFSDS shells, it is an extremely effective main armament.
| 130 mm M-65 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 40 | -5°/+17° | ±180° | Two-plane | 14.56 | 20.16 | 24.48 | 27.07 | 28.80 | 11.18 | 9.89 | 9.12 | 8.60 |
| Realistic | 10.71 | 12.60 | 15.30 | 16.92 | 18.00 | ||||||||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| BR-482B | APCBC | 363 | 359 | 342 | 322 | 303 | 285 |
| OF-482M | HE | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 | 31 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| BR-482B | APCBC | 1,000 | 33.3 | 1.2 | 19 | 177.1 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| OF-482M | HE | 900 | 33.7 | 0 | 0 | 2,650 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
Ammo type |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | Projectiles Propellants |
31 (+9) 36 (+4) |
28 (+12) 31 (+9) |
19 (+21) 24 (+16) |
17 (+23) 19 (+21) |
14 (+26) 14 (+26) |
1 (+39) 1 (+39) |
No |
Notes:
- Projectiles and propellant bags are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
- Both racks 6 are first stage ammo racks for projectiles and propellant bags. They represent 13 shots and get filled first when loading up the tank.
- They are also emptied early: the rack depletion order at full capacity is: 6 - 1 - 2 until 5.
- Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from racks 1-5 into racks 6. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready racks.
Machine guns
| 14.5 mm KPVT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 800 (50) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
The Object 279 is in a position where its main gun can penetrate most things it faces, and the large HE filler guarantees a one shot. However, the hull is weak, unless you are in a full downtier, it should definitely not be relied on. The turret, on the other hand, is incredibly strong. The Object 279 plays quite well like a TD, using your 1,000 m/s APHE shell and strong turret armour to quickly peek and take pot-shots at enemy positions. This strategy is effective in uptiers. In a full downtier you can use it like a heavy tank, rushing caps and storming enemy positions, but HEATFS is abundant even at 7.7 and will end you fast.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Great 130 mm gun; able to one-shot majority of the enemy tanks
- Main gun has a two-plane stabilizer
- Great mobility
- Rangefinder and NVD
- Coaxial 14.5 mm machine gun is great for dealing with light vehicles and aircraft
- Fuel-tanks are self-sealing and will extinguish by themselves without incurring damage
- Extremely angled and thick cast armour
- Quick reloading speed, first stage ammo consists of a 13 shell auto loader
- Can survive multiple hits from an ATGM frontally
Cons:
- Inadequate turret traverse speed
- Inadequate depression angle, a feature shared by all Soviet tanks
- Very vulnerable to high calibre HE; pylons connecting tank to tracks make for very appealing targets for such shells
- Engine fires still require FPE
- Most tanks at your BR can penetrate you from the front
- Very long main gun barrel can be a liability, allowing observant enemies to spot the tank hiding around corners
History
The Object 279 Kotin was conceived in 1959. It was supposed to be a breakthrough tank that was also able to withstand a nuclear blast's shockwave. The development of the design started at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad, the head designer was L. Troyanov. The project was started in 1957 under the requirements of 1956. The pre-production Object 279 was completed at the end of 1959.
Although 3 vehicles were built in total, the project was later abandoned in favour of lighter vehicles which ended the Soviet heavy tank programs, due to Soviet leader at the time, Nikita Khrushchev's decision on July 22, 1960, to stop the production of tanks weighing more than 50 metric tons, in favour of smaller and lighter tanks.
Media
- Skins
- Images
Black camouflage for the Object 279 earned through the Space Race event
- Videos
See also
Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the vehicles;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
| USSR heavy tanks | |
|---|---|
| KV-1 | KV-1 (L-11) · KV-1 (ZiS-5) · KV-1E · KV-1S |
| KV-2 | KV-2 (1939) · KV-2 (1940) · KV-2 (ZiS-6) |
| Other KVs | KV-85 · KV-122 · KV-220 |
| IS-1/2 | IS-1 · IS-2 · IS-2 (1944) · IS-2 No.321 · IS-2 "Revenge" · Object 248 |
| Other IS tanks | IS-3 · IS-4M · IS-6 · IS-7 |
| T-10 | T-10A · T-10M |
| Multi-turreted | T-35 · SMK |
| Other | Object 279 |
| Lend-Lease | ▂MK-II "Matilda" |
