Tank Encyclopedia's Archives
A sub of Tank Encyclopedia. This is the new archive section, with all former entries, and a search engine. ➀ All single vehicles are accessible by nations and eras in a more consistent and logical way than previously. ADS are needed due to finance better server performances as audience grows. But you can support also it through merchandise here.
➁ New posts weekly. These are mere "entry into matter", for vehicles scheduled on tank-encyclopedia.com, that will be seen in the latter in much more detail. A link from the archive entry will point to the new article when up. There are still circa 2,000 serial armored vehicles to be treated over the years excluding prototypes and paper projects, so tank-afv.com will continue to run until all are treated, and follow the news of armoured vehicles around the world.
☄ About the site name: If a "Tank" is obvious to anyone in this context, "AFV" is an acronym which stands for "Armoured Fighting Vehicle". It is a catch-all definition for all military vehicles armoured (and armed), tracked or wheeled. For soft-skinned vehicles please visit truck-encyclopedia.com. See also The 2015 archive.
Support Tank Encyclopedia on PatreonNew Entries
Obyekt 279 (1959)
14.08.2025 The Obiekt 279, or Object 279, (Объект 279) was a Soviet experimental heavy tank developed by late 1959. It was called a "special purpose tank" intended to fight on cross country terrain that was inaccessible to conventional tanks. But also for a heavy breakthrough tank, to be operationally disposed of by the Supreme Command Reserve. However a serie of reasons eventually canceled mass production, notably strict opposition of Nikita Khrushchev to heavy tanks in 1960, but also cost, complexity and not that stellar results in swampy terrain.
Ris (1995)
06.08.2025 The Ris (Lynx) is a rare 4x4 Serbian armoured personal carrier, based on the Slovenian-built TAM-110 just seen on truck encyclopedia. It was developed for the needs of the Military Police of the Yugoslav Army and the Special Police Units of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs but production was short, at TAM until the company ceased activities in 1996.
♆ 31/07/2025
Type 99 155 mm self-propelled howitzer (1999)
The Type 99 is a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force, developed as the successor to the Type 75 155 mm self-propelled howitzer, which dated back from 1985. Its bovelties were a longer barrel of 52 cal. versus 30 cal. for twice the range and latest fire control system. Japan Steel Works became primary contractor for manufacturing the main gun and turret under a R&D contract of 5 B Yen completed in 1992 and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the chassis. 117 were built, with production shutting down in 2022. It is in service with the Fuji Artillery School Unit, Northern Army 2nd Division, 5th Brigade, 7th Artillery Regiment(Mechanized) and 11th art. Brigade (Mechanized) and the Northern Army Combined Brigade, 1st Sergeant Training Unit.
WW1 Tanks & Armored Cars
Born in the Trenches, when the front became static, the idea of the tank was a resurgence of ...science fiction, when some looked at HG Wells' "land battleships" novel. In UK, development was stirred by Wintson Churchill and the Navy. In France, by an artillery officer, J.B. Estienne. And soon the world took notice. Tanks were rare and few in between still, with grand plans in 1918 that never were realized. When the front was not static, armored cars reigned supreme.
WW2 Tanks & Armored Cars
In 1939, thanks had nearly two decades to evolve at peacetime rate, though the boiling of new ideas of tactics and combined arms, with some armies more acute of these than any others. Ground combat proved absolute masters of these new ideas, the Wehrmacht, with luck and opposite incompetence. After moving to USSR, the fight moved to Africa, then to Italy and back to Western Europe at large, driving fast-paced innovation in a deadly food chain contest.
Cold War Armoured Fighting Vehicles
The atomic age started with the opposition of two superpowers, which developed deterrence but at the same time, always considered conventional warfare. Far from peaceful, this second half century, until 1991, saw gradual improvement, with a gap of twenty years before generations, towards 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation main battle tanks and a cohort of armoured personal carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and many specialized variants, wheeled and tracked.
Modern Armoured Fighting Vehicles
As the recent conflict in Ukraine shows us, the tank is still useful in the frame of a conventional war. However drones unexpectedly showed deadlier as well as artillery. Between 1991 and 2025are we really seeing a radical transformation of ground warfare ? One thing is sure through for all generals: The main battle tank is still king of the battlefield, when well used and accompanied. From city scapes to desert, steppe, rolly hills and mountains, even coming from the sea, the tank adapted and is there to stay.
Upcoming:
South Africa: Bosvark, MRAP Samil-50 Kwevoel RV, Ribbok, Hippo
Israel: Merkava, III, IV, M109A5 Doher/Rochev, Magach 5 Golan, M113 Golan/Zelda Toga (IDF service), MAR 290/90, M3 HT in IDF service, M50 AGM launcher, Haviv MLR, Eshel HaYarden, M2310 shilem
Britain: Vickers Mk.I MBT, Centurion AVRE, Light Mk.IV Colonial Pattern, Light Tank Mk.II, Wasp Carrier, Bren Carrier (update), FV430 Bulldog, FV105 Sultan, FV103 Spartan
USA: M548, M728 CRV, M40 155mm HMC, T12E1 CGMC, M15 Combination GMC, M13 MGMC, M12 155mm SPG, M14 MGMC, M17 MGMC, M39 Carrier, T1 Cunningham, M22 Locust, M3 HMC-75mm, M4 sherman flail, Marmon CTLS, Sherman-MkV-Crocodile, M108 SPG, LAV-300, M113 FIST, M106 MortarCarrier, M577 Command, M103, M110 howitzer
USSR/Russia: 9M317 BUK-M2, 9K330 Tor, 1S91-kvardat, 9K37M1 buk-M (SA-17-Grizzly), 2S35 Koalitsiya, BTT-1, MT-55, 9P157-2 Khrizantema-S, 9P163M-1-Kornet, 2S23 Nona SVK, BMO-T, BMP-2M, BMP-97 Vystrel, BTR-T, Ural Typhoon, R-381T-Taran, R-145BM, STZ-5 tractor/BM-13-16(Ni tank), Pioneer(Komomolets), T26T/BNSP reco vehicle/TP26, Ya12 tractor(T60/70), GT-MU soviet airborne APC, GAZ-2330 Tigr
China: Type 63G mod. light tank, VT4, Yitian-SPAAML, PLZ-07, PLZ-52, PGZ-07, PTL-02, Type 63C APC amphib Ukraine ready: BMP-1U, Varta MRAP, BTR-60M Khorunzhy APC , BTR4 MV1, 2S22 Bohdana
And also: TAB-77, LAV-6, M120 Rak, Archer, T-155 Fırtına, RODEF-4, Pereh-tank-destroyer, T34-D30-SPH, Iranian Rakhsh-APC, Patria II AMV, Light Tank Mark II, Mark III, Spanish AFVs interwar, TAB 77+ B33 Zimbru, Ford Lynx, Rhodesian Crocodile, Serge CDS, Jordan Khalid MBT, Jordan Al Hussein, Leonardo-M60 , wasserwerfer-SK2, BTR-152 vz53 SPAAG, MT-55, BTS-4A, BTS-2, M47M_AVLB, Renault FT command, 370-Recoiless-GunsSPG, TC5000XYB
2025 Announcement
Centennial.
Hundreds of pages, for free
The full catalog: All AFVs of the world by country and eras, 2017 Edition.
Armored Trains.
The New section in development
The same database as for tanks: Railroad networks developed in the XIXth soon found a military use. Before even WWI, train attacks led to armed and armored trains. This had going on for more than a century now. This will cover all WW1, WW2, but also cold war and even recent armoured trains on the long run.
12/08/2025 BD-41 (1942)
The BD-41 armoured self-propelled railroad car was designed and made between December 1941 and January 1942 in Moskow at Voitovitch plant. The hull was welded from 8-10 mm armoured plates, placed on a chassis of a local auto-section railway car. It was given a standard T-26 model 1931 dual turret, armed with a 37mm and coaxial 7.62 mm, on top of the hull. It was powered by a gasoline front-mounted engine which exhausted both forward of the turret and on the left side, while the crew entered by the side right door. There were seats and ammunition storage for 4-6 men, including two to man the turret, and assistant and a railcar officer. A few DB-41 were manufactured for testing, siverging in some points, at the plant, before swapping to a more advanced model. These were transferred to the 7th separate batallion of armoured trains for trials but not adopted for mass production. Instead, the few prototypes went on to serve in 1942-44 operations until their loss. Note: Future dedicated article on all these different soviet railroad cars planned.
Trucks
Military Trucks and staff cars.
A dedicated section for softskin vehicles, from WWI to this day: Trucks, staff cars, reconnaissance vehicles, and artillery tractors: Truck-Encyclopedia.com.
MACK NR (1942)
10.08.2025
The Mack NR was a heavy 6x4 cargo truck designed and produced from 1942 by U.S. manufacturer Mack Trucks. It was used first, and mainly by the British Army to transport cargo and materiel over long distances, starting wih the Tunisian Campaign, Sicily, Italy, and in Europe from D-Day onwards. The official U.S. Army designation was: Truck, 10 ton, 6x4, Cargo and Mack G-number was G-528. Over 16,000 were manufactured until V-Day, declined in many versions, and postwar it was still used for almost two decades by the Netherlands, France and Belgium (also Denmark and others when resold).
Older Entries:
TAM-110 (1976) * Land Rover Serie II FC * UAZ 469 (1972) * Type 95 Mini Truck * FAP-13 (1962) *
The Antitank-Encyclopedia.
All the means to destroy a Tank.
From early antitank cannons and rifles to missiles, mines and RPGs.
Cannone da 77/28 Mod. 5/8
➾ Field Gun produced 1904-1918
The Cannone da 77/28 was an Italian recuperation of the 1904 Austrian Bohler Feldkanone 8 cm M. 5, later perfected by Skoda as the model 5/8 and largey adopted by Italy. Others ended in successors states to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and Austria. This horse-drown carriage was used by Italian units operating in North and East Africa, as well as the Germans from 1943. It was a poor antitank weapon (and was rarely used that way), with a lack of dedicated shells and a muzzle velocity of just 500 m/s.