T-27

The T-27 was a Soviet tankette produced in the 1930s, based on the Carden Loyd tankette that the Soviet Union bought under licence from the United Kingdom in 1930. The Soviets made the hull larger, improved the running gear and changed the weapon mount to take a 7.62 mm DT machine gun, and chief engineer N. Kozyrev and lead engineer K. Sirken adapted it to the Russian climate and terrain. It was accepted into service on 13 February 1931 and was built at two factories at once, the Bolshevik factory in Leningrad and the works in Nizhny Novgorod that later became GAZ. The tankette served mainly as a reconnaissance vehicle, was tested in 1935 slung beneath Tupolev TB-3 bombers, and was relegated to training and gun towing by the end of the decade. A few were exported, including five ordered by Turkey in 1935, and some were captured by Hungarian and Romanian forces.