Comparing: IS-3A vs. IS-6

In 1956–1957, the Military Armored Forces Academy developed a speculative design for a new loading system on the IS-3 and T-10 heavy tanks. The IS-3 variant featured a double-row ammo rack with an automatic loading system. The crew was reduced to three members: commander, gunner, and driver. The turret was redesigned in order to accommodate the loading mechanism. The vehicle existed only in blueprints.

Plans for this vehicle were drawn up in the construction bureau of the Chelyabinsk Kirov plant from December 1943 to the summer of 1944. Further development and the construction of the first prototype took place at the Uralmash plant. However, the vehicle had no advantages over the other heavy tank designs under consideration, and its armor was seen as inferior to the IS-4 (Object 701), so the IS-6 was not selected for production.