T-55AMD-1

This page is about the Soviet medium tank T-55AMD-1. For other versions, see T-54/55 (Family).

T-55AMD-1

T-55A

T-62

T-55AMD-1

T-55A

T-62

USSR

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.7	8.7	8.7

Class:

Medium tank

Research:81 000

Purchase:450 000

Show in game

Description

The T-55AMD-1 was a further development of the ubiquitous T-55 main battle tank, outfitted with the Drozd hard-kill active protection system (APS) as a countermeasure against anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). Originally, the Drozd APS was developed by the Soviet military in the late 1970s to provide protection for their T-55 and T-62 tanks against the growing threat of portable ATGMs and handheld unguided anti-tank rocket launchers. Around 250 T-55A tanks were subsequently converted to the T-55AD standard, with the Drozd APS installed.

Introduced in Update "Wind of Change", the T-55AMD-1 is essentially a side-grade of the premium T-55AM-1. It has the same upgrades to the firepower, fire control system, engine, and hull armour made on the T-55A to bring it up to the T-55AM-1 standard, but the T-55AMD-1 trades the add-on "brow" composite armour for the Drozd APS, which can effectively intercept incoming ATGMs within a 80° frontal arc. This makes the T-55AMD-1 better equipped to deal with ATGM-equipped IFVs, tank destroyers, and helicopters than the T-55AM-1, though the turret armour cannot reliably resist penetration from contemporary tank guns. The T-55AMD-1 retains the potent 100 mm D-10T2S cannon with access to various ammunition types, including APFSDS, APHE, and ATGMs. Its mobility, while not exceptional, is adequate for its role. The combination of the versatile D-10T2S gun with competent mobility allows the T-55AMD-1 to perform well, even in situations where the Drozd APS is irrelevant.

General info

Survivability and armour

Composite armour

Balanced protection against all types of ammunition

Smoke grenades

Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle

ESS

Creation of a smoke screen in the direction of movement of the vehicle

Armourfront / side / back

Hull100 / 80 / 45

Turret200 / 160 / 66

Crew4 people

Visibility83 %

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull)
• Cast homogeneous armour (Turret)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	100 mm (59°) Upper 100 mm (56°) Lower	80 mm Top 20 mm Bottom	45 mm (16°)	30 mm
Turret	200 - 350 mm Turret front (Variable) 200 - 250 mm Gun mantlet (Variable)	170 - 200 mm	60 - 80 mm	30 mm
Cupola	100 mm (cylindrical)			30 mm

Composite armour	Frontal effective protection	Sides
Hull	Upper glacis: 300 - 360 mm Kinetic / 400 - 450 mm Chemical	N/A

Notes:

• Tracks and suspension wheels are 20 mm thick

The armour of the T-55AMD-1 is not infallible, and will rarely block fatal shots. However, the armour scheme is comprehensive and lacks serious weak spots. While vulnerable in tank-on-tank engagements, the T-55AMD-1 can typically take a frontal beating from larger autocannons without being penetrated or losing critical components.

The turret armour is unimpressive, as the composite armour on the T-55AM-1's turret has been completely removed to make room for the 'Drozd' hard-kill Active Protection System. APDS, APFSDS, and HEAT rounds found around the T-55AM-1's battle rating have no difficulty penetrating the turret from the front if shots are aimed around the gun, though exceptionally poorly-aimed shots can still bounce off the rounded sides and roof of the turret. The mantlet has 110-160 mm of protection which, while impotent against tank rounds, will stop autocannon fire easily.

The frontal hull protection consists of two 100 mm plates; an upper front plate sloped at 59°, and a lower front plate sloped at 56 degrees. The UFP is additionally protected by add-on composite armour composed of 30 mm of RHA sandwiching a 120 mm metal-polymer block against the basic 100 mm of the UFP. The add-on composite armour offers good protection against chemical energy penetrators such as HEATFS, ATGMs and anti-tank grenades, with a protection of roughly 400 mm. This allows the tank to resist hits of almost all HEATFS of the BR (most of them penetrate between 320 mm to 430 mm) and even some ATGMs (between 400 mm to 650 mm). The hull can be angled to increase the effectiveness of the frontal protection, which can increase the effective armour up to 703 mm against CE penetrators. Moreover, the good 80 mm side armour allows angling to be performed without excessive fear of side penetration.

It should be noted that there is a fuel tank in the front of the tank that protects some stowed ammunition, and sometimes penetrating rounds will just set the fuel tank on fire instead of detonating the ammunition. Unfortunately, this rack is the first-stage rack, so there is no way to empty it to increase survivability. This is one of the main problems of post-war era Soviet MBTs.

'Drozd' Active Protection System

T-55AMD-1 neutralizing missile from Type 60 ATM

The T-55AMD-1 has access to a hard-kill protection system, the Drozd APS. It is a constantly active APS which provides protection against a wide variety of threats. It is composed of three major pieces: a Doppler radar array for target detection, eight launchers (four per side) on the sides of the turret, and an electronics piece on the turret's rear. It detects targets inside a 80° frontal arc and engages them inside a 7 m distance. The main disadvantage of this system is that it follows the direction of the turret, meaning it can only successfully destroy targets that are in the line of sight.

Drozd can be used while on the move (although the turret still must be facing the target). While on the move (especially horizontally), the detected ATGM has a risk of escaping the activation range of the Drozd. When moving towards an enemy that fired an ATGM, it will be affected by the APS but the ATGM can still damage the T-55 when destroyed due to momentum. Moreover, exceptionally high-penetrating ATGMs like the HJ-9 can still penetrate the tank even if intercepted by Drozd. The T-55AMD-1 has no access to a Laser Warning Receiver (LWR), so the player must rely on visual contact with the ATGM and the launcher (no LWR makes the helicopter lock-on invisible). Thankfully, the usual attack angle of enemy projectiles are inside the protection arc when in LOS.

Mobility

Speedforward / back

AB56 / 9 km/h

RB and SB51 / 8 km/h

Number of gears5 forward

1 back

Weight41.5 t

Engine power

AB1 316 hp

RB and SB690 hp

Power-to-weight ratio

AB31.7 hp/t

RB and SB16.6 hp/t

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	56	9	41.5	1,069	1,316	25.76	31.71
Realistic	51	8		610	690	14.7	16.63

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB4 249 → 6 182

RB4 341 → 6 316

SB5 374 → 7 819

Total cost of modifications133 200

221 400

Talisman cost2 400

Crew training130 000

Experts450 000

Aces2 000

Research Aces890 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

140 / 200 / 230 %

214 / 214 / 214 %

Modifications

Mobility	Protection	Firepower
Tracks Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 390 Suspension Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 290 Brake System Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 290 Filters Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 390 Transmission Research: 7 700 Cost: 12 000 420 Engine Research: 7 700 Cost: 12 000 420	Improved Parts Research: 2 100 Cost: 11 000 390 Improved FPE Research: 1 600 Cost: 8 400 290 Crew Replenishment Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 390 ESS Research: 7 700 Cost: 12 000 420	Horizontal Drive Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 390 100mm_BR412D_ammo_pack Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 390 100mm_3BK25_ammo_pack Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 290 Adjustment of Fire Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 290 Laser rangefinder Research: 5 300 Cost: 8 400 290 100mm_3BK17M_ammo_pack Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 390 Elevation Mechanism Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 390 Smoke grenade Research: 7 100 Cost: 11 000 390 100mm_ussr_Smoke_ammo_pack Research: 7 700 Cost: 12 000 420 100mm_ussr_ATGM_ammo_pack Research: 7 700 Cost: 12 000 420 Artillery Support Research: 7 700 Cost: 12 000 420

Armaments

Laser rangefinder

Reduces the error and increases the maximum measurable distance of the rangefinder

Main armament

100 mm D-10T2S cannon

Two-plane stabilizer

Reduces the swing of the gun in two planes while moving

Ammunition42 rounds

First-order18 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

9.7 → 7.5 s

Vertical guidance-5° / 16°

100 mm D-10T2S					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	42	-5°/+16°	±180°	Two-plane	14.3	19.8	24.0	26.5	28.2	9.75	8.63	7.95	7.50
Realistic					8.9	10.5	12.8	14.1	15.0

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
3BM-8	APDS	336	332	317	299	282	265
BR-412D	APCBC	239	236	220	202	185	170
3BM25	APFSDS	335	330	307	290	275	260
3BK17M	HEATFS	390	390	390	390	390	390
OF-412	HE	27	27	26	24	23	21
9M117	ATGM	600	600	600	600	600	600

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%
3BM-8	APDS	1,415	4.13	-	-	-	75°	78°	80°
BR-412D	APCBC	887	15.88	1.2	19	100.1	48°	63°	71°
3BM25	APFSDS	1,430	3.4	-	-	-	76°	77°	80°
3BK17M	HEATFS	1,085	9.96	0.05	0.1	1,170	65°	72°	77°
OF-412	HE	900	15.6	0.2	0.1	1,460	79°	80°	81°

Missile details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Range (m)	Projectile mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
9M117	ATGM	370	4,000	18.8	0.05	0.1	4,770	80°	82°	90°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
3D3	880	15.6	16	5	25	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the T-55AM-1 (identical)

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
42	41 (+1)	37 (+5)	33 (+9)	21 (+21)	19 (+23)	1 (+41)	No

Notes:

• Shells are modeled individually and disappear after having been shot or loaded.
• If you pack 19 (+24) shells, it will fill only the frontal wet stowage ready rack.
• Rack 6 is a first stage ammo rack. It totals 18 shells and gets filled first when loading up the tank.
  • This rack is also emptied early: the depletion order at full capacity is: 6 - 1 - 2 - etc. until 5.
  • Simply not firing when the gun is loaded will move ammo from racks 1-5 into rack 6. Firing will interrupt the restocking of the ready rack.

Machine guns

12.7 mm DShK machine gun

Ammunition300 rounds

Belt capacity50 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate600 shots/min

Vertical guidance-10° / 60°

7.62 mm PKT machine gun (coaxial)

Ammunition3 000 rounds

Belt capacity250 rounds

Reloadbasic crew → aces

10.4 → 8.0 s

Fire rate700 shots/min

12.7 mm DShK
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Pintle	300 (50)	600	-10°/+60°	±180°

7.62 mm PKT
Mount	Capacity (Belt)	Fire rate	Vertical	Horizontal
Coaxial	3,000 (250)	700	-	-

Usage in battles

Do not be afraid to trust your armour, particularly when hull-down or against autocannons. However, avoid straying from your allies, as your slow reload can mean that a missed or poor shot is fatal. Do not count on knocking out crew to cripple opponents as your reload is long enough for knocked out members to be replaced. If you are reloading while under fire, remember to keep your gun moving to evade shots at it. The combination of APS and reliable armour means that IFVs such as the Begleitpanzer, Bradley, and Marder can do little to you without catching you off guard or getting a luck shot on your gun.

Notable opponents

• PUMA - This enemy is nearly harmless as it lacks missiles and cannot reliably penetrate your UFP and turret, but it is very difficult to knock out with one shot, frequently requiring two or three. When facing it frontally or angled, aim for the driver on the right side, as he has another crew member sitting behind him. APFSDS will penetrate the engine if necessary. When side-on, always shoot in front of the turret base, as the area under and behind it is an infantry seating area and will do no damage. If your main cannon is knocked out, it is possible to detonate the turret ammo with the roof mounted machine gun which will at least set a fire. It is dangerous sheerly due to the amount of time that it takes to knock out. If it gets your gun, or delays you until its friends arrive, you will probably be the one knocked out instead.

• TAM - Be careful with this enemy. It will rarely fail to penetrate your armour and will show up in unexpected places on account of its mobility. Do not rush shots at it and do not shoot at its hull frontally. You will usually destroy the engine but leave it otherwise unharmed. The turret front can also be difficult to penetrate effectively, so aim for the turret ring or barrel. If you must shoot the hull, aim for the right side which houses the driver and an ammo rack behind.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Consistent armour
• Very resistant to autocannons
• Drozd APS to block missiles
• APS has several charges
• Adequate penetration on APDS and APFSDS rounds
• Access to APHE with fantastic post-penetration damage
• Decent mobility

Cons:

• Below average reload time
• Low APFSDS post-penetration damage
• Slow gun and turret traverse
• Disappointing gun depression
• APS only protects 40 degrees to each side of the gun.

History

As one of the top-secret projects of the Soviet Army, the Kompleks 1030M-01 "Drozd" was the very first operational active protection system (APS), developed by Vasily Ivanovich Bakalov of the KPB Design Bureau as a counter to the abundance of RPGs and ATGMs. This project was first started by the Army but was dropped due to budget constraints; the Marines later completed the project as a cheaper alternative to ERA or new T-72 tanks to replace their T-55As. Around 250 of their T-55As were then converted to the AD standard by 1983. The version of T-55AMD-1 in-game was based on the enhanced T-55AM-1 with better engine (V-46-5M at 691hp), and new radio and fire control systems.

According to combat records during the Soviet-Afghan War, the system's interception rate was at around 80%; but the system itself also has some drawbacks such as being lethal to unarmoured friendlies in its frontal firing arc (later models installed a warning buzzer), and a very long reload time at around 15 minutes.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, some of these T-55ADs were in the hands of Ukraine and the system was reinstalled onto other tanks, while the remaining ones in Russia were stored elsewhere as reserve forces.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the T-55AMD-1 from live.warthunder.com.

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

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.