At the end of March, International Truck Alliance Rus (Intrall) and the Internet portal Cardesign.ru announced the start of the competition "Combat transport vehicle of the XXI century." The participants were required to develop and present the appearance of a promising armored car that could be operated by the troops in the near future (early twenties). Acceptance of works was completed at the end of April, and at the beginning of May the jury summed up the results of the competition. From 6 to 11 May, an exhibition of competitive works was held at the All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art (Moscow). In addition to the sketches and drawings presented by the contestants, several prototypes of promising armored vehicles developed by Intrall were shown at the exhibition.
The exhibition featured the Toros and Kolun armored vehicles for the first time, created by specialists from the Intrall company and the AMUR automobile plant (Novouralsk). According to available data, the shown prototypes of promising armored cars were built with extensive use of components and assemblies of existing equipment. The main "donors" of components were civilian vehicles of domestic design. It is likely that such an approach to the creation of armored vehicles in the future will be able to simplify and reduce the cost of their serial construction (of course, if the armored cars "Toros" and "Cleaver" find their buyers).
Since the first demonstration of the new armored cars took place within the framework of the exhibition of works submitted to the design competition, one cannot fail to note their interesting appearance. The authors of the project had to seriously work on the design of the armored hulls. According to available data, they proceeded from the requirement to simplify the design while maintaining its high characteristics. This is due to the characteristic shapes of the hulls formed by conjugated rectilinear armored panels. It should be noted that the Toros and Cleaver armored cars received an interesting and recognizable appearance. As for the real characteristics of such cases, it is too early to talk about them.
Armored car "Toros" is designed to transport soldiers with weapons and necessary cargo. The design of the car implies the use of several body options, depending on the wishes of the customer. In addition to the basic option for transporting soldiers, the customer can receive an ambulance or an armored car with a cargo platform in the rear of the hull. It is possible to build a cargo-passenger version with a shortened cabin and reduced space for cargo. Of the entire spectrum of possible modifications at the recent exhibition, only three were presented: basic, command and ambulance.
The total mass of the basic modification of the four-wheeled armored car "Toros" can reach 6, 8 tons. With this weight, the car has a length of more than 5.1 meters, a width of about 2.5 m and a height of 2.36 m. The armored car is equipped with a 136 hp turbocharged diesel engine that meets the requirements of the Euro-4 standard. The engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission. The wheels of the armored car have an independent torsion bar suspension. One of the authors of the project, designer A. Kuzmin, told the ITAR-TASS agency that to ensure high performance, the chassis of the vehicle uses some units borrowed from domestic armored personnel carriers.
Using such units, the armored car is capable of reaching speeds of up to 85 km / h on the highway. The estimated cruising range in such conditions reaches 1000 km. The machine is able to overcome water obstacles by swimming. The movement is carried out by rotating the wheels.
The promising Toros armored car can be protected in accordance with level 3 of the STANAG 4569 standard. This means that the frontal armor is 14 mm thick and the side armor is up to 12 mm thick to protect the crew and units from armor-piercing bullets of cartridge 7, 62x51 mm. In addition, the armor is capable of delaying fragments of a 155-mm artillery shell when it explodes at a distance of 80 meters. Mine protection of the vehicle is carried out according to level 2 of the NATO standard, and is capable of withstanding the explosion of 6 kg of TNT under the wheel. It is noted that at the maximum level of protection, the armored car loses its ability to float.
The Toros armored car has a fairly dense layout of the passenger cabin. In the basic version, designed to transport soldiers with weapons, it has ten seats. Two rows of three seats are located in the front and middle parts of the cab (including the driver's seat), four more seats are located in the rear. Thus, the new armored car can carry a squad of nine soldiers, not counting the driver. For embarkation and disembarkation on each side of the car there are two doors that open in different directions. For access to the four rear seats, a door is provided in the rear hull sheet.
The armored car "Cleaver" is large in comparison with the "Toros" and the corresponding characteristics. Like the second armored car of the Intrall company, the Cleaver is designed to perform transport functions. From the available information, it follows that on the basis of this armored car, a vehicle for the transport of personnel or an armored truck of heavy carrying capacity can be created. According to the calculations of the authors of the project, with its own curb weight of up to 9 tons, "Kolun" will be able to carry up to 4 tons of cargo. One of the most interesting features of the project was shown at a recent exhibition: one of the prototypes had a six-wheeled chassis, the other a four-wheeled one.
The AMUR plant has been building ZIL-131 trucks for several years, and the production of chassis for special equipment based on this vehicle continues to this day. It was this chassis that was chosen as the basis for the Cleaver armored car. After some modifications, the base chassis can be used for the construction of armored vehicles.
It is proposed to equip armored cars "Kolun" of both variants with a turbocharged diesel engine and an intercooler corresponding to the Euro-4 standard. Engine power - 136 HP The engine is linked to a five-speed manual transmission. The chassis of the armored car, which is a further development of the units of the ZIL-131 truck, is equipped with a dependent suspension based on longitudinal leaf springs with telescopic shock absorbers. The rear (rear) axles are driving. If necessary, it is possible to connect the front axle.
Since the Toros and Kolun armored cars were developed in parallel, it is proposed to equip them with the same armor protection. The declared level of protection of the armored truck "Kolun" corresponds to the level of protection of the "Toros". The vehicle can be protected from 7.62-mm armor-piercing rifle bullets and fragments of 155-mm shells at a distance of 80 m. In addition, mine protection against ammunition with a charge of up to 6 kg of TNT is declared.
As follows from the materials presented, the Cleaver armored car can be equipped with one of two types of armored hulls. The first of them is proposed to be carried out in the form of two separate blocks: one contains the engine and the driver's cabin, the second - the landing or cargo. The second option involves the use of a single armored hull. Regardless of the architecture of the hull, the armored car "Cleaver" is capable of transporting up to 16 people with weapons. Two seats are located next to the driver, the rest are in the large troop compartment. For boarding the car, there are two doors in the sides of the driver's cab and a large door in the rear of the hull.
At the exhibition at the All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art, five prototype vehicles were shown: three versions of the Toros (basic, command and ambulance) and two versions of the Cleaver (six-wheeled with a troop compartment and four-wheeled without). All five machines are simplified prototypes. They use the components of the power plant and chassis, which are planned to be installed on serial equipment. At the same time, the machines are equipped with non-armored steel bodies. Five machines are designed to test some technical solutions, as well as to demonstrate the project to potential buyers.
According to media reports, work on the projects of the Toros and Kolun armored cars started about a year ago. During this time, Intrall employees have developed a technical project, and the AMUR plant has built several prototype machines. The first tests have already been carried out at the test site in Nizhny Tagil. It is alleged that some foreign customers are interested in the projects. Who exactly - has not yet been announced. At the same time, it is noted that the Russian armed forces are considered as the main customer. The Russian Ministry of Defense, in turn, has not yet reacted in any way to new projects.
