Object 906
Contents
Description
The success of the PT-76B prompted the development of a more powerful version. The Object 906 retained the same characteristics of the PT-76B: stabilized, amphibious and very light, but with a more powerful 85 mm cannon. It never went into service or serial production, but if it had, it would have received the designation PT-85. The tank carried a total of 40 shells with 8 armour-piercing and 32 HE projectiles. The protection was not the most important aspect, but it received enough armour to stop artillery fragments, 14.5 mm shots from 100 m, and it was protected against radioactive and nuclear fallout. While the tank was much superior to the PT-76B, it never went into service, it was deemed too complex to operate and produce en masse, so it was discarded and the PT-76 remained in service instead.
Introduced in Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai", the Object 906 is a very capable tank at its BR. With good mobility and little to no armour, it plays like most light tanks. It can use its good mobility to set up in sniping positions (however it does not have access to a rangefinder). Its biggest advantage is access to a two-plane stabilizer that works at all speeds, and with a very low profile, it's very easy to set up ambushes around capture points to take out dangerous opponents with ease, especially other light tanks that try to rush to the point. It suffers from a poor gun depression like many other Soviet tanks, but its powerful armament and mobility compensate that lack of gun handling. It's also amphibious, which may come in handy in case of an emergency.
General info
Survivability and armour
Armour type:
- Alloy ABT-101 (Hull)
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Turret)
- Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 20 mm (77-79°) Front glacis 30 mm (54-69°) Lower glacis 20 mm (41-43°) Driver's port |
30 mm Top 25 mm Bottom |
20 mm Top 12 mm (40-67°) Bottom |
12 mm |
| Turret | 15 mm (4-50°) Turret front 25 mm (0-80°) Gun mantlet |
15 mm (41-49°) Front 8 mm (22-39°) Rear |
8 mm (19°) 8 mm (64-83°) Turret underside |
8 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels are 10 mm thick while tracks are 15 mm thick.
- Belly armour and hull underside above the tracks are 8 mm thick.
Its armour is not enough to stop any important impact. In a best case scenario, it may stop 20 mm or 30 mm AP shots from IFVs or aircraft, but it won't be enough to stop most shots, and even artillery would be a great threat to this vehicle.
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 | 83 | 83 | 14.8 | 465 | 572 | 31.42 | 38.65 |
| Realistic | 74 | 74 | 265 | 300 | 17.91 | 20.27 | |
- Full reverse speed (74 km/h)
- Fast to accelerate
- Amphibious capability
- Average mobility in irregular terrain
The mobility of the Object 906 is excellent. At its BR, seeing vehicles with full reverse speed is rare. That means that it is able to escape from dangerous situations or change position with ease and surprise enemy tanks.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
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Armaments
Main armament
The 85 mm gun of the Object 906 is very capable at its BR, with access to HEAT and APHE shells, it has access to ammunition with good penetration and high damage output. It also has a very high reload rate, at 4.3 seconds thanks to the autoloader.
| 85 mm D-58 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Autoloader |
| Arcade | 40 | -5°/+20° | ±180° | Two-plane | 19.0 | 26.4 | 32.0 | 35.4 | 37.7 | 4.30 |
| Realistic | 11.9 | 14.0 | 17.0 | 18.8 | 20.0 | |||||
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-372 | APCBC | 245 | 242 | 229 | 214 | 200 | 187 |
| 3BK7 | HEATFS | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 | 300 |
| OF-372 | HE | 27 | 27 | 25 | 24 | 22 | 21 |
| 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-372 | APCBC | 1,040 | 9.3 | 1.2 | 14 | 77 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
| 3BK7 | HEATFS | 925 | 7.22 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 1,170 | 65° | 72° | 77° | |||
| OF-372 | HE | 1,010 | 9.66 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 740 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 36 (+4) | 33 (+7) | 28 (+12) | 22 (+18) | 16 (+24) | 1 (+39) | No |
Notes:
- Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
- Rack 6* (autoloader magazine) is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 15 shells.
- This rack gets filled first when loading up the tank and is also emptied first.
- As the Object 906 is equipped with an autoloader, manual reloading of the gun is not possible.
- Once the autoloader magazine has been depleted, you can't shoot until the loader has restocked the autoloader with at least 1 shell.
- The restocking time is much longer than the normal reload time of the gun. Take this into account when playing.
- Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from racks 1 to 5 into rack 7* then 6*. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready racks.
- Pack 16 (+24) shells to keep the hull empty of ammo.
Machine guns
| 7.62 mm SGMT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 2,000 (250) | 600 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
As with every other light tank, this vehicle should be handled with caution on the battlefield since any enemy the 906 encounters can penetrate it. Use its awesome mobility and good, stabilized gun to provide a nasty surprise to the enemy from unexpected spots. Whether by river, lake, ocean, the 906 can navigate through all bodies of water within the limit of the battlefield. This tank is best used as a flanker, shooting on the move, reloading in the dark, popping up behind another hill to take another moving shot, this is a ninja tank.
- Combat tactics
Flanker
Never fight an enemy head-on since the 906 will have to aim for the enemy's weak spots before firing while they don't have to worry about the same precision. Surprise is the 906's greatest advantage. Use the Object 906's great speed to take strange, curvy, distant paths to snipe the enemy from the rear/side early in the game. Do not forget to change cover often (every 2-3 shots) since those enemies can respawn and go straight towards the original firing position with its front armour towards it, resulting in much more difficult shots. In this case, use the 906's speed to fall back behind much more armoured allies and look at the map to see where allies may need help/where an enemy has been holding out for long.
When flanking, unlike many other tanks: show the side armour. Since the armour cannot block any shot at this BR, speed is the Object 906's best option, just evade the shots and slow down solely to shoot at the enemy. In the occurrence, the tank gets hit, keep in mind that this lengthy vehicle makes APDS and HEAT rounds ineffective since they often pass straight through, such shot from the front could incapacitate all three crew members. Taking shots from the sides "isolates" each module for non-HE shells in such a way that they will only incapacitate one part of the tank at the time: the driver, the gunner or the engine. If the engine or driver gets shot, the inertia will often drag the 906 out of sights from the enemy. If the gunner gets shot, the 906 can still move behind cover to hide, the lack of gunner would then prevent the player from exposing the tank in an area the enemy knows is there. Just like a ninja, after taking a shot: hide, repair, reevaluate the situation, then move out to cause more havoc from unsuspecting locations.
If an aircraft is aware of your presence search cover or hide in a treeline, Do not give away your exact location to the aircraft by firing at it. Putting bushes on top of your tank is a good idea.
Rush
One may be tempted to charge and capture the point for the team at the beginning of a game. When capturing the point, turn the engine deck towards the enemy. This tactic can actually save the 906 from hasty shots to the hull without hindering the gun arc, though this will cause engine fires which can lead to a burning end if not handled quickly. In this case, take a shot at the now vulnerable foe and then use the FPE item to extinguish the fire. However, higher powered APFSDS will be able to go straight through the engine, knocking out the crew and the Object 906 with ease. If the captured point gets swarmed by enemies, you have two options. The first is to fall back using the good reverse gear and ESS to retreat safely to friendly lines. The second is to fight back, especially if the enemies are approaching without care. With the right position, the Object 906 can utilize its 4.3 second reload time to decimate, if not outright eliminate, the approaching enemy before they are able to respond.
Decoy
Another unusual tactic is to attract enemy players' focus to the Object 906's location. Use the amphibious capability and other great mobility features to put the Object 906 in a tricky position to reach for a non-floating/non-flying enemy (often down a cliff, beside/in the water) in such a way that some players will fall into the trap of trying to reach the 906 through methods that expose their sides to allies or falling into the water. This tactic is very situational and is not a method that should be prioritized over any other tactics. It may not win battles, but it could destroy a few enemies, reducing the number of enemies threatening the overall allied team.
- Tank Assault
The Object 906 is a very capable tank in Tank Assault gamemode, largely due to its very fast reload rate, and extremely low cost (almost 4 times cheaper than MBTs / medium tanks). Since the AIs in Tank Assault don't try to angle their armour or present their front, their sides are very often exposed, which allows the Object 906 to quickly rack up kills. You should aim to take a position where you are covered from most sides except the direction where you are shooting, but you shouldn't worry about dying, at all.
Generally, your role should be taken as the set-up/clean-up tank. You will often track or set enemies on fire, which makes them easy to pick-off for your team. If the AI are lighter targets, APHE shell will cleanly knock out the tank with a single shot. With that shell, you can also clear out any stationary AIs, even if they are at a slight angle. Remember that top-tier vehicle (Abrams, Challengers etc.) have almost no lower side armour, and you can often penetrate and kill those tanks from the side at angles up to (almost) 60°.
- Notable enemies
Any tank is a threat that should be avoided, flanked, and destroyed. However, some tanks are impervious to these tactics:
The Maus has thick flanks at nearly 200 mm that can absorb any shots if angled properly. Only fire at the Maus if it is unaware and showing its flat, unangled side, and at close range. The APHE on the Object 906 has just enough penetration to punch through the side armour. If facing the Maus head-on, the Object 906 has to worry about both the 128 mm and 75 mm cannon. If the Maus is keeping its turret faced at the Object 906, it is advised to use ESS and retreat. However, if one is defending a critical location and cannot retreat, one can use the HEAT-FS shell to penetrate the Maus at its weaker areas. Shoot the Maus on the right side of its turret face, as that will incapacitate the gunner. You will have to knock out each crew member separately. Watch out for other enemy vehicles that may be supporting the Maus.
T95 (otherwise known as "Doom turtle") should not be engaged. Its good all-around bouncy armour will defeat most shots even from the Object 906 will take on the move. To defeat it, take some height at its flank and aim carefully, otherwise, it will just drag its attention. This worthy opponent has a very fast hull turning rate, turning it into an impervious wall even towards any adversary, including the 906 if it notices it. Engage only if necessary.
With the Tortoise, the same caution is advised but it is way easier to flank since its side armour is flat.
Be cautious while aiming at IS-3, IS-4M and T-10M since their sides can bounce the 85 mm shots. Aim at the flat side of the hull, between the roadwheels and the mudguard. That will have the best chance of knocking it out.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Tank has the fastest gun reload in the rank, tied with JaPz.K_A2
- Has an autoloader, meaning that
- A high "Weapon Reload" skill on its crew isn't needed
- The gun will be reloaded while extinguishing a fire
- Injured crew won't slow its reload rate
- Very hard-hitting 85 mm, even for Rank V matches
- Comes with an APHE as a standard shot - easily capable of knocking out tanks from the side
- The unlockable HEATFS shell lets the Object 906 comfortably fight heavier tanks
- Two-plane stabilized gun allows to fire on the move and while braking on almost any terrain
- Amphibious capability lets you move around maps with bodies of water more easily - rivers can also be easily crossed
- Very fast reverse speed, about -45 km/h, with fast acceleration towards -70 km/h
- Has neutral steering
- Immune to 50 .cal HMGs frontally
Cons:
- Virtually no armour
- Only 3 crewmen limits the survivability
- Turret bustle is protected by only 8 mm, heavy machine guns can easily penetrate and detonate the ammunition in the autoloader
- Turret front is vulnerable to HMG at short distances
- Prone to destruction by overpressure
- Stock experience is quite poor
- Mobility and accuracy are bad until relevant upgrades are researched and bought
- Awful gun depression of -5°
- Two-plane stabilizer becomes ineffective at speeds above 35-40 km/h, especially on rough terrain
- When firing from the water, can accidentally sink itself
History
The success of the PT-76 amphibious tank prompted the development of a successor with improved characteristics on the battlefield. The project was in development since 1960 by VgTZ under the leadership of I. V. Gavalov. The main purpose of this project was to create a floating tank with a more powerful main cannon than the PT-76B. The vehicle was given the project name Object 906 with the lead designer being Yu. V. Sharin. In total, six prototypes were manufactured at VgTZ, two of which were tested at the NIIBT test site from January to August 1963. The tank was to receive the name PT-85 if it had been adopted for service, however it failed to do so.
The tank had a classic layout scheme with a longitudinal engine located in the hull, a crew of three people and a stabilized 85 mm D-58 cannon with a loading mechanism which was paired with a 7.62 mm SGMT. The tank was equipped with a TVN-2B night vision device for the driver, a TKN-2 day-night viewing device alongside with two TNP viewports for the commander and two TNP-165 prismatic viewports for the gunner. The stabilizer used named Zvezda provided a horizontal rotation speed of 0.05 deg/s to 20 deg/s and a vertical rotation speed of 0.05 deg/s to 4.5 deg/s. For firing the main cannon during daytime, a TSh2B-8A telescopic sight was used, and for night-time, a TPN-1 sight was used alongside a L-2A1 infrared illuminator. The loading mechanism of the gun was designed for 15 shots and used a special control panel to operate, allowing the tank to reach a maximum rate of fire of 14 rounds/min and a minimum rate of fire of 9 rounds/min. The total ammunition stored was 40 rounds with an usual load of 8 armour-piercing and 32 high-explosive shells.
The armour protection of the tank consisted of anti-fragmentation welded aluminium alloy ABT-101 plates with a thickness of 8, 12, 20, 25, and 30 mm. The frontal armour consisted of three armour plates, upper plate with a thickness of 20 mm at 77 degrees, middle plate with a thickness of 30 mm at 55 degrees and lower plate with a thickness of 20 mm at 70 degrees and it provided protection against 14.5 mm B-32 rounds from 100 m. In terms of protection in the event of a nuclear war, the tank was equipped with a DP-3 radiometer, devices that close all possible holes to protect the crew from a nuclear explosion shockwave and ventilation necessary to filter out radioactive dust in case the tank was fully sealed.
There were two engines used on this project, the first tank produced with an 8D-6M 221 kW engine and the subsequent tanks with a 221 kW UTD-20 engine with a redesigned engine bay, both of which allowed the vehicle to reach a top speed of 75 km/h while only weighing 15 tons. The transmission of the tank allowed joint and separate operation of the tracks and jet propellers, this allowed the tank to enter and exit the water in any gear, unlike the PT-76B which had to use a low gear.
The variant on display in the Kubinka museum is the Object 906 with the 8D-6M engine.[1]
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
- Related development
- Other vehicles of similar configuration and role
External links
References
- ↑ Отечественные Бронированные Машины 1945-1965 гг. - Часть 1 - Легкие, средние и тяжелые танки, М. В. Павлов, И. В. Павлов (ISBN 978-5-85905-623-1)
| USSR light tanks | |
|---|---|
| T-26 | T-26 · T-26 (1st Gv.T.Br.) · T-26-4 · T-26E |
| BT | BT-5 · RBT-5 · BT-7 · BT-7 TD · BT-7M · BT-7A (F-32) |
| T-50 | T-126 · T-50 |
| T-70 | T-70 · T-80 |
| PT-76 | PT-76B · PT-76-57 · Object 906 |
| BMP | BMP-1 · BMP-2 · BMP-2M · BMP-3 |
| BMD | BMD-4 |
| 2S25 | 2S25 · 2S25M |
| Wheeled | BA-11 · BTR-80A |
| Other | T-60 · Object 685 · 2S38 |
| China | ▂Type 62 |
