For a long time, the Kubinka tank museum collection had an almost constant number of exhibits and numbered slightly more than 330 pieces in 1994. After conducting search operations at the battlefields of the Second World War in Kubinka, the collection was replenished with some rare Soviet and German tanks. In the courtyard of the Kubinka Tank Museum, some Soviet tanks from the Cold War period stood in an abandoned state, decommissioned from military units as obsolete. In total there were about twenty units of these tanks and armored vehicles, T-54, T-62, T-64, which were not included in the permanent list of exhibits of the museum in Kubinka. With the formation of Patriot Park in 2015, part of the permanent collection, mainly World War II and Airborne Forces, was moved to new hangars in the Aerospace Sector (now renamed Museum Site H1). The outdoor exhibition of the Museum site N1 began to be replenished en masse with armored vehicles and aircraft from active military units and disbanded military schools. These were mainly serial Soviet tanks from the Cold War era, such as the T-54, T-55, T-62, T64 and T-72. But the museum also received rare low-volume engineering armored vehicles, as well as for performing special tasks for chemical and radiation reconnaissance of battlefields. In a short time, the collection was replenished with more than 100 tanks and armored vehicles, some of which were made accessible to visitors from the sides and from above via special stairs. All new exhibits are subject to restoration; for holidays they are painted in a protective color. Some of the new exhibits arrived at the open area of the Patriot Park Expo, but sometimes there is a rotation of armored vehicles with the museum area H1. All of these new exhibits are marked differently from the Kubinka Tank Museum and have the letters PP N (Patriot Park Inventory Number). Unfortunately, almost all new exhibits do not have signs with descriptions, but work is underway.
Cold War soviet tanks and armored vehicles in Patriot Park Museum site N1
In this area you can climb up to tank and take the photo staying on the vehicle. All armored vehicles have the authentic color, Cold War era soviet “green protection”
Cold War soviet tanks in outdoor, some exhibits:
- T-54 soviet medium tank
- T-62
- T-64
- T-72
Carriers, BTR
- BTR-70 with the turret and the automatic grenade launcher (AGS-17)
- MT LBU “Object 10” amphibious tracked armored carrier (civilian version), M196X
- MTP A6, light armored carrier (long version), observation and evacuation vehicle
- MT-M, small tracked carrier on chassis GAZ-3933 truck
- GT-MU, light-armored tracked airborne carrier (GAZ design bureau)
- MT-T, heavy carrier based on T-64 chassis (Morozov designer, Kharkov city)
- GT-SM-1D tracked amphibious carrier on BTR-50 chassis (GAZ design bureau)
Interesting facts about Soviet tanks. The Saumur Museum of Armored Vehicles in the Loire Valley has a large room entitled Cold War with Soviet Armored Vehicles. But most of the Soviet tanks were captured in Iraq and Afghanistan, so they have a sand color and identification marks in the Arabic language in a special script. Since the Arab-Israeli wars, the USSR has been selling obsolete models of T-54 (T-55) class tanks to its friends and allies. In modern Russia, hundreds of obsolete Soviet T-54, T-62 and T-64 tanks were kept in special open-air warehouses in Siberia for a long time. Rain, frost, humidity, rust and petty theft of parts rendered the armored vehicles inoperable. After the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, Russia reactivates such tanks, sends them to repair factories and then delivers them to the front. Some of the repaired armored vehicles have bald tank turrets, some have Contact dynamic protection or a new one against drones, nicknamed the barbecue grill. Some outdated, refurbished tanks have already become Ukrainian trophies and are on display in Kyiv.