Minefields. A very simple and very effective means of protecting your positions from enemy attacks. Of course, they are not an absolute deterrent, but fighting them takes a lot of time and effort. The very first way to create passages in minefields appeared shortly after mines and consisted in manual detection and neutralization of enemy "surprises". Effective, but time consuming and risky. In addition, the training of a good engineer-sapper is not quick and difficult. An alternative to live sappers is metal mine trawls. But this type of anti-mine equipment will become widespread only in the days of widespread use of tanks. There were attempts to use artillery for demining, but this turned out to be even more difficult, even longer and impractical: it was necessary to lay the shells with great accuracy. And even then, with a high consumption of ammunition in the passage, there were still a couple of working mines.
The first step towards modern mine clearance systems was taken by the British in 1912. Then a certain Captain McClintock from the Bangalore garrison proposed a revolutionary (as it turns out later) means of fighting … no, not mines - with barbed wire. In those days, this defensive tool spoiled the armies no less blood than machine guns or other weapons. The essence of McClintock's proposal was to destroy the barbed wire with an explosion. For this, the five-meter tube was “charged” with 27 kilograms of pyroxylin. It was proposed to slip this ammunition under the obstacle and undermine it. Two or three explosions and the infantry can go through the formed "gate". For its elongated shape, the ammunition was nicknamed the "Bangalore torpedo". During the First World War, it was noticed that "Torpedoes" can be used not only one at a time, but also in a bundle - several pipes could be connected in several pieces, and for the convenience of moving around the battlefield, the front sections were installed on skis or wheels. Between the world wars, the idea arose of the simultaneous use of both tank trawls and "Bangalore torpedoes". The tank made a passage for itself with trawls and towed a bundle of pipes with explosives. Further, this "tail" was undermined, and the infantry could follow the tank. The first serial machine adapted for such work was the Churchill Snake, which dragged 16 five-meter pipes in succession.
Mine trawls
Following the tank
In the Soviet Union, they knew about the land "Torpedoes" and carried out the corresponding work. But before the war, there were more priority issues in the country, so the engineering troops received the first such means of demining only after the war. The first Soviet elongated ultrasonic charge was a two-meter tube with a diameter of 7 cm, into which 5.2 kilograms of TNT was placed. A little later, it became possible to assemble ultrasound in triangular sections of the UZ-3 (three charges each), which, in turn, could be combined into a structure up to one hundred meters in length. The method of using the UZ-3 sequence remained the same - a tank with a trawl pulled out demining charges, after which they were detonated. Due to the triangular shape of the UZ-3 section, a passage up to six meters wide was formed in the minefield.
UZ and UZ-3 proved to be an effective means of demining, but not without drawbacks. Demining itself took place literally in the blink of an eye. But the preparation could not be compared with his speed. In addition, the tank was a good target for the enemy, not to mention the fact that the armored vehicle can be used for more "combat" purposes. Then there was a proposal to make the demining charge self-propelled - a hundred-meter structure from the UZ-3 should be equipped with 45 solid-propellant jet engines. As planned, the engines lifted the entire structure and dragged it to the minefield. There, choosing a brake cable, the charge exploded. The design flight altitude was one meter. This version of the extended charge was named UZ-3R. The idea was good, but there were significant implementation problems. All 45 engines had to be started at the same time. Also, at the same time, they had to go to the maximum operating mode. The applied electrical circuit could not cope with the simultaneous launch. It should be noted that the spread in engine start times was small - a fraction of a second. But they were also enough for the unstable movement of the entire structure. The UR-3R began to wriggle, jump from side to side, but after a few seconds it still switched to horizontal flight. The flight wasn't easy either. Obstacles higher than 50-70 cm and a slope of the surface even at 4 ° were impassable for a charge. When it met an obstacle that was too high, the demining charge literally took off into the sky and showed the aerobatics program there. As a result, for such a bad temper and pyrotechnic shows, the UZ-3R received the nickname "Serpent Gorynych". Later, newer mine clearance systems will be called so.
Under its own power
In 1968, the UR-67 armored vehicle was adopted by the Soviet engineering troops. It was a chassis of an armored personnel carrier BTR-50PK with a launcher installed on it for extended charges. A crew of three took the car to the desired position, aimed and launched the UZ-67 charge. Unlike previous demining devices, it had not a rigid structure, but a soft one and consisted of two 83 meters long hoses filled with explosives. One UZ-67 contained 665 kg of TNT. A solid-propellant rocket (nevertheless, officially called the "DM-70 engine"), attached to the front end of the charge, is capable of delivering an explosive cord up to 300-350 meters from the vehicle. After the launch was carried out, the crew was supposed to turn back in order to align the cord, and detonate it with an electric igniter (the corresponding cable is located in the brake cable). 665 kilograms of TNT were made through a six-meter-wide passage up to 80 meters long. The detonation of an enemy mine during an explosion occurs due to the detonation of its fuse.
The main purpose of the UR-67 is anti-tank mines. Light anti-personnel mines either detonate or are thrown out of the passage by a blast wave, and mines with a double-click fuse after exposure to the UZ-67 can remain operational. The situation is similar with magnetic mines, although their fuse can be seriously damaged by the blast wave. As you can see, the UR-67 had enough problems, but the efficiency of creating the passage (2-3 minutes) and the ammunition carried from two charges did not leave the military indifferent. In 1972, the "Serpent Gorynych" received a new demining charge - UZP-72. It became longer (93 meters) and heavier, because it already contained 725 kilograms of PVV-7 explosive. The range of the UZP-72 shot reached 500 meters, and the maximum dimensions of the passage being made increased to 90x6 meters. As before, the UZP-72 was either crane or manually placed in the appropriate compartment of the car (it fits in a "snake"), from where, when launched, it was pulled out using a solid-propellant rocket descending from the guide.
In 1978, the UR-67 was replaced by the UR-77 "Meteorite" installation, which is now the main vehicle of this class in the Russian army. The principle of operation of the new installation remained the same, although it received new ammunition. UZP-77 is similar in its characteristics to UZP-72 and differs only in some technological aspects. The basis of the extended charge "77" are DKPR-4 detonating cables 10.3 meters long each, connected into a single cord with union nuts. The UR-77 is based on the lightly armored 2S1 chassis, taken from the Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer.
The roots of this chassis go back to the MT-LB tractor. The launch rail of the UR-77 exhaust missiles and the cord boxes, in contrast to the UR-67, received protection in the form of a tower cap. A very useful innovation, because in the armored ammunition boxes there are almost one and a half tons of explosives. Before launch, the armored hood, together with the launch rail, rises to the desired elevation angle. Further, all combat work is carried out literally by a couple of buttons: one is responsible for starting the solid-fuel engine, the second for detonating the charge, and the third for dropping the brake cable. After pressing the third button "Meteorite" is ready to make a new pass. It takes 30-40 minutes to recharge the installation. The explosive cord can be laid either with a ready-made block using a crane or manually. Chassis 2С1 is floating (speed up to 4 km / h). At the same time, it is argued that the UR-77 can launch an extended charge even from water. The tactical side of this case looks dubious, but there are film materials with such a start.
… and other "Serpents Gorynychi"
A little later, UR-77, in the early 80s, engineering units received a new portable installation UR-83P. Unlike the previous Gorynychas, it did not have any chassis. A relatively compact and mobile launcher, after disassembly, can be carried by the crew or transported on any vehicle or armored vehicle. The principle of operation of the machine tool is the same as that of its predecessors, but the smaller dimensions required the use of an elongated charge consisting of only one cord. Except for the assembly of the launch rail and other "related" issues, the procedure for firing a shot from the UR-83P is similar to the use of SPGs.
The first combat use of Soviet remote mine clearance systems took place during the Yom Kippur War in 73. These were the UR-67 installations delivered to Egypt. The next UR-77 demining vehicle managed to take part in almost all the wars in which the USSR and Russia participated, starting with the Afghan one. There is information that in some conflicts "Meteorite" was used not only for its intended purpose: several times in the conditions of small settlements, they played the role of artillery, laying charges on the streets belonging to the enemy. One can imagine what happened on the site of the houses after the cord was blown up.
There are similar systems in service with foreign countries, but, for example, the American AVLM (M58 MICLIC charges) based on the bridgelayer could not win the confidence of the fighters.
No matter how much the system was improved, its reliability did not reach acceptable values. As for the domestic UR-77, it is not planned to replace it yet. The fact is that the concept of the installation turned out to be well developed already at the UR-67 stage. The Egyptian experience of using this installation helped only to finally "polish" the design and methods of application. Thus, the UR-77 for more than thirty years of its existence is still not outdated and continues to be used by the domestic engineering troops.
