Editing T-55 (section)

==History==
Class: Medium Tank</br>
Developed: 1956-1962</br>
Service: 1958+</br>
Vehicles Built: cca 80000-100000</br>
Operators: Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia and five dozen other countries

The T-54/55 Medium Tank family is, without a doubt, one of the most iconic armored vehicles of all times. Throughout the Cold War, even with the appearance of much more modern vehicles, its distinctive silhouette remained one of the symbols of Soviet armored might.

The T-55 itself was developed as an upgrade of the aging T-54 (which was basically a late World War Two design). The early prototype was called Object 155. It was designed at Plant No.183 in Nizhny Tagil by a team led by L.N.Kartsev in the summer of 1957. Its main advantage over rival advanced medium tank projects in the Soviet Union was the relatively low cost of such an upgrade compared to starting production of an entirely new tank model. The upgrade was based on the T-54B with several important improvements, including more shells, better night-fighting and NBC equipment, an automated fire extinguisher system, better smoke generator, engine up-tuned from 520hp to 580hp and several more.

Two prototypes were built and tested from the winter of 1957 to the spring of 1958. The tests were generally successful and the vehicle was accepted into service under the designation of T-55 in May 1958. With, according to some sources, around a hundred thousand vehicles built, the T-54/55 series of vehicles is the most produced tank series of all time. It was widely exported and used by dozens of countries and even though it was already quite obsolete by the 1970s, it received numerous upgrades and continues to serve in some countries to this day, participating in many (if not most) third world conflicts.