It was the first smoothbore weapon designed for tanks,[2] and heralded the change in main armament from rifled cannons.

The Soviets set about designing a new "heavy" vehicle which was required to complement the tanks in an overwatch capacity and to provide greater anti-armour capability.

[3] The new vehicle, the T-62, was to be equipped with a new smoothbore design—which allows higher velocity and greater armour penetration with kinetic rounds—based on an enlargement of the 100 mm 2A19 anti-tank gun that had entered production in 1955.

Though the T-62 would have variable success in the conflicts it was involved in, the U-5TS would remain a formidable weapon that proved capable of penetrating the armour of any comparable NATO tank until the deployment of third generation MBTs in the late 1970s and early 80s.

The subsequent development of this type of ammunition for this gun led to an array of penetrator designs and different materials with the final model, the 3UBM-13, using depleted uranium.