The T-62 is a main battle tank of Soviet origin. It was developed in the late 1950's as a follow on to the succesful T-55. The T-62 was produced in large quantities in the 1960's and played an important role in the Cold War. The T-62 is an improvement over the T-55 but the slight increase in performance is does not justify the production costs that are twice that of the T-55. The introduction of newer tanks made the T-62 quickly obsolete as the primary Soviet tank, a role which would be fulfilled by the later T-72.

The T-62 is a further development of the T-55 that is mainly characterized by its new cannon. The driver is seated in the longer and wider chassis with distinct gaps between the last two sets of roadwheels not found on the T-55 series. The larger dome shaped turret houses the remaining three crew members and is fitted with a larger and longer 115mm smoothbore cannon. Many features found on late model T-55's are also present on the T-62, such as an NBC system, stabilization in both axis and infrared searchlight.

The main armament of the T-62 is the 115mm U-5TS smoothbore cannon for which 40 rounds are carried. The 115mm smoothbore cannon is much more powerful than the 100mm rifled cannon on the T-55, although this gap was reduced by the introduction of new types of 100mm ammunition. Fired while standing still against stationary targets the cannon is as accurate as the NATO 105mm L7 cannon. When on the move the accuracy is reduced significantly due to the low quality fire controls and stabilization system. A 7.62mm PKT machine gun is installed as a coaxial weapon an many T-62's have a 12.7mm DShKM heavy machine gun on the turret roof.

The standard T-62 has slightly thicker hull armor and better turret armor over the frontal arc than the T-55. The 105mm L7 cannon used on Western tanks is still able to pierce the armor when using improved rounds. On various variants the protection level has been improved by adding bra armor, appliqué armor or ERA blocks. Late production models feature smoke grenade dischargers and all T-62's are capable of laying a smoke screen by injecting diesel fuel in the exhaust.

The T-62 uses the same V-55 diesel engine as used in the T-55, but the increased weight has lowered the power to weight ratio. This makes the T-62 slightly less maneuvreable than the T-55. The tracked chassis allows the T-62 to cross any terrain but the cross country speeds are somewhat limited and the steering is not precise. A large snorkel can be attached for deep wading across rivers.

The T-62 was produced in large quantities but not as much as the earlier T-55. The T-62 was replaced as the primary Soviet tank by the later and much more capable T-72. In Russian service the T-62 is held in reserve, in the Middle East and Africa it remains in active service.