Anticipation and disappointment: wheeled vehicles at Army 2021
Roadster for the military police. Source: vk.com (Turned at War)
"Crimea", which is now not "Crimea"
The Army Forum is undoubtedly an important event not only in the military sphere, but also in the life of the country in general. Every self-respecting militarist dreams of attending this colorful event.
However, the key role of the exhibition of military-technical achievements "Army" is gradually losing.
First, because the armed forces are completing a large-scale technical re-equipment program. And many companies in the near future will have to transfer their workshops to civilian products. To carry out, so to speak, diversification.
And, secondly, the "Army" is held every year, and manufacturers simply do not have time to prepare new items. Real new items, of course, not re-assembled armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles. In this regard, we can give examples of world air and auto inspections, which are organized every two years.
MIC "Strela". Photo: Vitaly Kuzmin
The last "Armies" definitely lacked show stoppers to attract the public's attention.
For example, tank biathlon. Initially, he gathered at the screens of the people no less than the traditional ski. And now? Not the most exciting competitions on colored tanks, which, in fact, have only one goal - to improve the combat skills of Russian tankers.
Why do we still not see "Armata" at the Alabino test site?
The tank, which has a high export potential and was presented to the public six years ago, has not yet been shown in action. Why not create a "sports" modification of the vehicle and transfer tankers from Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Vietnam, China and others? It would be a great advertisement for "Armata" and, finally, would revive the interest in tank biathlon.
And now how do you have to attract attention?
Ballerinas on MTO and twine on two trunks. The famous photojournalist Vitaly Kuzmin captured several of these moments of the current forum. If this is an attempt to shock, then, of course, it succeeded. As you know, there is no black PR in our country.
Performance in Alabino. Photo: Vitaly Kuzmin
Let's go back to wheeled vehicles.
And let's start with the symptomatic premiere of the Army 2021 sports roadster or coupe for the Military Automobile Inspectorate.
It has everything the army needs - rear-wheel drive, two seats, low ground clearance, a motor on the rear axle and a composite body. The circus continues in the technical description of the car, where the value of the ford to be overcome is indicated at 0,15 meters. The authors of the development indicate the specialists of the "Military-Industrial Company", but they, most likely, had a very distant relationship to the roadster.
In fact, they built a sports car at the Moscow State Technical University. NE Bauman, more precisely, students and postgraduates from the Interuniversity Youth Engineering and Technology Corporation. The first ready-made cars, assembled, to the credit of the designers, from domestic components, appeared in 2013. Since then, three prototypes have been built, one of which, apparently, was repainted in the livery of the VAI and presented to the audience of "Army-2021".
Sports car "Crimea" in the original version ... Source: drive2.ru
... and in the version for VAI. Source: vk.com (Turned at War)
The sports car initially did not have a rigid roof, but the project managers did not dare to present the device in an open version - they installed a plastic cap.
By the way, the car bears the name "Crimea", but on the forum it is just "Roadster / coupe". Were you ashamed to leave the original name for the event where foreign delegations are planned?
In any case, story with a roadster for VAI looks sad. None of the military will buy this device, in fact, just as they will not buy it on the civilian market. To reach self-sufficiency, "Crimea" needs a circulation of several thousand cars a year, and a piece production will result in a dizzying price. So it is, of course, for talented guys from MSTU to advertise a car in an absurd specification.
Piece goods
“Fulfilling the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation” - this is how they explain the appearance of the civilian SUV-pickup “Strela” in the “Military-Industrial Company”.
Indeed, quite recently, Vladimir Putin openly called on the military industry to move quickly to the peaceful market. The motivation is simple - the army, in the end, will be saturated with modern technology, and the flow of orders will dry up. The Military Industrial Company took everything literally and presented the 3,5-ton unarmored Strela. By the way, the developers have not yet fully decided who this technique is for: for the military or civilians. On the Drive2.ru website, the authors suggest either transporting oversized cargo, or installing a turret with a "Kord" on the roof, or an anti-tank "Cornet" in general.
A brutal "Arrow" of dual use. Source: drive2.ru
Interesting is the wording that before the development "a market analysis has been carried out, the possible production cost has been determined, taking into account the potential serial production."
Do we sell a lot of cars with a curb weight of 3,5 tons?
And if it is for sale, then who will force the buyer to take the "Strela", and not the overseas Toyota Sequoia or Chevrolet Suburban?
Given that the prices are likely to be similar. Of course, Strela will also have its customers, but they will never take even parts from a full-fledged series. And this is not idle speculation. An example with piece sales of the conversion "Tiger" to prove this.
This leads to the fact that the military-industrial companies misunderstand the essence of the diversification that Putin spoke about. Replacing the armor with rolled steel and light touch-up of the external appearance will not make yesterday's army vehicle successful in the market.
And again, a typical example - the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant is now kept afloat only due to government orders. That is why, if a Russian needs a relatively inexpensive, but real SUV, he must buy an archaic from the UAZ line.
Conversion is, first of all, the development of machines using units of military equipment, which will be accepted by the civilian market. And this really requires sophisticated marketing and considerable funds.
What's new we won't see?
Army 2021 really inspired hope in terms of wheeled vehicles. After all, it is the most common type of transport in the military and is rapidly becoming obsolete.
Experts highly expected News about the notorious "Platform-O" - about the only completely new project of domestic automotive technology. Didn't wait.
And there are many reasons.
Firstly, the development is openly stalled - the authors cannot get rid of the import dependence in any way, as well as bring to mind the most complex fully-controlled scheme with motor-wheels.
Secondly, Belarus has become closer and much weaker: Minsk has already introduced state regulation of prices for heavy equipment, and this is not at all a sign of economic health.
The question arises, why bother KamAZ with the "Platform-O", if the "brotherly" MZKT makes excellent analogs?
Previously, "Platform-O" was among the main novelties of the forums. Source: sibnarkomat.livejournal.com
It is quite likely that a fresh Belarusian MZKT-741501-010 will become a substitute for the tank-carrying part of the Platform-O vehicles. Parameters: engine TMZ 84632.10 V8 with a displacement of 17 240 cm3 develops 525 liters. sec., the gross weight of the road train is 93,5 tons, the maximum speed is 65 km / h. Source: autoreview.ru
Restrained optimism is caused by news about a decrease in the level of imported parts in domestic armored vehicles of the leading edge - for example, in Typhoon and Linza. The share of domestic components in such equipment reaches 70%, and they increase it as best they can. For example, they are finally installing Russian bulletproof wheels "Kama-NU-401". The chief designer of Remdiesel (a military clone of KamAZ) Igor Zarakhovich comments for the Military Industrial Courier publication:
“New wheels“ Kama-NU-401 ”are intended for all our cars, they are produced in Nizhnekamsk. Now they are in the process of state tests. After their completion, we will begin to equip our cars with such wheels. "
K-5350-K1 "Mustang-M". Photo: Vitaly Kuzmin
By the way, about Remdizel and KamAZ.
Like many years before, the automakers did not present anything new, but only rolled out the K-5350-K1 "Mustang-M" with an armored cab. Obviously, no adequate replacement for the well-deserved KamAZ of the 4310 series is expected.
By the way, as well as projects on platform robotization. They did not wait for the “Army-2021” running prototype of an autonomous truck based on KamAZ-5350. In Naberezhnye Chelny, by the way, above the wheeled robot have been working since 2015.
Maybe the global crisis in the semiconductor industry has affected?
Look, even in the civilian car industry they temporarily abandoned the mandatory installation of the Era-GLONASS kit. The reason is the chronic shortage of chips on the production line. I don't want to draw parallels, but in the US, Oshkosh Defense has been offering autonomous heavy trucks for the army for seven years now. How much this can potentially save lives is anyone's guess.
Ural-66. Source: voennoedelo.com
It is customary to end on a good note, so let's focus on the competition.
It turns out that it exists in the Russian military industry. The automobile plant from Miass presented the Ural-66 bonneted truck at the forum. The name speaks - the Urals are preparing a replacement for the legendary GAZ-66. The only thing is that the replacement has long been in the Russian army, and more than one. From the side of the Gorky Automobile Plant - these are "Sadko" and "Sadko-NEXT", and KamAZ has long been supplying the military with airborne 43501. But competition is still good.
Information