is-7

The IS-7 is the sixth variant of the IS heavy tank family. It is a Soviet heavy tank that began development in 1945 under the project designation Object 260. The vehicle only existed as a prototype before being cancelled in favour of the T-10 (IS-8) variant. Nikolai Fedorovich Shashmurin designed the IS-7 in Leningrad in 1945. It was the largest and heaviest member of the IS heavy tank family, weighing 68 tonnes and armed with a long-barreled 130 mm S-70 tank gun. It was also one of the most sophisticated heavy tank designs. The armour was designed in the same way as the IS-3, with a pike nose on the upper glacis wearing 150 mm of armour inclined at a 65° angle. The lower glacis was supposed to be 100 mm thick, however, measurements revealed that it may be as thick as 110-120 mm depending on welding variances. When shot from the front, the sharp angle of the pike nose increases the possibility of a ricochet. The 130 mm S-70 tank gun was a naval gun adaptation that fired a 33 kilogram armour-piercing round with a muzzle velocity of 900 metres per second. The gun's loading mechanism used an assisted loading mechanism with a conveyor belt system. It could hold six ready rounds before needing to be replenished. The rounds were divided into two parts: the shell and the propellant. According to Nicholas Moran, the prototype IS-7 had eight machine guns and might have had to remove five of them if it had gone into production. The IS-7 was an outstanding breakthrough vehicle, but it was far too heavy and expensive to build; the T-10 was better suited for warfare as it was much easier and cheaper to transport. Work on the IS-7 was terminated on February 18, 1949.