"Lynx". Operation Details
In November, in the 10 Special Operations Brigade (Molkino, Krasnodar Territory), two Lynx armored vehicles have been operating since November 2011. Impressions of this car from the brigade servicemen and mine personally see below.
Prehistory In the brigade it is known that in 2011, the cars were operated for about a month at the Chebarkul training ground (Chelyabinsk region), after which they were sent for storage at a warehouse of automotive vehicles in Fryazino. The warehouse at that time was in the process of being disbanded, and two of the eight vehicles transferred the 10 to the special brigade. It can be assumed that these are machines from the first batch, which was delivered to KAMAZ in the form of vehicle sets in April 2011.
The vehicles are assigned to a company of special weapons, but they are not regularly listed in it and, accordingly, are not taken into account in the combat schedule. The car is rarely used to travel by special orders of the command, in particular, this winter was involved in escorting columns of ammunition at the Prudboy training ground (Volgograd region). Every month operating reports are sent to the GABTU MO RF
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The main car run was obtained on the same “Prudboe”, where the car traveled almost exclusively along the tracks, while moving from Fryazino to Molkino and participating in the May 9 parade in Rostov-on-Don
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As such, a serious off-road performance check was not carried out, as far as I understood, there were only a few test drives. According to their results, the opinion about the car is bad:
- slowly accelerates, which is critical when evacuating special forces groups
- protectors are called unsuitable for off-road. Rubber soft, wear out quickly
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- when driving on dirt, the car is constantly in a rut, if it is deep, the car sits on the bottom. If you sit on the bottom, then trying to get out yourself is useless, because "Lynx" gets stuck even more and the automatic transmission can simply be disabled. They say that it is better to immediately cling to the winch and pull. There are no complaints about the work of the winch, reliable and durable, which distinguishes it from the one on the Tigr STS. The technical documentation indicates that “Lynx” can be towed “painlessly” for it for a distance of no more than 50 km at a speed not higher than 45 km / h.
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When they started talking about the dirt, the officer immediately remembered that the STS "Tiger", when landing on the bottom, could not get out into the dirt on its own and led historywhere the Tiger, which had been buried under the hood, had to be taken out, putting in a harness one after the other three similar machines, which the fellow with difficulty pulled out.
The “lynx” in the brigade was not tested in driving through the snow and in overcoming water obstacles fording, therefore, unfortunately, there will be no impressions of this.
Of the advantages of the chassis, a soft suspension is noted, which absorbs well all bumps and road irregularities.
After some time, the company is expected to re-equip the special armament of the brigade with the Tiger TSS on the Lynx, and then the machine will be fully exploited and a complete opinion can be made about it.
Driver training for the “Lynx” is carried out for two weeks on special courses in the Moscow region, where they teach driving a car with automatic transmission, show how to fix minor breakdowns, clarify towing rules, etc.
The officers believe that for a conscript, the car will be complicated.
Repairs should be made by representatives of the manufacturer, but so far there has been no serious damage.
Because of minor repairs, it was necessary to fasten, which were torn off due to the vibration of the battery terminal, during operation at the Prudboy. Officers associate it with the improper operation of the driver of the car.
At the recent shooting of the program "Landfill" TV reporters bent over one of the steps while driving off-road on a hillock
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Next will be a lot of photos from the outside and inside with explanations.
I really wanted to see how the crew was placed in the car, so the command allocated 5 soldiers for a photo shoot
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The driver's seat is the only one moving back and forth, the rest are rigidly fixed (in the photo it is approximately in the middle position)
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Place the paratrooper immediately behind the driver
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Commander's seat
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Place the paratrooper immediately behind the commander
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The height of the soldier sitting in the middle, two meters
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Now let's take a closer look at each place.
Driver's door (all the doors in the car are identical)
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Mirror adjustment
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Wide steps on the car, apparently, from those improvements that appeared on the "Lynx" on the basis of operating the first two cars in Russia. The fastener of the step itself was made completely unsuccessfully, in motion due to the vibration, the bolts unwind, as a result of which the steps during the route from Moscow had to be simply removed so as not to lose them along the road. Native, narrow steps that are included, much more convenient and reliable
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Driver's seat
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Lighting plafond
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I shot in the afternoon, so I could not check whether the brightness was enough
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Overview from the driver's seat is normal
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Let's go to the commanding place
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As already said, the commander and crew seats are fixed, they do not move back and forth, the back does not deflect. The officer, who had overtaken the car from Moscow, said that after 2.5-3 hours he had uncomfortable feelings from sitting in one position, he had to stop to warm up. This, of course, depends on individual physiology, but there is no place to sit differently in the car, a very dense arrangement prevents
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My height 181 cm, on the commander's seat, my knees in plastic did not rest in front, but it would not be possible to fall apart with comfort at all
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Five-point seat belts. Quick release lock is very convenient, allows you to get rid of the belts very quickly
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Specially made a video where the soldiers, being fully fastened with seat belts, try to leave the car as soon as possible. All the soldiers are drivers, for the first time they tried to get out of the car for speed just before shooting. Everything took about 6 seconds (the command was submitted to 0: 03)
Seats paratroopers. The legs have nowhere to stretch
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The air conditioner in the car is very good, there are no complaints to work, it keeps cool coolly. But I heard two different opinions on the heater, one person said it was warm, the other that when driving from Moscow at a temperature of -15 -20 degrees in the car was uncomfortable. Of course, something may have been incorrectly adjusted, but a negative comment is present. At the same time, it is noted that the machine starts up regularly with -30
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In the cabin on the partition there is a power distribution unit in the cab with branching connectors (12 / 24 B) for connecting consumers
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However, the signalman was unable to connect any radio station to it. Either they forgot to localize the connectors, or the signalman is not Copenhagen
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The head restraints on all seats are removable, mounted on fasteks type locks
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Armchair with headrest removed
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Um, I don’t know how to call them correctly, but the covers on the chair and the support for body armor are also removable. In the center of the chair with the overlays removed. Without them, it will be comfortable to sit for small people.
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All seats behind rise, so the machine gunner will not have to mark time on his seat
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On each side of each seat are locks that keep the seat folded
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Seats folded on two chairs. Together with the overlays, the outermost seat didn’t fold up (maybe, what I did wrong), so I had to remove them. The seat in the center of the machine gunner lifted along with the pad
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Special pallets, which should reduce the dynamic loads on the legs when the machine is undermined
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Machine-gun hatch
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Stand guy, fall on a fairly narrow platformochka middle, spinning will be clearly uncomfortable
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View from the roof of the car (by the way, the roof covering prevents slipping)
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The swivel for the machine gun is missing (either they forgot to put it on when transferring the car to the brigade, or the turret was made without it, which is strange at all)
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This is how armored casings are attached. In the middle of the circle - lock the rotation of the shoulder strap
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The hatch in the open position is fixed after the delay of the flag
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Conclusion air inlet on the roof
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Bracket for multi-element antenna
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We turn to the cargo hold in the stern of the machine. It can be opened from three sides, but from behind it is possible only when removing the spare wheel. The wheel can only be lowered manually, there are no devices for lowering
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Cargo door on the left side of the machine
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Inside view
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The canister comes in the kit, but the photo seems to be not native
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Spare parts for towing, which is also stored in the cargo hold
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In the compartment fits all the ammunition and raid backpacks paratroopers, but there is no room for ammunition. In the salon from ammunition you can take only what will be in the unloading vest directly on the fighter. Boxes with cartridges put just nowhere. It’s only if you shove it in packs in door niches, but there’s not much to fit
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Stands under weapon not in the car, it is necessary to hold it in hand, with a machine gun or a grenade launcher it is already very difficult to turn around. About taking AGS or large-caliber rifle is not even a question. It is extremely interesting what the way out of this situation was found by the military personnel of the countries where Iveco is operating.
According to the technical documentation, the hood is opened by two people who, having opened the latches, lift it on both sides. You can do it alone, in the front, but it requires a lot of effort, although the hood is plastic, but rather weighty
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View from the roof of the car
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Let's walk around, see various trifles that are not included in the main story.
The same snow protection installed on the “Lynx” following the results of the first trial tests in Russia
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Bottom view from behind
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Bottom view front
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Bottom double
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Wheelbase front
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Wheel well with rear exhaust pipe
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The pipe is brought up in case of overcoming the water barrier ford
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The gap between the armored capsule and the cargo compartment
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The fuel cap is located at the stern of the vehicle.
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Mudguard rear
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Lubrication of door hinges is quite simple.
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Door lock deep recessed inside
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Side mirror
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Marking on bulletproof glass
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During operation, damaged the front and cracked the plastic hood
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He asked about the need for loopholes on "Lynx". They said that loopholes would be useful when riding in a convoy, when the shelling starts, but they don’t see any vital need for them. They will do it - well, they will not do it - and all right.
I will sum up. The brigade received, as an experiment, two armored vehicles "Lynx", which are rarely used. Outside the roads they are practically not used. The main impressions of the operation will appear after the cars become regular units. This does not mean that the car was not tested at all (she does something in special forces in Solnechnogorsk from 2011 onwards, and they also drove her to Chebarkul for some reason), but in 10 the special forces brigade did not work with her .
The general opinion about the officers' cars is very mediocre, primarily because of the driving characteristics. Everyone wants to remove the automatic transmission. In second place on the wishes - an increase in the volume of transported payload. On the third - more space for the convenience of the crew and paratroopers. The pros note mine protection, soft driving on the highway, air conditioning.
The officers believe that the car would be good for convoys, any kind of police operations, like a commander’s or co-ordinated car. Replacing the STS “Tiger” with “Lynx” in special forces is puzzling, since Let the "Tiger" has no mine protection, air conditioning, but it is better in terms of off-road qualities and has a greater internal volume of the cabin.
My impressions. I have long wanted to feel the car in person and hear the opinions of not biased journalists about him, but the military, who directly operate this car. Since off-road on the “Lynx” did not have to drive, the main impressions were the convenience of the car. Dense internal layout - a consequence of increased body armor - of course, depressing. If the machine is operated as the same commander, then no difficulties arise, a lot of ammunition and ammunition do not need to carry. But if it is used as the only vehicle of a department / group, then the issue of small useful volume becomes the key. Is that on the roof of some trunk fence.
It would be necessary for the Ministry of Defense to already disclose cards, for which this armored car is purchased (establishing cooperation with Western countries, buying up technologies or something else), and the public has too many questions.
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