Armour and armament
Armour         30 to 160 mm
Main armament         D25-T 122 mm gun
Secondary armament         3×DT, 1×DShK machine guns

Mobility
Power plant         12-cyl. diesel model V-2
600 hp (450kW)
Suspension         torsion bar
Road speed         37 km/h
Power/weight         13 hp/tonne
Range         240 km

In late 1944 the design was upgraded to the IS-3. This tank had improved armour layout, and a hemispherical cast turret (resembling an overturned 'soup bowl') which was to be the hallmark of post-war Soviet tanks. Its pointed prow earned it the nickname Shchuka (Pike) from its crews. Its front hull armour was thicker than the IS-2's (200 mm versus 120 mm), although it weighed slightly less and stood 30 cm lower. The IS-3 came too late to see action in World War II. Though some older sources claim that the tank saw action at the end of the war in Europe, there are no official reports to confirm this. It is now generally accepted that the tank saw no action against the Germans, although one regiment may have been deployed against the Japanese in Manchuria.

The IS-3 first appeared to western observers at the Allied Victory Parade in Berlin in September 1945. By most accounts these tanks overawed the western powers, who responded with heavy tank designs of their own in the 1950s. A Regiment of IS-3s may have been deployed in Manchuria in 1945.

(Low poly, Game Ready!)