3d isu-152 soviet russian self-propelled model - ISU-152 Soviet Russian self-propelled gun tank WWII by De Espona

Development began in June 1943 in the Design Bureau of Experimental Factory No. 100 in Chelyabinsk. At that time it had became clear that the KV-1S heavy tank would be replaced by a new heavy tank design, the Iosef Stalin (IS). The combat performance of the SU-152 self-propelled gun, based on the KV-1S, prompted Soviet engineers to investigate the production of a mobile gun using the new tank as a base.

The design work was conducted under the supervision of Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin, the chief designer of Soviet heavy tanks. The main designer for the ISU-152 was G.N. Moskvin. During early design work, the project was designated IS-152. In October 1943 the first prototype, 'Object 241', was built. It successfully passed plant and state testing. The vehicle, now named ISU-152, started mass production at the Chelyabinsk Kirov Factory (Chelyabinskiy Kirovskiy Zavod, ChKZ) in November 1943. In the following month the ISU-152 completely replaced its predecessor the SU-152 on ChKZ production lines.