In early June, an exhibition of the latest developments in the field of military equipment was held in Bronnitsy on the basis of the Research and Testing Center of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. The greatest attention was attracted by the armored vehicles of the Typhoon family, presented in the amount of three copies - two bonneted "Ural" and a cabover "KamAZ". The new development is not inferior to foreign MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected, that is, vehicles protected from undermining and ambush attacks), and in some aspects even surpasses them. The car of this family was demonstrated to Dmitry Medvedev back in October last year at the KamAZ plant with all possible secrecy. Anatoly Serdyukov, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, said that cars of this type will be purchased in the coming years.
The creation of armored vehicles of the Typhoon family became a new stage in the development of Russian military vehicles. The last time a new automobile platform was put into service was back in 1961.
The USA, Germany, South Africa, Italy and Israel have long been using armored vehicles with mine explosion protection - vehicles of the type MRAP for the transport of human resources (America alone has produced more than 25 thousand such vehicles). Only Russia is still risking its people, transferring them with the help of ordinary vehicles that do not save from bullets, the explosion of mines and land mines. Typhoon is the first development, created from scratch, and not a modification of an armored truck. The future of Russian military automotive technology is behind such machines. The KazAZ and Ural factories are engaged in the project, the completion date is 2014. The development of the armored car is carried out in several directions - three wheel formulas (2x2, 4x4 and 6x6) and three modifications (bonnet, hoodless hull and bonnet frame). Such a concept "modules-platform-family" was considered earlier (project "Garage"), but before the "Typhoons" it was implemented only in the family of KamAZ "Mustang".
Typhoon is an armored vehicle based on the KamAZ-4310 chassis. It is assumed that the vehicle will be used to deliver personnel of military units to the site of the battles and participate in them. The total curb weight does not exceed 9.5 tons, the total weight is 17.5 tons. Fuel consumption per 100 km is 35 liters. The car can travel about 630 km without refueling. The maximum speed that the car is capable of reaching reaches 80 km / h. For "Typhoon" slopes with an angle of up to 23 º and fords up to 1, 75 m deep are not an obstacle (while the driver sits already waist-deep in water, and the car continues to move). The cost of this vehicle has not yet been disclosed.
All cars of the "Typhoon" family have hydropneumatic, independent suspensions, automatic transmission, engines of a new, revolutionary design, and on-board information systems. Installed special bullet-proof tires with pressure regulation, central electronic unit BUIS. The main find of the developers was frame-panel cabins, on which armor panels with one of two degrees of protection are attached with bolts. For the first time, these vehicles began to use integrated ceramic armor, mine protection, which includes special seats for the crew and troops (their design reliably fixes the person and absorbs the energy of the explosion), and special glazing. Previously, bulletproof glass with a thickness of up to 67 mm and a weight of 1 square meter served as maximum protection against bullets. m up to 158 kg, such glasses protected from the armor-piercing incendiary bullet of the SVD sniper rifle. "Typhoons" carry armored glass 130 mm thick, weighing 1 sq. m 300 kg, such glasses will withstand even a direct hit of an armor-piercing incendiary bullet from a large-caliber tank machine gun KPVT from a distance of 200 m.
"Typhoon" can easily stand comparison with the development of armored vehicles of the "Lynx" type, created by specialists of the Defense Vehicle department of the Italian firm Iveco.
Finally, the Russian military will have a reliable vehicle that can protect them from bullets and mine explosions.
Italian "Lynx" in the vastness of Russia
In December 2010, Russia agreed to purchase from Italy several armored Lynx jeeps (model Iveco LMV M65). The Minister of Defense then announced the need to create a joint venture for the production of these machines in Russia. In August 2010, Rostekhnologii negotiated the creation of this enterprise, as it was planned to use KamAZ as a platform for the production of jeeps. This year it was announced that assembly of the Ryssey was started in Naberezhnye Chelny. In the near future, it is planned to produce one and a half hundred cars. Although it is not entirely clear where they will be produced, since in December the general director of OJSC KamAZ, Sergey Kogogin, said that KamAZ would assemble only the first ten vehicles, and the site for the main assembly has not yet been determined.
What are the "Lynxes"? Iveco LMV M65 is an armored car with a 4x4 wheel arrangement, with a full tank of fuel it can travel up to 500 km, has a highway speed of up to 130 km / h, the total carrying capacity of the vehicle is 6.5 tons, of which 2.7 tons are payload. The Lynx can accommodate a crew of up to 4 people. The production cost of one armored car will be over 20 million rubles.
Experts have already identified a number of shortcomings. Among them are the unsatisfactory quality of the armor and the presence of unprotected places of the armored capsule. During the battle, the vehicle can seriously fail. The wounded driver can only be reached from outside, the crew will not be able to shoot from their personal weapons, since the windows cannot be opened, and special loopholes are not provided. Ammunition for the weapons installed on the vehicle and for the service weapons of the soldier is located on the roof and in the unprotected aft compartment, that is, it is almost impossible to reload the weapon in combat conditions. Seats for personnel are not well located - in the back row it is cramped, it is difficult to sit there for several hours with full equipment. Either one of the soldiers in the back row, or the commander of the crew can shoot from guns with remote control.
"Lynx" or "Tiger": who will win …
It is not entirely clear why the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation seized on this particular model, when there are already armored vehicles of better quality and with a high level of crew protection, including Russian-made ones. The cost of one "Tiger" will be only 5 million rubles, which is four times less than the cost of the "Lynx". The only thing that until recently did not make it possible to put the Tigers into service was the American Cummins diesel engine, since all military equipment should consist exclusively of domestically produced parts. Currently, an armored car with a Russian diesel engine is being tested.
At the same time, the "Lynx" device contains components of German, Norwegian and other foreign production. Technologies were acquired only from Italy. That is, it is impossible to establish the production of other components in Russia. How to fight in cars, spare parts for which can be bought only in NATO countries? The RF Ministry is in no hurry to give an unequivocal answer to this question.
