In news feeds, with unkind constancy, there are reports of fires at arsenals, storage bases, and military equipment parks. Even if the next incident goes without casualties, then any activity for several kilometers around is paralyzed - firefighting equipment is not able to cope with the burning piles of ammunition. The usual tactic in such cases is to evacuate people and wait until the dangerous object burns down. The price of this impotence is not only the destroyed property, buildings and structures, but also the subsequent expensive work to find and neutralize the "gifts" that have sometimes been scattered around for kilometers.
It would seem that the solution to the problem lies on the surface - the military is on fire? Let the military equipment put out! Put a bigger tank on the tank - and go! According to this principle, a number of highly protected tracked fire engines were created: the Russian "Jay", the Ukrainian "GPM-54", the Czech "SPOT-55". Chinese designers did not stand aside and installed the tank on the "workhorse of the Chinese tanker" - the "Type-59" tank.
However, these machines for some reason do not solve the problems: they are not launched into mass production and, as a rule, they do not go beyond prototypes. What is the reason? The answer is simple - any half-measure solves only part of the problem. The powerful armor required by the tank turns out to be clearly redundant for the fire engine - the flying fragments have several orders of magnitude lower energy than the projectile fired from the cannon. You have to carry several tons of extra armor by car. The tank, installed on the hull with a minimum amount of alterations, turns out to be clearly insufficient for a car of this class - from four tons on a "Chinese" to fifteen tons on one of the modifications of a Czech car. In addition, the well-positioned tank significantly raises the center of gravity - working on slopes for such machines is fraught with significant risks. To access the engine, you have to start up additional tricks - for example, on the GPM-54, the rear tank for this purpose is raised by special hydraulic cylinders. The already Spartan jobs of tankers do not become more comfortable - the tank located at the top often leaks. There is no need to dream of any significant volumes for the placement of special equipment - in the booked volume of the hull, every cubic decimeter is already involved.
A way out of the seemingly deadlock situation was suggested by the designer of the Kharkov Armored Repair Plant (KHBTRZ). Without abandoning the time-tested, army-like reliable tank units, assemblies and systems, they proposed a vehicle that was not a rework of a tank, but created specifically as a fire engine.
The vehicle manufactured using the T-64 tank units has a modular design, which allows not only to produce a wide range of versions within the family, but also on a separate machine, if necessary, to install equipment for a specific task, for example, to dismantle the foam generator in order to to evacuate victims from the fire source.
The car is made according to the bonnet scheme - in addition to the convenience of access to the engine, this solution provides additional protection for the crew: in the event of a vehicle blowing up on an explosive object, the engine covers the crew. However, this security measure is not the only one - the armored body of the fire engine protects the crew and equipment, both from fragments of exploding ammunition, and from the thermal radiation of the fire.
The machine uses a 5TDF-A tank engine, if necessary, it is possible to additionally cool the radiators with water from the tank. A gearbox is used in the transmission, which halves the rpm on the driving wheels compared to the tank chassis, but increases the torque by the same amount. The car loses a little in speed, but it wins significantly in cross-country ability and the ability to transport heavy cargo.
The "highlight" of the car is the non-combustible chassis. An ordinary tank skating rink begins to burn already at two hundred and sixty degrees - this is the temperature of smoldering wood. In the "sixty-four" skating rink, the rubber mass is covered with metal, as a result of which, to damage it, it is required to heat it to a temperature of six hundred degrees for an hour. But even in this case, the rubber will not burn, but only decompose, gradually losing its properties. And with the running gear irrigation system turned on (such a solution is also provided on the machine), the dangerous temperature rises to seven hundred degrees. Another advantage of this design of the roller is the protection of rubber from mechanical damage - on ordinary rollers, it is cut and pulled out when stones and metal objects hit the treadmill.
The "military origin" of the chassis determines its resistance to detonation, in the event of its collision with an explosive object. Openwork caterpillar - its track is not monolithic, but is assembled from component parts, moreover, equipped with holes, when detonated, it passes part of the gases formed during the explosion through itself, thereby reducing their destructive force. When detonated on a device of high power (from 5 kg of TNT equivalent), a low-mass road roller simply breaks off with a suspension block, while only a small part of the explosion energy is transferred to the body. In addition, the undercarriage design has the ability to self-clean when working in mud - a very useful ability for working in areas not spoiled by good roads.
Low located in the hull, the tank allows to take on board 26 tons of water - today it is a world record. Such a tank capacity is not an end in itself: a powerful water cannon "shoots" one hundred liters of water per second at a distance of up to one hundred meters. The machine is equipped with a dozer blade, which allows making passages in rubble, etc., to carry out wiring to the place of work of specialized equipment.
Separately, mention should be made of the developing remote control system for a fire engine. In the event of conditions with a high level of risk (high level of radiation, the possibility of an explosion of significant power, in conditions of powerful heat radiation, etc.), the machine is able to perform routine tasks without a crew on board. Control is carried out from a remote control point at a safe distance.
To date, only a mock-up model of the car has been manufactured, in Western terminology - a "concept car". This machine, during factory running tests, will allow you to check both the structure as a whole and evaluate the work of the main units. Based on the test results, a prototype fire engine will be manufactured at the end of the year.
In the longer term, it is planned to integrate various types of specialized systems on the chassis: installations for pulsed spray water supply, optical and television surveillance equipment, bolometers (heat radars), satellite navigation equipment, manipulators, installations for launching chemical absorption fire extinguishing grenades, etc.
When working with a customer (in this case, it is the Ministry of Defense), the relationship scheme adopted in the American military-industrial complex was applied: the manufacturer proactively develops a prototype machine, which it then presents to the customer. If the proposed prototype suits the customer, financing of the manufacturer is opened to prepare the machine for serial production. Such a scheme "spurs" the design of high-quality machines - if the customer remains dissatisfied with the proposed model, the manufacturer's costs are simply not compensated. This scheme is extremely beneficial for the state - budget money is not spent on the preliminary stages of development, the development of the vehicle takes place in a short time (in contrast, one can recall the story of the Indian tank "Arjun", which was designed for 34! Years). In addition, when several companies participate in the competition, it becomes possible to choose the best sample both in terms of technical and economic indicators, while dead-end areas are not funded.
The Ukrainian car is taking only the first steps so far, and I want to believe that these steps will not be the last, and people will remember for a long time with kind words both the car itself and its creators.
