Wednesday 1 March 2017

Tank Costs, 1943

"To the Deputy Chair of the Council of People's Commissars, comrade Malyshev

I present to you a report on the cost of KV-1S, KV-8S, T-34, and T-70 tanks, their armament and optics.

Type
Cost w/o armament or optics
Cost of armament and optics
Cost of radio
Cost of hull and turret
Cost of engine
Cost of track links
KV-1S
225,000
32,287.95
12,000
65,000
27,000
Link: 105
Pin: 8
KV-8S
234,000
27,033.03
12,000
65,000
27,000
Link: 105
Pin: 8
T-34
135,000 (#183)
162,000 (##112, 174, UZTM, Kirov)
25,589.09 with PT-K
25,614.07 with PT-4-7
3,300
45,000
27,000
With tooth: 51.75
W/out tooth: 36.80
Grousers: 18.60
Pin: 2.40
T-34 (radio)
139,500 (#183)
166,500 (##112, 174, UZTM, Kirov)
25,589.09 with PT-K
25,614.07 with PT-4-7
T-34 (flame-thrower)
139,500 (#183)
166,500 (##112, 174)
31,711.84 with PT-K
31,836.82 with PT-4-7
T-70
61,300
7,702.80
12,500
7,000
Link: 22
Pin: 1
T-70 (radio)
63,800

Notes:
  1. The PT-K is installed when the PT-4-7 is not available.
  2. The cost of the vehicle includes the radio, hull, turret, engine, and tracks.
  3. The cost of a turret is approximately:
    1. KV: 10,000
    2. T-34: 5,000
    3. T-70: 2,400
  4. Starting from the second quarter, a new "miniature" radio will be installed on the T-34 and T-70, which costs 1,500 rubles.
  5. The KV uses a 10-R radio, the T-34 uses a 9-R radio.
Deputy Chief of the GBTU Tank Directorate, Engineer-Colonel Alymov
Chief of the 1st TU GBTU Department, Engineer-Lieutenant-Colonel Yegorov
March 6th, 1943"


It's interesting to compare these figures to costs from 1941 and 1942. Compared to 1941, the cost of a KV is 2-3 times lower, the cost of a KV hull is similarly reduced. However, the KV-1S was not only simpler, but lighter than the KV-1. Since the T-34 didn't go through such a process, the cost of a T-34 is only 1.5-2 times lower, the cost of a hull is about half as much. A V-2 engine also costs about half as much as it did in 1941. 

The T-70 in 1943 wasn't that much cheaper than a T-60 in 1941, but was also a much more radically changed tank.

7 comments:

  1. "However, the KV-1S was not only simpler, but lighter than the KV-1S." I think you mean the KV1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The cost of the tracks is staggering. I'm getting the KV-1S's complete tracks as nearly the same cost as the engine.

      I can't get the costs to add up. For the KV-1S, I see 12,000+65,000+27,000+23,000=127,000 (the 23,000 is an approximation for 200 track links + 200 pins--not sure if those are the right numbers). The table says that this should add up to 225,000.

      Delete
    2. The table doesn't list every component that goes into a tank or the cost of assembly. This cost can be very high. For example, the cost of repairing (not building anew) the T-34 prototypes after the run from Kharkov to Moscow was 98,180 rubles, and almost all of that is just labour, not parts.

      Delete
  2. What was #183 doing to deliver the same product at lower cost?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. By that time, each factory was allowed to make its own modifications to the design in order to speed up production. Since factory #183 has been producing the T-34 the longest and their evacuation was calmer than STZ's, so their technologists and engineers had the most time to spend on figuring out how to cut costs.

      Delete
  3. So what did it cost to build a KV-2 Tank?

    ReplyDelete