Soviet tank cost

[LWD]

... Given that both tanks weighed about 32 tons and both tanks were largely created using American material and production methods it's to be expected that production costs would be similiar.

But if that were true then the cost of transporting all the materials would make the T-34 more expensive vs domestic use of materials for the M-4. The T-34 76 was also clearly a simpler vehicle than the M-4. The small turret, lack of a turret basket, not to mention things like radios, stabalizers, etc.

[Dave Bender]

the cost of transporting all the materials would make the T-34 more expensive vs domestic use of materials for the M-4

That's entirely possible.

Building Tankograd was also against long term American interests. Without those production facilities the Soviet Union's war making potential would end as soon as the Lend-Lease tap was shut off.

[Art]

Refreshing an old topic - purchase price of Soviet armor in 1940 per unit (from plan of military orders adopted on 19 December 1940):

KV tank (Leningrad Kirov factory) - 950 000 rubles
BT tank, diesel (factory No.183, Kharkov) - 161 000
BT tank w/ radio (factory No.183, Kharkov) - 162 800
BT tank w/ antiaircraft machine-gun mount (factory No.183, Kharkov) - 160 000
T-34 tank (factory No.183, Kharkov) - 300 000
T-26 tank, line (factory No.174, Leningrad) - 85 968
T-26 tank, radio (factory No.174, Leningrad) - 90 238
T-26 tank, antiaircraft machine-gun mount (factory No.174, Leningrad) - 90 908
T-26 tank, chemical (factory No.174, Leningrad) - 102 058
T-40 tank, line (factory No.37, Moscow) - 40 815
T-40 tank, radio (factory No.37, Moscow) - 48 715
Komsomolets tractor, semi-armored (factory No.37, Moscow) - 27 750
BA-10 armored car, radio (Izhora factory, Kolpino) - 46 680
BA-10 armored car, line (Izhora factory, Kolpino) - 42 100
BA-20 armored car, radio (Vyksa factory) - 18 749

From http://www.rkka.ru/handbook/voor/btmv40.htm
Keep in mind that the numbers changed throughout 1940.

Out of general curiosity the annual sum or all orders of armor, tractors, vehicles and spare parts and repair was approximately 1 386 500 thousand rubles, which were distributed in the following way:
Production of tanks - 418 251 thousand
Production of armored cars - 48 009 thousand
Spare parts and aggregates for tanks and a/c - 126 090 thousand
Capital repair of tanks and aggregates, modernization of tanks - 117 711 thousand
Production of tractors - 325 772 thousand
Spare parts for tractors - 21 749 thousand
Capital repair of tractors - 26 195 thousand
Production of specialized wheeled vehicles - 172 855 thousand
Capital repair of wheeled vehicles - 94 718 thousand
Production of motorcycles and spare parts - 22 507 thousand
Capital repair of motorcycles - 1 823 thousand
Misc. - 10 800 thousand

So manufacture of tanks cost less 1/3 of the totals.

[Art]

Purchase cost of armor in 1940.

T-26 chemical - factory No.174. Leningrad - 102 500 rubles
T-26 line - factory No.174. Leningrad - 85 960 rubles
T-26 radio - factory No.174. Leningrad - 90 400 rubles
T-26 w/ antiaircraft mount - factory No.174. Leningrad - 90 900 rubles
BT-7 line - factory No.183, Kharkov - 161 400 rubles
BT-7 radio - factory No.183, Kharkov - 165 300 rubles
BT-7 w/ antiaircraft mount - factory No.183, Kharkov - 165 233 rubles
T-34 - factory No.183, Kharhkov - 400 000 rubles
T-34 - Stalingrad tractor factory - 400 000 rubles
T-40 line, factory No.37, Moscow - 160 500 rubles
KV - Kirov factory, Leningrad - 871 214 rubles
T-28 - Kirov factory, Leningrad - 364 875 rubles
BA-10 armored car, line - Izhora factory, Kolpino - 48 945 rubles
BA-10 armored car, radio - Izhora factory, Kolpino - 56 046 rubles
BA-20 armored car, radio - Vyksa factory - 19 500 rubles
BA-20 armored car, rail - Vyksa factory - 27 300 rubles
BA-10 armored car, rail - Vyksa factory - 60 160 rubles

Calculated from the report on execution of orders by the Red Army's Armor-Tank Directorate in 1940 (TsAMO f.38, op. 11355, d.13) downloadable at:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2mqwkmwz2 ... .djvu/file
Large changes in purchase price of new tanks (KV, T-34, T-40) are obvious from a comparison with the previous post.

From the same document actual army's purchases of armor and spare parts in 1940 amounted to 709 million rubles, incl.:
Tanks - 522 million
Armored cars - 58.7 million
Spare parts, instruments, accessories etc - 128.3 million

For comparison, total army's actual expenditures on armored and transport vehicles, tractors, spare parts, repair etc in 1940 were 2 171.5 million. All expenditures on weapons, vehicles, ammunition etc - 14 649.2 million rubles.
http://istmat.info/node/58618
So tanks made barely 1/30 of all purchases of materiel.

[Art]

Planned purchase price of armor in 1941:

KV-1 - Kirov factory, Leningrad - 523 000 rubles
KV-2 - Kirov factory, Leningrad - 558 000 rubles
KV-3 - Kirov factory, Leningrad - 740 000 rubles
KV-1 - Chelyabinsk tractor factory - 635 rubles
T-34, radio - factory No.183, Kharkov - 400 000 (changed for 274 500) rubles
T-34, line - factory No.183, Kharkov - 400 000 (changed for 269 500) rubles
T-34, radio - Stalingrad tractor factory - 400 000 (changed for 324 500) rubles
T-34, line - Stalingrad tractor factory - 400 000 (changed for 319 500) rubles
T-40, radio - factory No.37, Moscow - 135 000 (changed for 82 500?) rubles
T-40, line - factory No.37, Moscow - 135 000 (changed for 81 000?) rubles
T-50, radio - factory No.174, Leningrad - 298 000 rubles
T-50, line - factory No.174, Leningrad - 298 000 rubles
T-50, flame - factory No.174, Leningrad - 298 000 rubles
BA-10, radio - Izhora factory, Kolpino - 56 000 (changed for 51 100) rubles
BA-10, line - Izhora factory, Kolpino - 51 500 (changed for 46 500) rubles
BA-20, radio- Vyksa factory - 20 390 rubles
BA-20, line - Vyksa factory - 16 590 rubles
BA-20, rail - Vyksa factory - 28 590 (changed for 23 500) rubles

From the plan of military orders by the Red Army's Armor-Tank Directorate in 1941, downloadable at:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/jgnjmhtkv ... .djvu/file
Total planned orders were 2 497 791 thousand rubles, including:
Production of tanks - 2 139 006 thousand
Production of armored cars and armored rail cars - 73 636 thousand
Production of spare parts - 275 149 thousand
Package etc - 10 000 thousand

[AriX]

Cost of some soviet WW2 tanks in thousands of soviet rubles :

KV-1
1941 - 635
1942 - 295
1943 - 225

T-34
1941 - 269.5
1942 - 193
1943 - 135
1944 - 135

T-34-85
1943 - 164
1944 - 164

Figures from " Великая Отечественная война 1941–1945 годов: в 12 т. — М.: Куликово поле, 2015."

[Art]

I guess, prices of other weapons would provide an interesting comparison. Purchase prices in 1939-40:

Mosin rifle or carbine - 166 rubles
revolver or automatic pistol - 84-85 ---
SVT semi-automatic rifle - 600 ---
DP light machine gun - 1150 ---
Maxim machine gun on Sokolov carriage - 2635 ---
DShK anti-aircraft machine gun - 12,000-20,500 ---
50-mm mortar - 2,000 ---
82-mm mortar - 6,750 ---
120-mm mortar - 15,000 ---
45-mm anti-tank gun - 14,200 ---
37-mm automatic anti-aircraft gun mod.37 - 55,000 ---
76-mm regimental gun - 35,000 ---
76-mm divisional gun - 90,000 (F-22) or 80,000 (USV)
76-mm anti-aircraft gun mod.31 - 98,000-100,000 ---
85-mm anti-aircraft gun mod.38 - 105,000 ---
122-mm howitzer mod.38 (M-30) - 82,500 ---
122-mm gun mod.37 (A-19) - 200,500
152-mm howitzer mod.38 (M-10) - 120,000 ---
152-mm howitzer-gun mod.37 (ML-20) - 219,000 ---
203-mm howitzer (B-4) - 510,000- 610,000 ---
DB-3F bomber - 755,000-1,210,000 ---
SB bomber - 395,000-600,000
I-16 fighter - 177,000-214,000 ---
I-153 fighter - 217,000 ---
DC-3 transport airplane - 1,660,000
U-2 training airplane - 28,500 ---
regiment-level radio (5-AK) - 4,400-4,700 ---
battalion-level radio (RB) - 3,000 ---
company-level radio (RRU/RRS) - 1,000-1,200
field telephone - 68-120 ---
telephone switchboard - 77 ---
sapper spade - 2 ---
anti-tank mine (body) - 10 ---

or in units of rifle price:
Mosin rifle - 1
pistol - 0.5
semi-automatic rifle - 3.6
light machine gun - 7
heavy machine gun - 16
anti-aircraft machine gun - 70-120
50-mm mortar - 12
82-mm mortar - 40
120-mm mortar - 90
light anti-tank gun - 86
light anti-aircraft gun (automatic) - 330
light infantry gun - 210
light field gun - 480-550
field howitzer - 500
heavy field howitzer - 730
heavy field gun - 1200-1300
high power howitzer - 3100-3700
T-26 tank, light - 550
BT tank, light - 1000
T-34 tank, medium - 1600-2400
KV tank, heavy - 3200-5300
heavy armored car - 300
light armored car - 100-120

[Art]

For comparison German prices on weapons, end of 1944:

Pistol - 32-34 Reichsmarks
Machine pistol, MP38 and 40 - 57-60 RM
Karbine 98K - 70 ---
Semi-automatic rifle mod. 41 and 43 - 150 ---
MG 34 machine gun - 312 ---
MG 42 machine gun - 250 ---
Pak 40 anti-tank gun, 75-mm - 12,000 ---
Pak 43/41 and 43 anti-tank gun, 88-mm - 21,000 ---
Panzerschreck rocket launcher, 88-mm - 900 ---
Gr.W. 34 8-cm mortar - 800 ---
Gr.W. 42 12-cm mortar - 1200 ---
I.G. 18 light infantry gun, 75-mm - 6700 ---
s.I.G. 33 heavy infantry gun, 150-mm - 20,450 ---
2-cm Flak 30 and 38 anti-aircraft guns (automatic) - 6,500 ---
2-cm anti-aircraft gun, quad - 20,000
3.7-cm Flak 18/36/37 anti-aircraft gun (automatic) - 24,000 ---
15-cm Nb.W. 41 rocker launcher - 3,350 ---
21-cm Nb.W. 42 rocket launcher - 4,000 ---
light field howitzer, 10.5-cm - 16,400 ---
heavy field howitzer, 15-cm - 40,400 ---
K.18 heavy field gun, 10.5-cm - 37,500 ---
Mörser 18 heavy howitzer, 21-cm - 107,000 ---
(From NARA T78 R726)

In terms if rifle cost
pistol - 0.45-0.5
machine pistol - 0.8-0.85
rifle - 1
semi-automatic rifle - 2.1
light machine gun - 3.6-4.5
75-mm AT gun - 170
88-mm AT gun - 300
AT rocket launcher - 13
81-mm mortar - 11.4
120-mm mortar - 17
light infantry gun - 96
heavy infantry gun - 290
20-mm AA gun - 93
20-mm AA gun, quad - 290
37-mm AA gun - 340
150-mm rocker launcher - 48
210-mm rocket launcher - 57
105-mm field howitzer - 230
150-mm field howitzer - 580
105-mm heavy gun - 540
210-mm heavy howitzer - 1530

Prices of light tanks (Pz-I. II) - ca. 40-50,000 RM or 600-700 rifle units
medium tank (Pz-III, IV, V) - ca. 100,000-120,000 RM or 1400-1700 rifle units
heavy tank (Tiger) - ca. 400,000 RM or 5700 rifle units
light armored cars - ca. 24,000 RM or 350 rifle units
heavy armored car - ca. 60,000 RM or 850 rifle units
armored personnel carrier - ca. 20-25,000 RM or 300-340 rifle units
from https://panzerworld.com/product-prices