Weapons 11/12/19 “Redoubt”: how the Soviet Union created a bin on wheels
Today in Moscow on the territory of the Military engineering Academy named after VV Kuibyshev in the rain and sun for many years to rust, a unique development of the Soviet designers. This is a sample mobile fortification – a veritable bunker on wheels, at the time, and not adopted.
New requirements
the Cold war, gained momentum by the middle of the XX century, required not only progress in the development of offensive and defensive weapons, but developments in the field of fortification. The Soviet military needed a mobile, fortified sites, intended for placement of command posts. The main requirement to them – the ease and speed of relocation following the operational movement of troops. Work in this direction in the USSR took place from the mid 1950-ies.
the Result of searches of the Soviet designers was born in 1957, the concept of a protected machine on a truck chassis with active semitrailer. Beginning in the 1960-ies, Soviet engineers carried out tests to determine the strength and integrity of the cabs, the development of methods and mechanisms of Slovakian machines, as well as the fine-tuning of the systems of independent life support designed for a variety of media.
the Result was a special self-shielded flux machine (SPM) under the code “arrow” on the chassis ZIL-135L. Sample was born in 1965 in a single copy. Serial production of equipment was prevented by its high cost and the negative reaction of Marshal Andrei Grechko during a screening of the experimental sample. The idea of a secure machine with a single body had to forget for 10 years.
However, technological progress in the field weapons are not standing still. In the late 1970-ies the armies of many countries, including NATO, has acquired a new reconnaissance-strike complexes that allowed to apply visokotoing the bumps on various objects located on the ground. This caused the need to think about reliable protection of the mobile controls. The old ways of protection in the form of prefabricated reinforced concrete or steel structures, in these conditions, was ineffective.
Development has been charged directly to three organizations: the Central research Institute No15 them. D. M. Karbysheva, fortification Bureau and plant engineering troops No54. The work was headed by Colonel-General Sergey Aganov. The task was: creation of a protected vehicle based on a truck chassis with high maneuverability and lifting capacity, equipped with a single protective body and built-in recess.
the Preliminary results of work can be summed up in 1975, when the Ministry of defense was presented with a new concept of a protected vehicle for command and control points. Sample received the code name “Redoubt”, which corresponded to the meaning of the French word redoute – “detached strengthen the compactness of the form.” As a base for “redoubt” was taken the eight-wheel heavy truck MAZ-543 made by Minsk automobile plant.
Solid base
Eyes on the equipment of Belarusian automakers were drawn by chance. Production samples of MAZ-543 used basic military chassis capacity 19 – 22 tons, adapted for operation in conditions of high humidity and dust content in ambient temperatures from -40 to +50 C at altitudes up to 3000 meters above sea level.
other military vehicles MAZ-543 is different from the narrow closed side of the cabin, which became the trademark of all the cars of the second generation MAZ. The appearance of the cabins was a two-door and double sound and heat insulated module with a reverse slope windshield, equipped with ventilation, heating, intercom system and a spotlight-seeker on the roof.
In the manufacture of cheese, used polyester resin and fiberglass, which were quite highhell reliability. The stated strength has justified itself on all hundred. During a test drop test destroyed the stand on which was mounted a cabin, remained intact.
High degree of strength and reliability and distinguished design of the whole car. In addition, the MAZ-543 could boast of excellent dynamic qualities, high cross-country ability and maneuverability in the most difficult natural conditions, practicality and suitability for installation of various add-ons.
the MAZ-543 as all members of the family, was the size of a wheelbase of 7.7 meters in length and giant exceed 11 metres. High cross cars has provided eight single wide tyres with a strong tread that was put on full drive. Ground clearance 440 mm.
the motion of the machine is provided with a V-shaped 12-cylinder diesel engine Д12А-525А with a maximum capacity of 525 HP which was enough to disperse the car with a total weight of 39 tons to 60 km/h For every 100 km MAZ-543 spent about 80 liters of fuel. Minsk heavyweight didn’t notice Brody a depth of 1 meter, easily overcome the climbs with an angle of 30 degrees.
the difference
If the MAZ-543 has had no serious complaints, in conjunction with the “Redoubt” in the course of the first test, he received a number of comments. The first of them is the congestion of the base of the machine, also identified the lack of effective mechanisms for extraction from under stale or frozen ground, the technique also experienced problems with the check-out from under the dirt sprinkles. The prototype was modified to 1978, and the tests were encouraged by the military.
“the Redoubt” was established seven brackets with hydraulic jacks for vertical movement, and gruntsplatter: it was located on the roof and let in a short time to release the car under shelter. The duration of the process as instillation and extraction did not exceed half an hour.
By design engineers maxNY level of protection for the command post on wheels was provided at check-in technology in a pre-prepared pit. Then the machine finally “dug in” and turned into a full-fledged bunker. The composition of the material from which made the shell “redoubt” was never disclosed, however it is known that the prototypes were of duralumin alloy. Direct hit of a shell he would not stand for this and expected a thorough disguise. But the “Redoubt” was protected from small caliber weapons and shrapnel that could have hit the car on the March.
Many military leaders became interested in the “Redoubt” and supported the idea of mass production. However, the Soviet defense Minister Dmitry Ustinov was of a different opinion. Present at the display of new products and engineering equipment Marshall stated that the serial production of this machine is too costly for the Soviet budget. Unfortunately, Ustinov did not even wish to see a demonstration of “redoubt”. The last time the car-hopper seen at the demonstration of the samples of engineering technology in 1987.
But the MAZ-543 proved so popular that started a whole family of vehicles for military and civil purposes. Some of the models have become full-fledged combat units, designed to solve the most complex firing tasks. Evgeny Kochnev’s book, “Secret vehicles of the Soviet army” notes that in total, numerous military and civil variants of the MAZ-543 was mounted up to two hundred all kinds of serial, experimental and prototype weapons systems and superstructures of domestic and foreign production.
the Most well – known examples are the s-300 ballistic missile “R-17”, mobile coastal missile complex “Rubezh”, artillery system “Bereg”, a reactive system of volley fire “Smerch” and “Uragan”. Not to mention a number of auxiliary means of ensuring mobile missiles mounted on the base of MAZ-543: this system of detecting goals, defence, communication and protection, as well as aavtonomnye workshops and power stations, mobile canteens and dormitories for combat calculation.
Taras Repin
Source:
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