Editing T-62M (section)

==IRL==
[[File:T-62M main battle tank Russia Russian army defense industry military technology 640 001.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Russians were still using this in 2008]]

If the T-55 is the GLORIOUS WORKERS TANK, the T-62 is the white-collar clerk that nobody likes to talk about. Its record in Soviet and Russian service is rather patchy and it's notable as the last Soviet MBT design to not include an autoloader. The T-62 is really a forgotten tank, occupying an awkward middle ground between the highly-advanced T-64 and the numererous T-55. While T-62's 115mm gun was superior to the T-55's 100mm gun, the tank itself was otherwise nearly identical to its predecessor in terms of protection and mobility, which made its higher price tag and greater complexity a tougher buy. As such, every Warsaw Pact country but Bulgaria skipped it.

As of 1990, 85% of Soviet tank inventory was either T-55s or T-62s.  Granted, we are mostly talking about what they called at the time "Category II," "Category III," and "Mobilization Only" units, but it is noteworthy that of a fleet of 35,000 MBTs, 30,000 were T-55s and T-62s.  Yes, maintaining that kind of armored army was expensive.  Turns out that maintaining a standing army of 200+ armored and mechanized divisions AND propping up pro-Soviet governments in Afghanistan, Angola, Nicaragua, and many more places, AND maintaining the world's largest nuclear arsenal, AND trying to build a blue-water navy to challenge the US at sea, was what bankrupted the USSR.

What's really interesting about it however, isn't what the Soviets did with it, though some of the Soviet variants are pretty crazy, ranging from firefighting vehicles to a tank destroyer model that ditched the gun for a shitload of ATGMs. Rather, it is what everyone else did with it, which amounted to a bazillion different variants with varying levels of modernization. From 1970 to 1980, this was the most advanced Soviet tank available for export; seeing as the T-72 was starting to come into service, the Soviet Union was only too happy to pawn them off to Third World countries needing to replenish their tank inventories.[[File:Impuls2m.jpg|300px|left|thumb|The Russian firefighting variant, better known as the Impuls-2M. It's basically an MLRS that launches firefighting chemicals]]

The Egyptians bought it, and in the 80's took out the 115mm gun for a 105mm L7. The Israelis did similar modifications around the same time to captured T-62's and 62M's. Bulgaria also created a firefighting vehicle variant. Angola, some middle eastern nations like Syria, and some other communist nations in Asia and Africa bought them as well as Cuba. The Chinese stole tech out of the T-62 for their own Type-69 MBT, based on a captured vehicle they got during the Sino-Soviet Border Skirmishes, which has since become a better seller than the original. The Type-69 is interestingly enough a small improvement on the Type-59 which is a copy of the T-54A, but that's a long story you should look up on your own. But the really really crazy stuff comes from the North Koreans. 

The North Koreans have what can only be described as a fetish for the T-62. Such a fetish in fact, that they christened it the Chonma-ho II when they imported it. Why II? Because they already had a Chonma-ho I. The Chonma-ho I is the T-62, but with thinner armor. It's an exact copy in almost every way, except ''somehow worse''. Just to make things more confusing, there's two different Chonma-ho II's, with the second (I'll call it the 'II 2') being an upgrade of the I, so there's that. The III is just a II 2 with a barrel heat shroud and sideskirts, so it's a T-62M but still worse. The IV, V, and VI models are basically just I's and II 2's with modernized fire control, ERA and Applique armor (IV,) a IV with a 125mm gun from the T-72 (V), and the V with rubber all over it to deal with tandem warheads somehow (VI). The North Koreans also like to put Strela-2's and Strela-3's on the turrets of these things, and even have another variant for a command tank that doesn't even have a main gun. All in all, they have something like 1,500 T-62 and T-62 derivatives, all together.

If Battlefront ever adds North Koreans, (and if the cold war ever did go hot some conflict in Asia would be expected even if the Sino-Soviet split had happened by 1985) expect a load of upgrade sprues.

Historically, Iranian T-62's were not really comparable to the Iraqi models. While the Iraqi forces were buying directly from the Soviets and more than a few were of Czech manufacture, the Iranian models were very much second hand. The few hundred T-62's the Iranians got were mostly Libyan hand me downs, and the North Korean (and inferior) T-62 copy Ch'ŏnma-ho MBT's. 

The T-62 did see some success in Africa. Cuban forces operated them during their interventions in Angola and Ethiopia, with great success. They blunted the locally manufactured South African armor in Angola, and were much more successful in counter insurgency actions in and after the Ogaden War inside Ethiopia. The Cubans still possess many of them, and they are all modernized. 

The Russians have even activated these tanks for the current (2022) conflict with Ukraine, with T-62Ms and T-62MVs both seen on trains and trailers heading into Ukraine. Whatever poor press-ganged militia or unlucky Russian conscripts assigned to these are going to have one hell of a bad day if they find themselves on the front line, going up against AT weapons and ATGMs designed to deal with much better protected targets. Supposedly, they are being deployed to fulfill second-line and rear-area functions and thus free up more capable tanks. Of course, given how poorly the war is going for Russia that idea will probably last for about 6 seconds, which is about the amount of time it takes for a Soviet-era tank's ammo to cook off.

Speaking of which, Battlefront, World War 3 in the Dark Continent when?

The aforementioned idea did indeed last around 6 seconds or so and even non-modernized T-62's are being sent out to be eaten alive by Turkish drone mini-bombs and British, Swedish and American missiles.

{{Soviet Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee}}
{{Iranian Forces in Team Yankee}}
[[Category:Vehicles]]