MOMENTUM FORCE OF THE VICTORY

Military-industrial courier. March 19—25, 2008. By Ilya Kedrov

The significance of automotive equipment for military forces can not be overestimated. The performance of present and future combats, the experience of major wars and numerous local conflicts in the past show that the mobility and maneuverability are valuable components of combat power.

Military vehicles are the main resource providing tactical mobility and maneuverability for troops and weapons — more than 95 percent of ground-based weapons and military equipment of Russian Armed Forces are mounted on wheeled chassis. Because of that, the new Volume of the Encyclopedia "Russia's Arms and Technologies" is a valuable publication which can be considered as an independent reference book, as well as an addition to previous volumes dedicated to various types of military equipment.

If there are no rail roads or they are destroyed, the vehicular transport is the only transportation facility. The new book published by the Publishing House "Arms and Technologies" cites information from the Main Armor Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry: the share of vehicular transport is as big as 75—85 percent in the communications zone, and 85—100 percent in the army rear service. The needs for delivery to the field increase by 20—25 percent every 5—6 years, and the amount of fuel required by armor and motorized rifle divisions increases by factor 1.25—1.28 every 5 years. So, the amount of supply delivered by the vehicular transport grows permanently.

For this reason, the activities on creating a prospective fleet of military vehicles for Russian Armed Forces are being held at the present time. According to these plans, new mobile weapons and military equipment will be mounted on unified chassis of several families, military units will use army vehicles of the "Ural" family while combat units will use army vehicles of the "KamAZ" family, outdated and worn-out vehicles will be replaced forcibly. The chassis carrying weapons and military equipment used by Armed Forces at the present time will be replaced with unified chassis as well.

Volume XVI of the Encyclopedia "Russia's Arms and Technologies" provides information allowing the reader to foreseen which vehicles will disappear from the inventory, and which ones will provide mobility for the Armed Forces in the future. The book describes base chassis where weapons and military equipment are mounted, towing trucks, common and special automotive equipment, cars, and tracked tractor vehicles for transportation. The book also contains information about trailers and semi-trailers, container bodies and multipurpose van bodies. A separate section contains information about mobile facilities for technical service, repair and evacuation, specifications of main power units and engines. All types and categories of military vehicles are divided by manufacturers. In total, the Volume contains information about more than 500 models of military vehicles.

A short prolusion by Sergei Chemezov, who was the head of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Rosoboronexport" in 2004—2007, is a peculiarity of Volume XVI. The article informs about export deliveries of Russian military vehicles. In particular, it tells that Russian army vehicles are popular in Africa, countries of Latin America and Middle East.