It's no secret that sooner or later any equipment needs major repairs. Combat as well. For this purpose, there are specialized divisions and even separate enterprises. A special place among them is occupied by JSC "140th Repair Plant", which is under the jurisdiction of the State Military-Industrial Committee of the Republic of Belarus.
Today it is the only enterprise in Belarus where overhaul and deep modernization of almost the entire range of armored vehicles, engines, and other components and assemblies to it are carried out. It is here that they restore and improve combat vehicles, develop and manufacture fundamentally new competitive models of equipment that are in demand on the market.
At the Borisov enterprise, which is now headed by Colonel of the reserve Alexander Churyakov, a powerful modern production base has been created, equipped with unique technological and diagnostic equipment. Advanced technologies and the latest approaches have been introduced into production, which allows the labor collective not only to restore a wide range of samples of armored vehicles, which to a large extent have already exhausted their resource, but also to carry out their deep modernization.
What does it mean to overhaul a tank, infantry fighting vehicle or armored personnel carrier? Repair is a very difficult and time-consuming process. He can only handle highly qualified specialists who are in love with their work.
Before proceeding with the restoration of equipment, the factory workers apply their own time-tested technology: dismantling an almost "dead" car to a bolt, troubleshooting and repair of all components and assemblies, manufacturing new parts at the factory to replace worn-out ones. And only after that, starting almost from scratch, there is a reassembly and testing of fighting qualities. However, first things first …
I go to the workshop for dismantling and repairing housings, components and assemblies. It is from here that the restoration of out-of-date combat vehicles begins.
Immediately struck by the abundance of military equipment. Some cars without wheel arch liners and tracks, others without a turret and rollers - all of them did not have a combat appearance … But there is nothing to be surprised at. This is a typical picture for the initial stage of any technical repair.
- We have worked out the sequence of work for decades, - the head of the workshop Valentin Kuznetsov satisfies my curiosity. - After a combat vehicle arrives at the plant, which needs capital "treatment", all the units and assemblies are first removed from it, after a thorough washing they are sent to auxiliary areas for disassembly and repair. The very same body of the tank or BMP, "having taken a shower" (washing solution) under high pressure, are shot blasting in special chambers, thereby getting rid of paint and oil.
Further, in a separate technological area above the hull, covered with a primer, another team of repairmen begins to conjure. They have to straighten, cook, change, while checking the basic parameters of connections and fasteners. The majority of the "korpusniks" team are experienced craftsmen. So the repair of military equipment is a familiar thing for them and, as the repairmen themselves put it, simple.
In general, there is no such mechanism that cannot be restored by the golden hands of the craftsmen of the 140th repair plant. Everything is subject to them: they have mastered the repair of more than 70 types of diesel engines, artillery weapons, gearboxes … I'm not talking about the repair of heaters, oil and fuel pumps, and other smaller, but in their own way complex units. Among the repairmen today there are many professionals who have their own personal stigma. This means that they have earned the right to hand over products without presenting them to the Quality Control Department (technical control department), being 100 percent responsible for their quality.
One of the most complex and responsible workshops is assembly. It is here that, after painting the repaired hulls, the complete assembly of machines from the restored units and mechanisms takes place. A clear distribution of labor at the sites allows you to avoid unnecessary fuss, strengthen control over the quality and sequence of operations.
- When assembling, there should be no trifles, - said the head of this workshop Gennady Filanovich. - After all, even one mistake can cost the whole team dearly. To reduce to zero all errors, we recruit qualified specialists - not less than the fourth grade. Periodically, the detachment of repairmen of the workshop is replenished with young specialists, to whom we pass on their skills and experience …
The already assembled equipment is delivered to the workshop, which is headed by Oleg Volkov, to check the functioning of all systems, to undergo a stationary test using a long-established technology. And ahead - a test run and shooting from weapons at the range, washing and touch-up, delivery of finished vehicles to the customer.
Last year alone, the enterprise overhauled and modernized more than two hundred armored vehicles of various modifications. Most of them are export orders. Moreover, none of the combat vehicles, having found a second wind, did not return for revision. And this is the merit of the entire labor collective of the 140th repair plant. Here they know how to confirm the proud title of tank repairman with decent work and the quality of their products.
Restoring wartime equipment
And one more fact worthy of respect. It was at this enterprise, famous for the skill of the Borisov tank repairmen, that the restoration of wartime equipment for the parade of troops in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Great Victory was carried out. In a short time, the workshops underwent a major overhaul (to full running condition) of the T-34-85, IS-2, IS-3 tanks, the SU-100 self-propelled artillery unit.
It was a matter of honor to restore the combat vehicles of the front-line years for the staff of the enterprise, whose working biography began back in 1943. Having passed the roads of war, the repairmen of the then 7th mobile tank unit repair plant in difficult conditions returned to service more than six and a half thousand tanks and other types of armored vehicles, which took a direct part in the defeat of the Wehrmacht. By the way, the team of the military enterprise in the victorious 1945 was awarded the Order of the Red Star for selfless work.
It turned out to be by no means easy to give a second or even a third life to the equipment of the times of the Great Patriotic War. According to the deputy director of the production plant, Alexander Trandafilov, the difficulty of restoring rare combat vehicles was primarily in the absence of original spare parts and the necessary technical documentation.
After a thorough troubleshooting and troubleshooting, it was necessary to completely replace or restore the failed components and assemblies on each sample of military equipment. And also to develop a concept for the manufacture of individual mechanisms according to drawings found by the plant's technologists on the Internet. I also had to tinker a lot over the restoration of the chassis, adjusting the control drives, and bringing the engines to normal operating parameters. Some parts for the surviving components and assemblies were manufactured from scratch according to drawings and technical descriptions preserved in the plant's archives … But this routine work, as they say, was worth the candle: thanks to the joint efforts of designers, technologists and locksmiths, it was possible to restore the rare equipment in its "native", original execution. It is symbolic that the equipment of the times of the Great Patriotic War restored at the 140th repair plant flawlessly passed in the vanguard of the mechanized column - to the delight of war veterans and tens of thousands of guests of the capital.
Modernization is a promising and profitable business
It is gratifying that the Borisov repairmen are not only engaged in the restoration of armored vehicles, contributing to the strengthening of national security, but are also seriously mastering medium and deep modernization with a long-range scope - for export deliveries. A truly modern approach. Today, even the richest countries are in no hurry to destroy obsolete models of wheeled and tracked military equipment, trying to give them higher combat qualities and operational capabilities that fully meet the requirements of modern combat. One of such promising directions in his production activity he chose the 140th repair plant, having carefully studied the market and the needs of potential customers in the modernization of the combat vehicles they demanded.
- The whole point of modernization is that the newly created equipment not only has higher combat and operational characteristics, but also be in demand, - said the director of the plant Alexander Churyakov in the conversation. - Thinking about the prospects for the development of the enterprise, we undertake any work that corresponds to our profile, we fight for each customer. The buyer, like the markets, needs to be won - and above all by the high quality and competitiveness of its products.
Seriously tackling this promising topic, the plant workers started serial modernization of the T-72B "Vityaz" tanks. Their new production development is equipped with a modern fire control system with a multi-channel sight, an automatic target tracking, as well as a fundamentally new sighting and observation complex for the tank commander, which allows you to fire day and night from a cannon and a coaxial machine gun in the "Double" mode. The combat vehicle is equipped with a closed anti-aircraft machine gun installation - you can more effectively fight not only air, but also ground targets from the fighting compartment of the tank at a distance of up to 1,600 meters. The deep modernization of the combat vehicle made it possible to significantly improve the protection of the combat vehicle from anti-tank weapons and mines with magnetic fuses, as well as its camouflage, and many other combat and operational capabilities.
- With the introduction of a new technology for the modernization of the T-72 tank, its combat potential has grown by one and a half times. This will allow the combat vehicle to successfully perform tasks as intended for more than a dozen years, - Alexander Ivanovich Churyakov is convinced.
The same can be said about other types of Soviet-made armored vehicles, which still have a sufficient resource. To date, in the interests of the customer, the enterprise has successfully mastered, for example, overhaul and deep modernization of an armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicle to the level of the BRDM-2MB. The new development differs from the outdated model primarily by the change in the transmission. Instead of a gasoline engine, a diesel power unit from the Minsk Motor Plant is installed, as well as a five-speed synchronized gearbox with an overdrive. This made it possible not only to increase the engine power, increase the mobility and cross-country ability of the vehicle, but also to reduce fuel consumption and increase the cruising range. The combat characteristics of the vehicle were also significantly improved due to the installation of an automated remotely controlled observation and fire complex of domestic production.
The foreign customer was also very interested in the deeply modernized BTR-70MB1 at the enterprise - with the replacement of two gasoline engines with a diesel power unit, a five-speed gearbox, as well as other more advanced units and systems. Thanks to the constructive and creative approach of the factory workers to business today, the BTR-70 is in no way inferior to the BTR-80 in its design of the hull (the design of the side landing hatches has been changed), transmission and chassis, as well as in combat and operational capabilities.
The plant workers are also working successfully on the improvement of other types of military equipment. As the deputy director of the plant for production Alexander Trandafilov noted, today the enterprise has mastered the repair and pre-sale preparation of the SAU-2S7 "Pion", the modernization of the BTR-60 to the level of the BTR-60MB1, as well as automobile equipment (ZIL-131, GAZ-66), maintenance vehicles with the installation of a domestic diesel engine on them. There is no doubt that the samples of the modernized wheeled vehicles will not only receive a permanent residence permit in the Belarusian army, but will also be in demand on the foreign market. The plant's strategy and sound approach to business are quite justified: after all, it is much cheaper to create more advanced machines on the basis of outdated models than to buy new ones for fabulous money with equivalent combat qualities, moreover, they have not yet been tested in practice.
… And new product samples
Having made a serious step forward in the modernization of armored vehicles, the Borisov repairmen continue to work on the creation of fundamentally new product samples. After visiting the enterprise last year, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko set the factory workers a task: to create a modern mobile vehicle that would be in demand not only in our country, in the Belarusian army, but also abroad.
No sooner said than done. The development of a fundamentally new armored vehicle on wheels was taken up by a team of inventors under the leadership of the chief designer of the plant Olga Petrova. It took only four months from the inception of the idea to the creation of a working model - and the results are obvious. As conceived by the creators, the Cayman vehicle is intended to be used as a mobile armored vehicle (MBTS) for reconnaissance and sabotage operations, patrolling and escorting convoys, as well as for peacekeeping and police operations, and conducting actions in emergency situations.
For the base of the new development, the BRDM body was taken, which, by the way, was pretty much altered from the bottom to the roof with the installation of landing (side) doors. (Outwardly, only the nose part of the armored vehicle of the Soviet period, already familiar to many, remained recognizable.) A domestic diesel engine D-245 with an electronic fuel supply control system and a five-stage reinforced manual transmission were installed in the engine compartment of the product. The designers borrowed the independent torsion bar suspension, axles, wheel reducers from the BTR-60.
An armored vehicle, the total mass of which is no more than seven tons (with six crew members and weapons), develops a speed of 110 kilometers per hour on the highway. The power reserve is up to 1,000 kilometers … By the way, MBTS "Cayman" (Caiman, which is translated from Spanish as an alligator, crocodile) is able to easily overcome water obstacles afloat. For this, specialists from scratch have developed a fundamentally new engine with two propellers on the sides, driven by a power take-off. Instead of a tower on the roof of the car, a rotary shoulder strap is installed for the installation of the PKS and AGS or another combat module, depending on the performance of the tasks.
According to Leonid Moshkovsky, deputy director of the plant for commercial issues, the created machine, in terms of its tactical, technical and operational capabilities, will not only be in demand in the Belarusian army, but will also find its buyer abroad.
“Of those analogues that are on the market today, this product will become very competitive in all respects, including in terms of pricing,” stressed Leonid Valerievich. - Factory run tests have shown: in terms of performance characteristics, the Cayman is in no way inferior to the Russian Tiger. And our mobile vehicle is made practically on the basis of domestic components, which will significantly affect the cost of the car.
Having personally familiarized himself with the prototype of the new generation and its operational capabilities, the head of our military department, Lieutenant General Andrei Ravkov, gave the go-ahead for the passage of the army tests created by the armored vehicle on the basis of one of the military units.
Not stopping at what has been achieved, the plant workers are working today on new promising developments for potential customers. There is no surprise here: the Borisov repairmen are not busy with their ability to work and a creative approach to business. The main uniqueness of this domestic defense industry enterprise, I think, is precisely this.
