The SU-100 Assault Gun

The SU-100 Assault Gun Development

Main Guns of the 85mm calibre had proved successful of defeating the armour of the Tiger 1, but more heavily armoured German fighting vehicles such as the Elefant, Tiger 2 (King Tiger) and Jagdtiger were appearing in 1944 so a more capable gun was needed.

A Model 1944 D-10S, which was an adaptation of a Russian naval gun, 100mm calibre Length 56 was developed.

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The SU-100 Assault Gun – Click to enlarge

To speed up development and production it was decided to use the chassis of the new T-34-85 medium tank and its running gear such as engine. The D-10S main gun was mounted in a fully enclosed superstructure, but its size made it a tight space for the crew to work in.

It had the same problem as the SU-85 in that it lacked a Machine Gun mounted on the commanders cupola to protect the vehicle from a close in infantry attack.

SU-100 Production

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The SU-100 Assault Gun, rear view – Click to enlarge

In entered production at the Uralmash and Chelyabinsk tank factories in September 1944 to provide long range support for the T-34-85’s. 1534 were built in total and remained in service well into the 1950’s.

The SU-100 Assault Gun Spec’s

Armament: 100mm Main Gun
Armour: 75mm sloping steel (frontal)
Crew: 4
Dimensions: Length 5.92m / Width 3m / Height 2.54m
Weight: 32 tonne
Engine: 500bhp V2 12 cylinder diesel
Top Road Speed: 35km/h
Operational Range: 300km