[9][a] As a further development of the T-55 series, the T-62 retained many similar design elements of its predecessor including low profile and thick turret armour.

[10] While the T-62 became the standard tank in the Soviet arsenal, it did not fully replace the T-55 in export markets due to its higher manufacturing costs and maintenance requirements compared to its predecessor.

By the late 1950s, Soviet commanders realised that the T-55's 100 mm gun could not penetrate the frontal armour of newer Western tanks, such as the Centurion and M48 Patton, with standard armour-piercing shells.

While 100 mm high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) ammunition could have done the job, they were much less accurate than APDS shells, and the relatively low flight velocity resulted in poorer accuracy if used on moving targets.

It was decided to up-gun the T-55 with a 115 mm smoothbore gun, able to fire kinetic energy penetrator armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds.

Uralvagonzavod was preparing to start serial production of the new tank, though the General Armoured Directorate (GBTU) was paying much more attention to Morozov's Ob'yekt 430, which was in development since early 1952.

Because of this, Marshal Vasily Chuikov, Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Army's Ground Forces, demanded an explanation of the "Kartsev's tanks" case.

This was considered advantageous since the spent casings would otherwise clutter the floor of the tank and fill the interior with noxious burnt-propellant fumes.

[8] Each time the gun is fired, the tube must go into detent for cartridge ejection; though the system can be deactivated making this unnecessary or in case of facing an NBC environment.

The T-62 maximum average rate of fire is limited to 8 rounds per minute, which falls behind the capabilities of Western 105 mm gun equipped tanks.

[21] Due to their vulnerability to fire, the auxiliary fuel drums were usually removed prior to combat, decreasing the operational range substantially.

[21] The T-62K command tank land navigation system requires a 15 minute warm-up, during which the vehicle cannot move without damaging the gyroscopic compass.

This also caused Warsaw Pact nations to be swayed away from the purchase of the T-62 as they felt that the logistical and unit costs outweighed the benefits it could provide.

In the early 1990s, the North Korean Second Machine Industry Bureau designed a lighter copy of the T-62 which is mass-produced and is known locally as the Ch'ŏnma-ho I (Ga).

During the Vostok 2018 military exercise, multiple T-62M and T-62MVs were reactivated from storage and mobilised, in an effort to assess how quickly Russian forces could be readied for a major conflict.

[39] By late May, T-62Ms and T-62MVs were transported by train to Ukraine, with additional reports indicating more T-62 tanks being sent towards Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih on June 5.

[44] In October 2022, during a visit at the 103rd Armor Repair Plant, State Duma member Andrey Gurulyov declared that the Russian military would receive 800 T-62s in the following three years.

[45] In February 2023, a Ukrainian mechanic stated that his shop was converting at least one captured T-62 into an armored recovery vehicle, remarking that "this old tank is no good for war.

[52] Most of the tanks were delivered in the wake of Operation Askari, which saw multiple T-54s and T-55s knocked out by South African expeditionary forces using light anti-tank weapons and highly mobile Eland-90 and Ratel-90 armoured cars.

[53] As a result of the destruction and capture of Angolan T-54/55s during Operation Askari, the Soviet military mission in Angola committed to drastically accelerate the transfer of more sophisticated weaponry to FAPLA, including T-62s.

[53] FAPLA deployed its T-62s for the first time during Operation Second Congress, a failed 1986 offensive against the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) near Mavinga.

[54] FAPLA T-62s were present during the initial phase of Operation Saluting October, a similar offensive undertaken the following year, but did not see action in the ensuing 1987-88 Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.

The tanks also formed an integral part of a brigade-sized, combined arms task force ordered to drive Chadian troops loyal to the Transitional Government of National Unity (GUNT) from the Tibesti Mountains the following December.

[61] According to French after-action reports released in March 1988, several were also knocked out by FANT Panhard AML-90 armoured cars with flank or rear shots.

Along with T-55s and T-54Bs, they were initially utilitised for defending strategic installations, such as Matala, the site of an important Angolan hydroelectric plant manned by Soviet engineers.

[65] The more ubiquitous T-55 was favoured for combat duty, and during the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale only a single battalion of Cuban T-62s was situated near the fighting.

[65] Circumstances changed in March 1988, when Cuba began marshalling a combined arms division to carry out a flanking manoeuvre towards the South-West African (Namibian) border.

[53] Iraqi-operated T-62s were badly outperformed by the American M1 Abrams, M2/M3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and the British Challenger 1 tanks in the 1990–1991 Gulf War.

[67] Israel captured a small number of Syrian T-62s and made limited adaptions for Israeli service, including US-made radio equipment.

Tiran 6 was apparently only deployed operationally during the 1982 Lebanon War and was withdrawn from service shortly afterwards as the arrival of further stocks of M60 and M60A1 from the US made it unnecessary to use the T-62.