History[]
The SU-152 "Taran" (СУ-152 "Таран"), was a Soviet experimental tank. In the early 1960's, the Soviet military revealed that the armor-piercing ammunition, used by the T-54 and T-55 medium tanks, and the T-10 and T-10M heavy tanks, were unable to penetrate the hull front nor the turret front of the second generation American M60 Patton or British FV4201 Chieftain main battle tanks. To fight successfully with these tanks, the Soviets began a parallel work in different directions. This led to the development of new APDS and shaped charge ammunition for the contemporary tank guns, new rifled and smoothbore tank guns with a caliber of 115-130 mm, anti-tank missiles, etc. One of these projects became the SU-152 "Taran". The factory designation was Object 120 (Объект 120). In terms of firepower and mobility, it was surpassing all foreign tank destroyers. Something similar to the Taran was the British FV4005 Stage 2, armed with a large 183 mm gun, developed in July 1955. The main reason SU-152 Taran wasn't adopted was the development of effective 125 mm smoothbore tank gun and anti-tank missiles that were able to actually penetrate second generation main battle tanks.
The SU-152 Taran was armed with the 152.4 mm M-69 "Taran" rifled gun, with a barrel length of 9045 mm, fitted with a powerful muzzle brake. With an overall length of about 10 meters, this is one of the longest guns of any type ever built installed on a fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicle. The gun had a maximum direct fire range of 2050 meters. The Taran carried 22 rounds of APDS and high-explosive ammunition. The gun had a semi-automatic breech block, with a rate of fire of 3-5 rounds/min. The high-explosive ammunition had a 43.5 kg shell and a maximum charge of 10.7 kg. Firing the 12.5 kg APDS shell with a maximum charge (10.7 kg), which gave it a muzzle velocity of 1720 m/s, the M-69 "Taran" had an armor penetration of 290 mm of RHA at 90° at a range of 2000 meters.The FV 4005 Stage 2 had a similar armor penetration, about 300 mm of RHA at 90° at a range of about 2000 meters, using a HESH ammunition round.
In-game[]
The SU-152 Taran is an odd vehicle ingame being rear turreted tank destroyer sporting a large 152mm which serves well against those who find themselves on the other end of its gun. The main element the Taran showcases is its 152mm which has access to both APDS and HE allowing it to do massive damage against tanks which rely heavily on thick armor or vehicles which have relatively thin armor. Despite having a 152mm the gun is relatively accurate in comparison to other soviet vehicles and other vehicles which carry similar caliber guns. The gun though suffers with its slow reload speed. The Taran itself is a glass cannon dishing out high damage but its light armor cant take a hit. The Taran's speed and maneuverability is great allowing it to head across the map quickly from position to position, however do not let its speed fool you the Taran is best used in a sniping support role as its engine is mounted on the front making it vulnerable to engine damage, the armor being thin, slow turret rotation, and its slow reload will hamper the vehicle if the player chooses to run and gun in direct combat. As stated before the engine is mounted frontwards and turret backwards, players may find issue with this but an unusual way to circumvent this is to play it in a sniping role while driving the vehicle backwards using it to peek around corners only revealing its turret and barely visible hull rear which stores no critical modules to damage then quickly duck back into cover to reload.
Pros and Cons[]
Pros:[]
- Great health pool
- High alpha damage, great penetration values
- Excellent speed
- Good reverse speed in comparison to it's other Soviet counterparts.
Cons:[]
- Abysmal armor, gets damaged easily and substantially by high explosive
- Front mounted engine vulnerable to engine damage.
- Reload is slow (but still a bit faster than the M551 Sheridan's)
- Cannot use HEAT ammo
- Turret rotation is somewhat slower than the average speed
- Though the speed is good, the turning speed is lacking (since the tank has such a high length to width ratio)
- Horrible gun depression when engaging targets from the front