It continued to perform well; however, the designers could not incorporate the latest technologies or major developments as vital tank production could not be interrupted during wartime.

Thanks to a space-efficient torsion-bar suspension, a novel transverse engine mount, and the removal of the hull machine-gunner's crew position, the T-44 had a cross-country performance at least as good as the T-34, but with substantially superior armour and a much more powerful 85 mm gun.

It was equipped with an OPVT wading snorkel, the TSh-2A-22 telescopic sight, TVN-1 infrared driver's periscope and IR headlight, a new R-113 radio, multi-stage engine air filter and radiator controls for improved engine performance, an electrical oil pump, a bilge pump, an automatic fire extinguisher and extra fuel tanks.

It was decided to create an NBC (nuclear, biological, and chemical) protection system which would start working 0.3 seconds after detecting gamma radiation.

The ammunition load for the main gun was increased from 34 to 45, with 18 shells stored in so-called "wet containers" located in hull fuel tanks (the concept for which came from Kartsev's cancelled Ob'yekt 140).

The loader's hatch-mounted 12.7 mm DShK anti-aircraft heavy machine gun was dropped, because it was deemed worthless against high-performance jets.

The tank had a thicker turret casting, an improved two-plane gun stabilization system from the T-54B and night vision fighting equipment.

[9] After 1959, it served as a basis for the T-55K command tank equipped with an additional R-112 radio set, an AB-1-P/30 fuel-powered accumulator charging unit and a TPN-1-22-11 night vision sight.

In 1961, a T-55 tank was used to test the "Almaz" TV complex, which was supposed to replace the standard observation devices right after a nuclear explosion or while fording a body of water.

The Omsk OKB-29 group tested three experimental T-55 tanks (designated Ob'yekt 612) between 1962 and 1965 that were fitted with an automatic gearbox controlled by electro-hydraulic systems.

At the same time, the Ob'yekt 155ML, a T-55 fitted with a launcher for three 9M14 "Malyutka" (NATO code: AT-3 Sagger) ATGMs mounted on the rear of the turret, was tested.

In 1970, new and old T-55 tanks had the loader's hatch modified to mount the 12.7 mm DShK machine gun, to deal with the threat of attack helicopters.

[11] Two prototypes based on the Chinese Type 59 tank, a clone of the Soviet Union era T-55, named Jaguar were produced in Detroit, Michigan.

[12] Field testing of the prototypes began in October 1989, four months after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, which ended cooperation between China and Cadillac Gage.

Many states have added or modified the tank's equipment; India, for example, affixed fake fume extractors to its T-54s and T-55s so that its gunners would not confuse them with Pakistani Type 59s.

As with most tanks of that generation, the internal ammunition supply is not shielded, increasing the risk that any enemy penetration of the fighting compartment could cause a catastrophic secondary explosion.

[20] The local anti-Soviet revolutionaries delivered one captured T-54A to the British Embassy in Budapest,[citation needed] the analyses and studies of which helped and spurred the development of the Royal Ordnance L7 105 mm tank gun.

Most of these were then sold to assorted Third World countries, some of them in Latin America, and the rest were heavily modified, converted into the Achzarit heavy armoured personnel carrier.

After a two-day-long intense artillery barrage, eighteen T-54 tanks attacked the camp at dawn from two different directions, thus breaking apart the ARVN unit into two and splitting up its forces, which quickly abandoned its positions and withdrew.

Just like many developing countries around the world which continue to operate the T-54/55, at least 900 T-54s, along with a similar number of T-55s and Type 59s, are still in active military service with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam until the present day.

[56] T-54/T-55s began appearing in Southern Africa in the late 1970s, when many emerging Marxist states, particularly Angola and Mozambique, were bolstered with modern Soviet military hardware.

[57] Survivability of opposing medium-armour vehicles deployed by UNITA and the South African Defence Force (SADF) against late model MBTs used in the Angolan Civil War remained a major concern throughout that conflict.

[62] Nevertheless, multiple HEAT rounds were needed to guarantee sufficient damage against a T-55's frontal arc[63] and SADF anti-tank teams forced to operate in platoons accordingly.

[58] During the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, another three T-55s of Angola's 21st Brigade were shot out by Ratel IFVs armed with ZT3 Ingwe ATGMs near the Lomba River.

[75][failed verification] Footage from the Battle of Mariupol (May 2022) indicates that Ukrainian soldiers used a single T-54 which had previously been converted to a historical memorial at the Azovstal plant.

[85] On 19 June, footage of a Russian T-54/55 converted into a remote-controlled VBIED being destroyed by Ukrainian forces near Marinka, Donetsk Oblast was released.

[90] During the Uganda–Tanzania War of 1978 to 1979, Libya sent an expeditionary military force to aid Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in his conflict with Tanzania, which included the supply of a few dozen T-54/55 tanks.

In Poland in 1983–83, T-55L tanks were deployed during the imposition of martial law to intimidate the population (seemingly growing ever-more anti-communist) and to suppress overt displays against their communist government.

It was the mainstay of armoured combat units during the Yugoslav Wars, where it proved vulnerable to infantry equipped with anti-tank rockets and weaponry and to misemployment in urban areas and unfriendly terrain.

Due to the operation demands of the escalating Sri Lankan Civil War, T-55As of the regiment were deployed in pairs to forward bases to support infantry with limited training.