Editing Object 287 (section)

==History==
Class: Missile Tank (Prototype)<br>
Developed: 1961-1968<br>
Service: N/A<br>
Vehicles Built: 2<br>
Operators: N/A

The Object 287 Missile Tank was another result of the 1950s and 1960s idea that ATGMs would become superior in tank versus tank combat compared to more traditional cannons. Perhaps the best known such Soviet vehicle was the IT-1 but other projects existed as well, such as the Object 287, developed on the chassis of a T-64 MBT. The initial project was finished by the end of 1961 and it was shown to the military by the beginning of 1962. After being approved for the prototype stage, the developers started working on figuring out the details.

The way they saw it, the IT-1 had one specific problem. It carried an accurate and powerful missile and, yes, the missile was fully capable of taking out pretty much any western tank of the era, but, at the same time, the age of IFVs has just begun and even before the appearance of the Bradley, there were other, softer, targets on the battlefield that were nonetheless too well armored to be taken out by a machinegun. In other words, the IT-1 would have to waste an expensive missile to destroy western APCs or IFVs and that just wouldn’t do.

To solve this problem, the designers proposed a unique combination of multiple anti-armor weapons. The tank was to carry not only a remote-controlled ATGM launcher, but also a pair of lighter anti-tank weapons that would be enough to take out any such lighter targets. The result was an interesting combination of two 73mm smoothbore guns (similar to those used on the BMP-1) and a 9K11 Tajfun ATGM system, both installed in a very low turret. This whole system was controlled by a group of two men.

Unfortunately, the development process turned out to be too long and the two prototypes that were built in 1968 suffered from a number of issues. All in all, the tank wasn’t terrible, but it just wasn’t good enough and the Soviet military wasn’t too excited about it either. As a result, the project was closed the same year.