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Object 685: Return of the River Mosquito

The Object 685 is a Soviet prototype amphibious light tank, developed in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s as a replacement for the obsolete PT-76. Despite it not being ordered into production, tankers in War Thunder may look forward to the highly interesting Object 685 coming to the game as part of the upcoming update 1.91!

Briefly: A ‘70s experimental Soviet amphibious light tank, offering excellent mobility combined with a fast-firing, autoloading 100mm main gun!

Object 685, light tank, USSR, VI rank.

Pros

  • A 100mm cannon with a mechanised loading system
  • Superb mobility

Cons

  • Very light armour 
Historical Background

After production of the PT-76 was discontinued, Soviet engineers began work on developing a suitable replacement around a set of requirements provided by the military. The requirements were sent to three different design bureaus, with each bureau developing its own vehicle around the given specifications.

One of the proposed designs, the Object 788, was disqualified early from the competition due to being incomplete and missing several key features mandated by the requirements. The other two designs, the Object 685 and Object 934 were both deemed as sufficient, and work on them continued. By the mid 1970s, both vehicles were built and tested, but neither managed to garner enough interest to warrant a production order being issued. Despite not making it past the prototype stage, design solutions from both vehicles were later applied to other Soviet fighting vehicles.

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In War Thunder, the Object 685 will continue the light tank branch at rank VI of the Soviet ground forces tree after its arrival to the game as part of update 1.91. Reminiscent of the Object 906 which precedes it, the Object 685 builds upon the foundation laid by its predecessor and expands on it with the use of a larger, more powerful main gun assisted by a very handy autoloading mechanism.

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Unlike the Object 906, the Object 685 is armed with a bigger, 100mm 2A48 cannon. In addition to an increase in gun calibre, the Object 685 also sports an autoloading mechanism, which will substantially increase the fire rate of the vehicle compared to other Soviet tanks armed with 100mm guns. To round off the combination of excellent ballistics and fire rate, the Object 685 will also have access to a wide selection of various ammunition types, ranging from regular armour-piercing rounds with explosive filler, to chemical rounds, and going all the way up to highly potent sub-calibre munitions. Thanks to such firepower, the Object 685 can comfortably punch well above its weight category and be confident to come out on top most of the time.

Fun Fact: Although a failed project, parts of the Object 685, such as its chassis, found their way into subsequent, more successful designs, such as the BMP-3.

While firepower certainly received a significant upgrade, protection and mobility remained virtually identical to that offered by the Object 906. With armour thickness only going up to 50mm, tankers can expect sufficient protection against lighter cannons and machine gun fire, but anything larger than that will virtually ignore the presence of the armour entirely. The 400 horsepower engine found on the Object 685 may be stronger than that of the Object 906, but it effectively only compensates for the weight increase, allowing the Object 685 to reach a similar top speed of 70 km/h forwards, 21 km/h in reverse and up to 10 km/h in water.

The Object 685 is coming to War Thunder as part of the upcoming update 1.91 and will become available to all tankers at rank VI of the Soviet ground forces tree. In the meantime, let us know what you think about the Object 685 in the comments below and stay tuned for more news regarding the next major update. Until then, tankers!

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