“Not that it matters; the Russians haven’t had an original idea since the T34 tank.”
“Actually, the T-34 tank had it’s body & tracks designed by an American. So, maybe the Ruskies NEVER have had an original idea...”
Well, the suspention on a T-34 was designed by an American - Christie suspention. I don’t know anything about the body, sloped armour etc. However, the Russians did come up with a few original ideas since the T-34. One is the Kalashninkov designed in 1947 where the original idea was to use part of the air pressure from the fired bullet’s shockwave to lock the next bullet in place for firing. The Russians also pioneered a lot of the double hull design on submarines i.e. Oscar, Typhoon, as well as exotic nuclear propulsion systems on subs such as the Alpha which used I think carbon or boron as a coolent that always had to be kept at high temperature for it not to solidify which happened on few occasions. But in turn, Alpha developed 40 knots. Let’s also not forget - a big one - Tokanak (Tauroid) fusion reactors.
However, the Russians did come up with a few original ideas since the T-34. One is the Kalashninkov designed in 1947 where the original idea was to use part of the air pressure from the fired bullet’s shockwave to lock the next bullet in place for firing. Many rifles prior to the AK-47 used gas piston operation. The M1 Garand of the US, adopted in 1936, is but one example.
The T-34 was based on a failed American design. The US Grant/Lee tank had sloped armor as did the Sherman. The T-34 was simply fast and used in a way that took advantage of the slope. T-34’s didn’t slug it out with German 75’s and 88’s. They charged at them while 122 and 152 pounded at the Germans from long range. To quote an adage from the time “The more tanks you have, the less you lose”