Therefore, in early 1935, the tank went into production with a simpler design, incorporating the turret from the BT-5. As a result of this testing, it was felt that a machine-gun was unnecessary on a tank with a 3-man crew, especially as it made the assembly of the turret more complicated. The prototype underwent an extensive testing program in the summer and autumn of 1934. In the rear of the turret, there was a rotating drum-type magazine for 18 45 mm shells or a radio station. The specification also called for the project to allow for the installation of new guns without any significant change to the framework: the 76 mm KT-26 or PS-3 main gun (a short-barreled howitzer) and the 45 mm 20K model 1932/38, a long-barreled, high-velocity gun useful against tanks, but less effective than the 76 mm gun against infantry. The first prototypes of the BT-7 had a distinctive canted-ellipse shaped turret mounting both the main gun and a coaxial machine-gun. The BT-7's successor was the famous T-34 medium tank, introduced in 1940, which replaced all of the Soviet fast tanks, infantry tanks, and medium tanks then in service. The BT tanks were known by the nickname Betka from the acronym, or its diminutive, Betushka. It was lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for the time, and had much better mobility than other contemporary tank designs. The BT-7 was the last of the BT series of Soviet cavalry tanks that were produced in large numbers between 19.
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