IT-1 Drakon

The IT-1 Drakon was a Soviet Cold War missile tank based on the T-62 chassis and armed with the 3M7 Drakon anti-tank guided missile. It emerged from the belief that guided missiles might replace or outperform conventional tank guns at long range. Unlike many missile-tank concepts, IT-1 reached operational service, which makes it historically important even though the concept was ultimately abandoned.

Technically, the IT-1 replaced a conventional gun with a retractable missile-launching system. This gave the vehicle a specialized anti-tank role and the protection of a main battle tank chassis, but it also introduced major constraints: minimum engagement distance, limited missile load, slow reload dynamics, and dependence on missile guidance. The concept solved one problem, long-range penetration, while creating several tactical and mechanical problems.

Operationally, the IT-1's short career demonstrated the limits of a pure missile tank. Conventional guns remained faster, more flexible, and more useful at close and medium ranges, while missiles were best integrated as additional capability on gun tanks or separate ATGM carriers. For readers, the IT-1 is valuable because it explains a real Cold War design debate: whether the future tank should fire shells, missiles, or both.