Much belatedly: the Russian Army switches to wheels
Now KamAZ is thinking about hood technology. The photo shows KamAZ-4385. Photo – Yuri Pasholok
Wheels of progress
The military-technical forum “Army-2023” became a unique reflection of the events in Ukraine. The exhibits of last year's exhibition, by definition, could not meet the challenges of a special operation - the military-industrial complex had too little time to react. Among the many trends of the event, the serious shift of the defense industry towards wheeled platforms stands out. More precisely, the ideas and concepts existed for a long time, but, it seems, they should have remained in prototypes if not for the special operation. Now the chances of gradually replacing expensive and heavy tracked vehicles with wheeled vehicles have increased more than ever.
It is no coincidence that the main novelty of Army 2023 is the 152-mm Malva gun. I must admit, the car was late for the Russian Army for 20-25 years. The Swedish Archer has been in service since 2014, the French Caesar since 2003, not to mention the Czechoslovak Dana, which dates back to the 80s of the last century. In fairness, it is worth recalling the late Soviet 2S21 Msta-K, built on a four-axle chassis of a cabover KrAZ. Both the platform and the artillery installation did not appear in the troops. The collapse of the USSR put an end to the promising machine.
We were one of the first to discover all the delights of wheeled vehicles in South Africa. Three-axle 155-mm self-propelled gun G6 Rhino in the local army since 1988. At the moment, in addition to the main tank Olifant, the ground forces of the Republic of South Africa do not have tracked vehicles at all. It is no coincidence that the desire for wheeled vehicles can also be traced among the French, who traditionally consider Africa their zone of interest. The landscapes and conditions of Russia cannot be compared with the south of Africa, but the massive transition to wheeled travel is clearly visible.
Wheels instead of tracks mean mobility, relatively low cost, ease of maintenance, longer service life, low noise effect in motion and resistance to mine explosions. The last bonus, of course, applies only to four-axle vehicles.
A small asset of tracked vehicles has high maneuverability and load capacity. As the special operation showed, the last two factors are important only for main tanks - for all other equipment, tracks are rather superfluous. There are also layout advantages for tracked vehicles. All other things being equal, a vehicle with wheels turns out to be taller than a tracked one - this is due to the large diameter of the wheels and overall suspension.
A rather conditional advantage can be considered the greater resistance of the tracks to shelling. Centralized wheel inflation systems for multi-axle vehicles have long compensated for this advantage.
The special operation also made us remember the well-deserved “Shishiga.” In the photo - GAZ-66 MB. Photo – Yuri Pasholok.
Now about the tactical disadvantages of tracked vehicles in modern applications.
If you look at the map of the front, it is obvious that the configuration of the line of combat contact is unfavorable for the Russian Army. Transferring reserves to the Russians along the eastern part of the arc will a priori take longer than along its western part, controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Or it’s quite simple - our military has to look for a tank carrier to transport 152-mm self-propelled guns, while the nationalists have NATO wheeled self-propelled guns. Not all of them, of course, and there are only a few of them, but the very fact of their presence makes you think.
This also adds to the low resource of the tracks. In the same stories and the ability to quickly leave combat positions. It’s much easier to do this with wheels. With developed counter-battery warfare, this is now true for all equipment armed with something more powerful than a 14,5 mm machine gun.
Therefore, wheeled chassis are “our everything” for the army. There is no point in descending to the level of South African ground forces, but a new balance must definitely be found.
Wheels for the front
At Army 2023, probably for the first time in many years, it was understood that a cabover arrangement is contraindicated for a truck at the front. First of all, in terms of maintenance and mine resistance.
The new KAMAZ family under the designations 5385P3/4385 and the AMN-BPN 4X4 armored car look symbolic in this regard. For a long time, the main supplier of so-called tactical trucks for the army was the Miass Ural, but, obviously, the plant’s capacity cannot meet the needs. They didn’t allow it before the special operation, and they still don’t allow it now.
Different version of bonnet KamAZ trucks. Photo - Yuri Pasholok.
Cabover KamAZ trucks, in theory, were supposed to work away from the notorious line of combat contact. It looks like the cars from Naberezhnye Chelny intend to compensate for the shortage of Urals.
The fact that the plant in Miass is now not interested in new products (to fulfill the state order) is evidenced by the lack of premieres at Army 2023 and permanent personnel problems on the assembly line. To solve the latter problem, prisoners from nearby colony settlements have been repeatedly brought in.
KamAZ, on the contrary, was full of new products at the exhibition, including variants of traditional cabover vehicles. Only now it has been decided to completely book the cabins and protect them with a net from drones and cumulative ammunition. The range includes mounted armor kits, as well as all-welded structures.
A year and a half of special operations had to pass before manufacturers and customers decided to book military trucks. In some variants it turns out unsightly and little better than what fighters in the northwestern military zone build with their own hands. Moreover, KamAZ is not the best suited for installing armor protection - the age of the cab speaks volumes.
No less long-awaited than the heavy Malva and armored KamAZ trucks are a couple: the 120-mm Phlox self-propelled gun on the Ural chassis and the 82-mm Gorse mortar, which was fitted on the KamAZ-4386.
The Spartak armored cars also became famous, one of which carries the S-60 automatic cannon. In all cases, industrialists are implementing designs that were invented several decades ago. It’s difficult to even calculate how old the “guntruck” concept with an armored cabin is. Now there is AMN-590911 “Spartak”.
Self-propelled mortar "Drok". Photo – Vitaly Kuzmin.
In the variety of wheeled vehicles, which certainly pleases, there is reason for bewilderment. Where is the unification?
The golden days of the Soviet Army, which had a clear line of vehicles, have apparently been forgotten by army planners. The security forces came to the special operation with a wide range of models on staff. This is especially true for domestic MRAPs.
The number of vehicles similar in purpose, but with an almost complete absence of interchangeable components, dazzles the eye: “Patrol”, “Typhoon-K”, “Spartak”, “Typhoon 4x4”, Z-STS, “Federal”.
A few questions.
Was it so important to create a big brother for the Tiger?
We are talking about the two-axle “Typhoon-VDV” and “Typhoon 4x4”. The last two cars turned out to be so expensive and complex that the forced modernization even forced them to change their name to “Titan”. Domestic engineers found another niche and wedged the nine-ton Athlete between the Tiger and Typhoon 4x4.
Such a dispersion of forces and resources looks especially surprising when KamAZ trucks armored with logs and pieces of armor are used in a special operation.
KamAZ cabs can be booked in different ways. Photo – Yuri Pasholok
Why, with such attention to heavy equipment, have they never found a replacement for obsolete UAZs?
The cars are proven and well-deserved, but are completely unsuitable for normal booking. There were a lot of “kids” at Army-2023 – “Sarmat”, “Strela”, and the Nizhny Novgorod “Shvabe” even brought an armored pickup truck. Everything is fine, but its base is not at all military from the Niva, which means it won’t last long with armor.
And we are not yet talking about the duplication of some vehicles on wheeled and tracked bases. For example, at Army-2023, carriers of Kornet ATGMs on the Typhoon 4x4 and Tiger platforms have been demonstrated for several years. Now the tracked BT-3F and Kornet-D1 have been added to the pair. The first is based on the BMP-3, the second is based on the BMD-4. Machines that are completely similar in the tasks they perform.
Why the army needs such a variety of, in general, identical vehicles remains a mystery. Photo – Yuri Pasholok and Vitaly Kuzmin.
It’s gratifying that at least they forgot for a while about the initially flawed idea of combat buggies - carts open to all winds. Losses from artillery fire in a special operation are primary, and “military convertibles” have no place here. However, this was clear even before February last year.
Where to grow next?
First of all, it’s worth taking a look at the airborne equipment. For tracked infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. In pursuit of the unrealistic goal, as it turned out, of creating an infantry fighting vehicle for the “winged guard,” engineers settled on a tracked vehicle. It turned out to be at least very expensive, troublesome in combat and maintenance.
A wheeled platform for promising BMDs can solve many problems. Unless, of course, the military leadership leaves in force the requirements for parachute landing.
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