For armored forces, the greatest threat due to their wide distribution is posed by homemade land mines and high-explosive mines, which are installed at a shallow depth in the ground. In order to assess the scale of this threat in the United States of America, special studies were carried out, according to the results of which, in the production of high-explosive mines, 96 percent of the total volumes are landmines, the mass of which does not exceed 10 kilograms. About half of these mines have a mass of 6-8 kilograms. NATO has its own classification of high-explosive mines, which is based on the level of their danger to armored vehicles: the greater the mass of the mine in TNT equivalent, the higher the safety level of the vehicle should be. All NATO standards are set out in the STANAG 4569 program. The highest security level is Level 4, which corresponds to 10 kilograms of TNT. However, in practice, mines of much heavier weight are often used, so the maximum weight of a land mine, which is considered to be the most common, is 20 kilograms.
As you know, demand creates supply. It is this rule that has become the main one for the modern military equipment market. This is confirmed by the emergence and active development of tactical wheeled armored vehicles, which were gradually singled out into a separate group. The main features of such a technique are covered by the designation MRAP (machines with powerful mine and ballistic protection, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected).
Most vehicles of this type are equipped with high ground clearance and a V-shaped bottom. They can transport a large number of soldiers, providing circular bulletproof (in some versions, even large-caliber) booking. Such armored vehicles can be used for counterinsurgency operations, convoy escort, patrolling and reconnaissance. In addition, such vehicles can be part of light brigades.
The first armored vehicles of this type began to appear and were actively used in African states. Such an unusual design became necessary due to the constant threats of the presence of explosive devices on the transport routes. The most significant successes in this area were achieved by South African developers who created in the 80s, first of all for the domestic and then for the foreign market, the armored vehicle Casspir.
The solutions that were implemented in this machine, to one degree or another, were reflected in many later and more modern developments of technology of this class, the role of which in local conflicts gradually grew. The military conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq demanded further improvement of armored vehicles. The United States began mass production of MRAP-class armored vehicles. Gradually, they were joined by other states that had their own automotive and armored industries - Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, China, Turkey, Russia, India, Poland, Pakistan.
At the same time, for the most part, the approaches of developers to ensuring the protection of armored vehicles, which are used in areas with a high level of mine threats, are based on technical solutions that have been tested earlier. Thus, armored vehicles of this class have a large number of common characteristics: the minimum number of welds with a one-piece load-bearing body, a V-shaped or truncated V-shaped bottom of the hull, the maximum distance of the crew and passengers from the wheels, the maximum ground clearance, the location of the wheels on flush with the overall silhouette of the body, no air pockets.
Ukraine also did not stand aside from the creation of armored vehicles of the MRAP class. For the first time, the country demonstrated a new development at an exhibition in India, which took place in 2012. The project was named KrAZ-01-1-11 / SLDSL. This armored vehicle is the result of joint work of the Ukrainian company AvtoKRAZ and the Indian company Shri Lakshmi Defense Solutions LTD. The new vehicle is presented as a multipurpose armored vehicle.
KrAZ-01-1-11 / SLDSL can be used for operational transportation of troops and fire support, as well as as a carrier of military equipment and weapons. The car is developed on the basis of the KrAZ-5233VE four-wheel drive chassis with a 4x4 wheel arrangement and a right-hand drive, as well as a YaMZ-238DE2 engine with 330 horsepower.
This armored car can carry up to 12 military personnel. For the transportation of personnel, explosion-proof seats are located in the troop compartment. The vehicle is entered and exited through the double-leaf rear doors. In addition, the car is equipped with a Rigel MK1 - a turret with a rotation angle of 360 degrees. It provides a mount for light weapons, for example, a 7.62 mm PKMS machine gun, an NSVT machine gun of 12.7 mm caliber, an automatic grenade launcher AGU-40 or AGS-17. In addition, there is the possibility of installing Ukrainian-made anti-tank guided missiles or a combat module equipped with remote control. Small arms can be fired from the car. For this purpose, it has eight loopholes. To successfully complete the assigned tasks, KrAZ-01-1-11 / SLDSL is equipped with video surveillance systems with rear-view cameras and night vision cameras with a 360-degree rotation angle, as well as communication facilities.
Protection against mine threats and small arms is provided by a one-piece supporting structure, which is reinforced with armor steel, side walls and double doors, between which there is an explosion-proof material 2.5 centimeters thick, a floor structure that forms a wedge-shaped bottom due to three walls.
According to Ukrainian specialists, their Indian colleagues have booked some of the most important components of the vehicle - the cab, fuel tanks, power plant, battery, transport module and transmission elements. In addition, it is also known that for armoring the walls and floor of the car, explosion-proof materials were used, proposed by the company ARMET, founded in 1976. She, as you know, specializes in armoring cars with the latest in-house protection materials. In the KrAZ-01-1-11 / SLDSL armored car, the explosion-proof material Thika Mineplate was used, which, with a thickness of 1.2 centimeters, has a specific weight of only 19 kilograms per square meter. Thus, it is much lighter than 6-8mm armor.
According to the developers, this armored car, according to NATO standards, meets level 3A (in terms of protection of bulletproof glass, armor of the engine compartment and vertical walls), that is, it can withstand an armor-piercing 7, 62-mm bullet at a distance of about 30 meters at an oncoming speed of 930 meters per second. As for the anti-mine booking, then, according to the statements of the developers, the armored car surpasses level 2 by NATO standards (however, it is not specified how much). Thus, KrAZ-01-1-11 / SLDSL is able to withstand a mine explosion weighing 6 kilograms in TNT equivalent.
According to Indian sources, in the near future it is planned to create a model of an armored car that will have a lower level of mine protection, but at the same time will have a higher carrying capacity and have wheels in a reduced wheelbase to increase the vehicle's maneuverability. Thus, the car can be used to transport goods and transport personnel.
It must be said that this armored car was created for promotion to the Indian market, as well as to the countries of Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia, that is, those countries in which AvtoKRAZ products, in particular, 4x4 wheeled all-terrain vehicles or 6x6, used in military units or serve for the transport of civilian goods. Currently, there are several options for the KrAZ-01-1-11 / SLDSL armored vehicle: an armored personnel carrier, a command vehicle, an operational control vehicle, an observation point, an ambulance vehicle and an ammunition disposal vehicle.
The company hopes that the new development will be interesting for the Ukrainian armed forces as well.
