Technical and Economic Aspects of the Design and Production of Tank Armor in the USSR: 1930–1945

Abstract

Introduction, Materials and Methods. The first part of the publication is devoted to the consideration of the technical and economic aspects of the designing and production of tank armor in the USSR in 1930–1936, when the formation of Soviet tank building was taking its place. The reasons for the refusal of the country’s military industry from the mass production of heterogeneous armor and its transition to homogeneous armor are shown. The relevance of the study is due to the need to study the historical experience of the development of the Russian military industry in the context of increasing international contradiction and the transition to economic mobilization. The source base of the work consists of published research and unpublished archival documents. The study is based on traditional methods of historical analysis in the paradigm of modernization theory. Results. The main aspects of the manufacture of tank armor during the Second Five-Year Plan are analyzed, the features of the technological process that hindered the mass production of heterogeneous armor are considered. Technological differences in the production of cemented and two-layer heterogeneous armor are shown. The reasons for the transition of the tank industry of the USSR to the mass production of homogeneous armor of high hardness are revealed. Conclusion. The first stage in the development of armor metallurgy for the needs of the tank industry showed the economic inefficiency of using heterogeneous bulletproof armor for the forced development of tank troops. The main manufacturers of tank armor in the USSR: Izhora and Mariupol did not have enough modern equipment and qualified personnel to manufacture heterogeneous bulletproof tank armor without mass defects. The way out was found by switching these factories to the production of homogeneous bulletproof armor of high hardness.