On the twentieth of October, the exhibition "Interpolitex-2012" was held in Moscow. Almost four hundred companies from 23 countries of the world presented their products at this salon. Also, for the first time in the history of Interpolitech, a national pavilion was opened. French firms presented samples of their products there. For four days, the salon "Interpolitech-2012" was visited by 17, 5 thousand people; a third of this number were the heads and officials of commercial organizations, military and security structures of different countries. The total number of samples of weapons, equipment and technology presented at the exhibition exceeds several thousand. Consider one of the new products presented at Interpolitech.
In the pavilion with automotive equipment, an armored car "Highlander-K" was presented, created by NPO "Special Technics and Communication" together with the "Technics" enterprise. In addition to its novelty, this armored car is interesting for a number of applied technical solutions, first of all, for increased mine protection. As a matter of fact, on the exhibition plate with explanatory information "Highlander-K" was designated as "explosion-proof armored special vehicle." If you try to translate this definition into English, you will most likely get the abbreviation MRAP - Mine Resistant Ambush Protected ("Resistant to mines and protected from ambushes"). In recent years, all over the world, the main direction in the development of light armored vehicles has become the creation of armored vehicles capable of protecting their crew, passengers and cargo from improvised explosive devices, ambush attacks and other "elements" of modern local warfare. "Highlander-K" is a domestic version of such equipment.
The Gorets-K was based on the four-wheel all-wheel drive chassis of the KAMAZ-43501 vehicle. The main element of the chassis is a KAMAZ-740.31-240 diesel engine with a capacity of 240 horsepower and a working volume of 10, 85 liters. The chassis is equipped with wheels of size 14.75 / 80 R20 and an auto-inflation system. The suspension has leaf springs. With a curb weight of 11.6 tons, "Gorets-K" can accelerate on the highway to 90 kilometers per hour, while the payload does not exceed one ton. This discrepancy in weight parameters is caused by the need to ensure the proper level of protection: a considerable part of the payload of the chassis is "eaten up" by relatively heavy armor elements.
When creating the "Highlander-K" armored car, it was the level of protection that was given special importance. Moreover, this factor had a great influence on a number of design features of the car. For example, the original KAMAZ-43501 truck is made according to the cabover scheme. "Highlander-K", in turn, to reduce the likelihood of damage to the crew, made in a different way. The cockpit with the driver's workplace is significantly shifted back from the standard cab position on trucks of the Kama Automobile Plant. The engine itself is covered with an armored hood. As a result of using this arrangement, a mine explosion under the front wheel will damage the wheel itself, its suspension and possibly the engine. However, the blast wave and debris will only engage the cockpit tangentially.
The cabin itself has bulletproof protection corresponding to the 5th class of the GOST R50963-69 standard and withstands the hit of 7.62 mm non-armor-piercing bullets. Inside the cab there are three seats for the driver and passengers. The main payload is transported in the rear box. It can be eight people with equipment or one ton of cargo. The body is an armored capsule "Highlander", which has been used by law enforcement agencies for several years. The cargo-passenger unit is assembled from the same steel sheets as the cab. As a consequence, it provides level 5 protection. The entry of soldiers into the body and disembarkation from it is carried out through three doors in the side and rear walls. To monitor the environment, the crew and the troops have bulletproof glasses of various sizes. Closeable embrasures for firing personal weapons are mounted directly inside the glasses. The level of protection of bulletproof glasses was not named, but there is reason to believe that it meets the fifth or fourth class of the corresponding standard.
Due to the length of the vehicle, the armored body for the passengers had to be placed above the rear wheels. To ensure the safety of people when hitting a mine with the rear wheel, as follows from the available photographic materials, the lower part of the "Highlander" module has a special V-shaped profile. Thus, we can draw conclusions about the preferred placement of seats for soldiers: along the side walls of the body. So that the side volumes, "cut out" by the shape of the bottom, do not disappear, boxes for various cargo of the appropriate size are located in them. The lids of these boxes are clearly visible in the photographs. Also, the width of the passenger body is calculated in such a way that the wheels and their fenders are not directly under the body, but slightly to the side. Due to this, damage to one of the rear wheels will not lead to fatal consequences for people in the body. According to the official data of the developer, the entire complex of protection against mines allows the Gorets-K vehicle to ensure the survival of the crew and troops in the event of an explosion of up to two kilograms of TNT under the wheels or under the bottom.
NPO "Special Technics and Communication" and PP "Tekhnika" see certain prospects in their project. Moreover, on the basis of the same universal armored module, another project of an armored vehicle with mine protection has already been created. "Gorets-K2" is based on a three-axle truck of the "Ural" brand and carries exactly the same eight-seat armored module for soldiers or cargo. It is still too early to talk about any prospects for both armored vehicles: they, according to available data, are still being tested and have not yet been offered to potential customers. At the same time, the generally favorable reviews that the "Highlander" armored module received can have a positive effect on the further fate of both armored cars created on its basis.
