Historically, the Object 279 was one of the last Soviet attempts to produce a Heavy Tank capable of defeating pretty much anything it encountered on the battlefield of the late 1950s. The tank’s strange UFO-like shape was optimized to make its frontal sector completely impervious to enemy armor-piercing or HEAT shells and its massive 130mm M-65 cannon was perhaps the most powerful tank gun of the era. Another rather unique feature was its four-track suspension that allowed it to retain extremely favorable ground pressure and thus off-road capabilities – when going forward.

In reality, steering was very difficult and put a lot of stress on the whole system, resulting in very poor agility as well as reliability issues. The suspension system was also hydro-pneumatic and thus capable of lowering the tank to a static position. And last but not least, the tank was equipped with a NBC system, allowing it to not only survive in irradiated environment, but also, thanks to its distinctive shape, to withstand a nuclear blast shockwave.

While certainly impressive, the tank was also extremely expensive and suffered from the abovementioned issues. It was thus never mass-produced and the only surviving prototype is located in the Kubinka tank museum.