A steam transporter travels across Africa, while an ultra-long modern tank can travel across the tundra
Steam road train for transporting British soldiers across Africa during the Boer War
Day-night-day-night - we're walking through Africa
Day-night-day-night - all in the same Africa.
(Dust-dust-dust-dust - from walking boots!)
There is no vacation in the war!
Rudyard Kipling "Dust". Translated by A. Onoshkovich-Yatsyn
Day-night-day-night - all in the same Africa.
(Dust-dust-dust-dust - from walking boots!)
There is no vacation in the war!
Rudyard Kipling "Dust". Translated by A. Onoshkovich-Yatsyn
Unusual armored vehicles. And it so happened that the Dutch physicist Denny Papen in the 1705th century invented the world's first steam engine. It was a cylinder with a piston, which was raised by the action of steam, and lowered under the pressure of the atmosphere. Then, in XNUMX, vacuum steam engines by the Englishmen Thomas Newkman and Tom Siveri appeared. The first machines were used to pump water from coal mines and were profitable because they were coal-fired and did not depend on the presence of a river.
Well, then they began to put steam engines on ships, a steam locomotive was invented, and even steam omnibuses and tractors appeared. The British used Boydel's steam tractors near Sevastopol during the Crimean War. Moreover, the wheels of this tractor were unusual: they were supplied with special wide plates that reduced their pressure on the ground. It was noted that the tractor could move at a speed of 4 miles per hour on a country road and tow a load of 60 to 70 tons.
Steam tractor "Fowler" B5, sheathed with armor
Later, the British used the experience of using such tractors during the Boer War of 1898-1902.
In Africa, they had to face a serious problem: they needed to deliver their soldiers inland. But to do it on foot, as R. Kipling wrote about it, was very long and troublesome. By horse-drawn transport, that is, by oxen and in carts? Also not an option, because such transports were vulnerable to the fire of the Boer riflemen.
So they decided to create steam trains, in which a steam tractor on high wheels with embossed lugs would tow four-wheeled carriages with soldiers, and the latter could carry a 127-mm field gun.
Both the tractor-steam locomotive and the carriages were covered with armor. The armor, 7,94 mm thick, stood on vertical surfaces, and 6,35 mm on horizontal ones. And, as it turned out, this turned out to be quite enough so that the bullets of the British Lee-Metford rifles and the German Mauser rifle did not penetrate it from a distance of 18 m.
But at such a distance to the carriages there was nothing to think about, since loopholes for shooting were arranged in their walls. As soon as the Boers tried to attack such trains, they stopped, and the arrows from the cars fired at them with rifles, and even the gunners fired at the attackers from the cannon. Here even the daredevil captain himself would not have found what to do against them.
Of course, it would be possible to dig a ditch across the path of such a train and disguise it. However, the horse-drills did not carry shovels with them. Thus, the losses in manpower were reduced many times, and the speed of delivery of soldiers also increased many times. Although the speed of this "armored train" itself was not high and ranged from 3 to 10 km / h. Naturally, there was no air conditioner in the cars, but the roof and end walls could open ...
External view of the conveyor car with embrasures for firing. As you can see, the armor plates on it were already installed at rational angles of inclination, so that the designers of subsequent years did not come up with anything revolutionary in putting them in this way!
Today, the military is increasingly talking about the need to create special vehicles for warfare in the northern tundra and in hot deserts and jungles, where the usual tanks and armored personnel carriers simply have nothing to do. And such special machines have already appeared today.
Interior view of a conveyor car with a field tool
As a rule, modern combat tundro-rovers are articulated vehicles consisting of two sections. They are connected movably and, due to their long length, have a very high permeability. Today, each such vehicle carries only one weapon system.
But can such a design be considered perfect and is it possible to make the all-terrain combat vehicle even more perfect?
It is known that during the First World War, a project of an articulated armored tank train appeared, which was proposed by engineer Boirot. Well, the one who invented the "breaking" war machine to crush the barbed wire barriers.
He proposed to connect three CA.1 tanks with two 75-mm cannons in the front and rear vehicles, and put a “car” in the middle of this “train”, where the engine and an electric generator would be located, which would generate current for the electric motors of all three vehicles. The cross-country ability of this "triple tank" and its firepower could have been completely unprecedented, but its price turned out to be too high. And since soldiers' lives at that time were cheap, the military did not want to improve cheap serial tanks.
Exterior of an African steam conveyor. Rice. A. Shepsa
Only in the 60s of the twentieth century, the American company "Letourneau" decided to create its own "snow train" of three articulated machines with a carrying capacity of 45 tons. Then her efforts resulted in the 450-ton TC-497 road train consisting of 12 self-propelled platforms on motor-wheels, driven by electric generators, which in turn turned four gas turbines with a capacity of more than 5 horsepower. In total, the road train moved on 000 wheels, each of which was as tall as a passenger car. Well, and his cross-country ability at the same time was simply amazing!
Multi-wheeled articulated conveyor company "Letourno" during tests on rough terrain
The calculation was based on the fact that after a nuclear war with the USSR, the railway communication on the territory of the United States will be completely paralyzed and then it is precisely such transporters that will replace trains and transport goods across the destroyed country.
The developers were able to create a control system for such a long machine, using an electronic system capable of turning all the wheels of its individual modules at strictly calculated angles. This allowed such a road train not only to bypass obstacles, wriggling "snake", but also to move in a circle, although it was almost 200 meters long.
Neither sand nor deep snow was an obstacle for the TC-497. And there, and there he could move with equal success. For the crew of only six, there was a galley, a toilet, a shower room with laundry, and even a separate lounge. But most importantly, the design of the road train consisted of modules, that is, as needed, new sections could be added to it.
Tests in the Arizona desert in 1962, this car passed successfully, but turned out to be too expensive and revolutionary. It seemed to the American military that heavy cargo helicopters would be more convenient. Moreover, the issue of confrontation in Africa was not so acute then. And the study of Antarctica did not go at the current pace, and in the Arctic it was also, in general, everything "quiet".
In a word - every time requires its own songs and ... just its own combat vehicles. And what was expensive and unprofitable at that time looks very attractive today!
By the way, two-section off-road vehicles were built in Sweden. And in our country, since the 60s, work on them did not stop, and a number of such machines were used in the national economy. But only two-section, no more!
Now let's imagine a hypothetical tracked combat vehicle on powerful motor-wheels that would be capable of replacing an entire subdivision of conventional tracked vehicles. Let's try to imagine how she might look?
Articulated anti-aircraft missile-gun complex "Pantsir-SA" in the Arctic version on Red Square
Here are its first and last modules - these are control posts, duplicating each other, so we got the most real Tyanitolkai. On each such six-wheeled vehicle, it is quite possible to install two turbine generators that supply electricity to all the other sections. On the roof there are air defense radars and ... installations with six-barreled rapid-fire cannons: after all, they must somehow protect themselves from enemy UAV cruise missiles ?!
Tor-M2DT - articulated installation also in arctic performance during the parade on Red Square
The next two sections are residential, they house the servants of the "snake". They are followed by two modules with turret guns of 152 mm caliber and the ability to fire rockets up to 70 km. Next to them are two sections with a stock of ammunition.
Two more very important sections are warehouses with a margin drones for various purposes, so that they could conduct all-round reconnaissance along the entire route of our road train, and, if necessary, would be able to perform the functions of a kamikaze and attack the enemy. Two modules are reserved for the premises for the soldiers of the "landing on motor-wheels", and next to them are canteens with a kitchen and refrigerators for stocking food, as well as a couple of desalination plants to provide the road train with fresh water.
In addition to conventional artillery, air defense missile systems and attack missile systems of the Smerch type are located on two platforms. And one more command post and a hangar for hovercraft to conduct reconnaissance in conditions when it will be impossible to use UAVs due to unfavorable weather conditions.
In total, we have 24 sections, of which 22 are doubles. Moreover, our super all-terrain transporter will be armed more than solidly:
- two long-range strike missile systems,
- two air defense missile systems,
- two artillery pieces,
- two rapid-fire short-range gun mounts,
- and it will also have two platforms with reconnaissance and combat drones.
And that's all, not counting the light personal weapons of the "road train" crew. In case of various troubles, he also has booking and KAZ systems, which are responsible for the destruction of incoming enemy ammunition. By the way, you can add the 25th platform to it, right in the middle - with a supply of motor-wheels, again, just in case. It's a fighting machine.
In general, this is the power of a fairly large battleship, that's just the transferred land!
Of course, all platforms maintain reliable communication with each other, and staff have the opportunity, despite the weather, to move from one section to another without any problems. It is necessary to provide for a place for an infirmary, and staff the crew with qualified medical personnel.
It is easy and simple to increase its firepower. For example, supply four more air defense installations or, say, four container launchers for operational-tactical missiles. Even a 3D printing machine, so that drones can be printed on board the road train as needed, can be placed on it!
And now let's dream a little and imagine how two such road trains in polar and sandy colors, and even with rotating radar antennas, leave for Red Square at one of the future military parades. And they both stretch, stretch and stretch ...
You can imagine what an impression this will make on the guests gathered in the stands, on the journalists, and ... on the military attachés of different countries. Moreover, the voice of the announcer, announcing that these machines are not up to any off-road and that they can fight and dominate the enemy both in the tundra and among the sand dunes in the hottest desert ...
And what, by the way, is the most important thing in this project today?
Yes, the fact that all the bricks from which this super-long and super-armed tank can be assembled are already in stock. It remains only to connect them all together.
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