PT-76-57

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The PT-76 is a Soviet light amphibious tank of the early 1950's that served in Reconnaissance and Infantry Support roles for the Soviet Army and allied militaries. The most notable conflict of this design was the Vietnam War, where it operated effectively with PAVN and NLF forces in significant numbers. The design was revolutionary for its time and formed the basis of the Soviet Union's many subsequent Amphibious IFVs, including the BTR-50, MTLB and BMP series. At the time of the dissolution of the USSR in 1991 the Soviet Military and Paramilitary forces possessed around 1000 PT-76 tanks in active service, mostly with the Naval Infantry, but in smaller numbers with the Internal Troops, Border Guards and reserve forces, with the majority being inherited by the Russian Federation. By this point the baseline PT-76 was woefully outdated, and several competing modernization programs were launched to convert the old hulls into something more useful on a modern battlefield. One of these consisted of replacing the PT-76's turret and 76mm cannon with a new turret incorporating a 57mm autocannon and mechanized loader with updated optics and communications equipment. The PT-76-57 never entered service.