At present, the main chassis for various equipment of strategic missile forces, including mobile ground missile systems, is the products of the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant. The Belarusian enterprise produces vehicles for various purposes with wheel configurations from 4x4 to 16x16. Thanks to a wide range of products, MZKT, more than twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, continues to remain one of the main manufacturers of tractors and chassis for special equipment in the CIS. It is often noted that the automobile equipment of the Minsk plant has only one drawback: foreign origin. Therefore, the question of stopping the purchase of equipment in Belarus and setting up its own production of such machines is often raised.
RT-2PM "Topol" on the MAZ-7917 chassis. Photo by Mitya Aleshkovsky, "Lenta.ru"
Recently there were new messages on this topic. According to the Izvestia newspaper, by 2014 the Russian Ministry of Defense will completely abandon the import of wheeled vehicles in favor of domestic counterparts. This information was reported to the publication by an unnamed source in the command of the strategic missile forces. According to him, in the very near future our country will have several of its own wheeled vehicles of different classes. As for the agreements with the Belarusian company, all the existing contracts will be fulfilled in full, but new contracts will no longer be concluded. The source noted that the last machines supplied by Belarus will be used as part of the newly built mobile soil complexes "Yars". After 2014-15, respectively, all new missile systems will be based on completely domestic chassis.
The Izvestia source also pointed to the vehicles intended to become the successors of the Minsk tractors. For example, to accommodate the actual launchers will be used machines of the "Platform" family, which are currently being developed at the Kama Automobile Plant. Within the framework of this program, three heavy multipurpose vehicles are being created: 16x16 with a loading platform and a carrying capacity of 85 tons, 12x12 for 50 tons and a four-axle all-wheel drive tractor with the ability to tow a trailer weighing 90-160 tons. More than a year ago it became known that the Platform program will reach the stage of prototype testing in 2013. Taking into account further news on this topic, such a period looks quite real. According to Izvestia's source, tests of these tractors will begin this winter, and the launcher for RS-24 missiles will be mounted on an eight-axle platform by next 2014.
In favor of the transition to new chassis, a source in the Strategic Missile Forces Main Command gives their characteristics. Thus, the 16-wheeled version of the Platform has a slightly higher carrying capacity (85 tons versus 80) than that of the MZKT-79221, which is the base for the Topol-M launcher. Also, the promising "Platform" has better cross-country characteristics: the design speed is higher on rough terrain, and this machine is also able to overcome a slightly larger ford (1.5 meters versus 1, 1). Thus, the massive transfer of the Strategic Missile Forces equipment to domestic chassis will not entail any losses in terms of the running and lifting qualities of the base vehicles. As for communication vehicles, ensuring combat alert, etc., they can be mounted on the existing wheeled chassis of the Kama or Bryansk automobile plants. Thus, mobile missile systems can be made completely independent of foreign vehicles.
As if diluting the optimism of a source in the command of the Strategic Missile Forces, Izvestia quoted a certain serviceman directly related to the operation of wheeled vehicles. According to this representative of the technical service, the prospects for the development of KAMAZ can be spoiled by the lack of relevant experience at this enterprise. At the same time, a number of technical innovations are quite capable of turning the Platform into a truly convenient and usable chassis. First of all, an unnamed technician noted the electric transmission system. This means that the chassis diesel engine drives an electric generator, the current from which is distributed among sixteen electric motors connected to the wheels. Due to this, damage to one or another wheel and / or engine does not lead to a complete loss of mobility, and also simplifies the design of the transmission, which becomes less susceptible to external factors. However, this complexity, combined with a lack of experience in building heavy wheeled vehicles, can ultimately lead to unpleasant consequences.
In general, Izvestia's messages do not look unexpected against the background of previously published information. The disputes around the wheeled chassis for the Strategic Missile Forces have been going on for several years now, and the current news just complements the picture. Nevertheless, in the information published now there are some points that attract attention and do not allow us to fully trust it. Take, for example, the data on the absence of any purchases after 2014. It is unlikely that KAMAZ will have time to build, test, refine and set up serial production of eight-axle "Platforms" in just one and a half or two years. Due to the lack of such experience at the enterprise, the timing of the start of serial production may well shift into the future. In addition, the current state of the production facilities of the Kamsky Automobile Plant makes it possible to doubt the possibility of a quick production of a new model of a heavy tractor, and even more so its mass production. So, most likely, after the aforementioned 2014, purchases of MZKT chassis will continue, albeit on a smaller scale. The following scenario looks most realistic: some of the equipment for the Strategic Missile Forces will be produced at domestic enterprises, and some will be purchased from Belarus. At the same time, a gradual decrease in the number of purchased chassis is possible due to an increase in the rate of its own production.
A separate issue is the structural nuances of the "Platform" project. According to some sources, some time ago, the designers of the Kama Automobile Plant decided to abandon the too bold idea of an electric transmission. However, there is no official information on this matter. It is quite possible that at present the employees of the KAMAZ plant are finishing the fine-tuning of such an original power plant and are already ready to start assembling a prototype of a promising heavy vehicle. It is worth noting that in our country, not so long ago, attempts were made to make a wheeled tractor with an electric transmission. Several years ago, the Bryansk Automobile Plant, within the framework of the Polupar-1 program, presented a prototype of the BAZ-M6910E car, equipped with a combined power plant with a generator and traction electric motors. After several demonstrations at various events, this car disappeared from sight and was no longer shown to the public. There is information about the continuation of work on the project on an initiative basis, without funding from the Ministry of Defense. Long before the Bryansk designers, a similar system was developed at the Minsk Automobile Plant. In the mid-eighties, two heavy 24-wheeled MAZ-7907 tractors with a carrying capacity of up to 150 tons were assembled in Minsk. The vehicles were intended for use in the Celina-2 mobile missile system with the RT-23UTTKh Molodets missile. Soon after the start of testing two prototypes MAZ-7907, the project was canceled.
Judging by the available data, the Polupar-1 project did not give the expected results, as a result of which the military department abandoned it. The current "Platform", apparently, is a kind of last hope of the military for a heavy machine of domestic production. In addition, the BAZ-M6910E vehicle was four-axle, and for use in the Topol-M or Yars complexes, more serious chassis are required. Perhaps the Bryansk engineers had some problems with the development of an eight-axle heavy chassis with an electric transmission. Whether the designers of KAMAZ have managed to cope with all the problems of such a scheme is not yet entirely clear. At the same time, we regularly receive news regarding the continuation of work on the "Platform". Obviously, the Ministry of Defense and the Kama plant are determined to bring the project to mass production.
In general, the information provided by Izvestia looks quite plausible, with the exception of some nuances associated with the timing of the transition to domestic chassis and a comparison of the actual characteristics of the MZKT machines and the calculated data of the Platform. Nevertheless, the general message of the news - the gradual implementation of long-standing plans to abandon foreign wheeled chassis - is quite understandable and even expected. Talk about the need for such a refusal has been going on for a long time, but earlier our country simply did not have the opportunity to engage in the design of new heavy machines and their further production.
The transition to "Platforms" also has another interesting side. Deliveries of MZKT tractors make up the bulk of Russian-Belarusian military-technical cooperation, so official Minsk is unlikely to be happy about the absence of new contracts for such vehicles. Thus, Russia can get an additional lever of pressure on the not always accommodating administration of President A. Lukashenko. Moreover, the unsuccessful completion of the domestic program due to the "fallback option" in the form of the imported MZKT-79221 chassis will not be painful for the Strategic Missile Forces. Also, at the level of assumptions, one can consider another political consequence of the "Platform": if this project is closed for technical or financial reasons, Moscow will be able to declare this closure as a friendly step to strengthen international relations.
And yet, perhaps it is too early to make predictions about the prospects for the new Platform chassis. Design work should now come to an end, and prototype tests will begin, at best, not earlier than February-March next year. Thus, a ready-made prototype of a mobile launcher equipped with a full range of target equipment will only be assembled next fall or even later. Given such terms, one should not expect a quick and complete abandonment of Minsk wheeled vehicles. As already mentioned, with the successful completion of the Platform program and the start of serial production of eight-axle tractors, the Russian Ministry of Defense will still have to continue purchasing imported equipment for some time to ensure the required rate of assembly of mobile launchers. In addition, the presence of two types of chassis at once will ultimately lead to difficulties with the maintenance of such a fleet of equipment. Nevertheless, judging by the existence of the corresponding program and a number of statements by the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, the Russian military understands all the risks and is ready to take them. Only the exact timing of the replacement of the base chassis is in question.
