The city of Ishimbay is called second Baku. In 1930 they started development of the second largest oil field with the first one being developed in Baku. In 1960 Baku occupied the first position in the list of places known for oil extraction in the USSR. And only after a new oil field discovery in Siberia Ishimbay city started losing its former importance. Today we’ll visit the place where one of the Russian great legends that contributed to development of oil and exploration of the North was born.
This is the transport machine building factory located in Ishimbay. After the fall of the USSR the enterprise was about to get closed. Fortunately, we were able to preserve the production.
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The video shows what is meant by a unique off-road vehicle.
Construction of the vehicles started in 1981 when a special constructor bureau was created.
The vehicles were used in defense industry and the enterprise was considered as secret. They were transported to the northern regions soon after they were produced.
The plant has a museum with photos, recommendations and awards.
The vehicles that weigh around 30 tones can easily overcome snow valleys and marshes, rivers and reach ships located not far from the coast of an ocean. ‘There are no places on the Earth that are not accessible for the vehicles. They have been used by polar explorers for over 20 years and delivered people and equipment to the volcano in Kamchatka’
The references contain reports about saved lives and successfully accomplished tasks.
They planned to mount C-300 and Topol complexes on the vehicles.
The plant also manufactures leading axles for city transport.
Let’s go to the production center.
The plant embraces huge workshop and devices.
Posters of the USSR have never left the place.
It is launch time and workers are not here.
This person refused to have lunch and is busy with polishing iron parts that will be attached onto the rubber bands of tractors.
This is the band itself. They use standard and cheap industrial rubber. Repairs can be done easily.
The vehicles called Vityaz can be used for a very long time. Even in case 1 out of 4 caterpillar bands are preserved the vehicle will be capable of moving fine.
Soviet posters.
Smoking area.
Most of the posters did not lose their actuality in spite of their age.
Instrumental workshop.
Assembly occurs in the workshop.
Here external elements are attached to the vessel, the engine is mounted and the work of the mechanisms is regulated.
The assembled vehicles are ordered by organizations.
Previously vehicles that weighed 20 and 30 tones were in high demand. Now they order lighter machines. The one in the picture weighs 2 tones only.
Small vehicles are not less functional than the large ones.
The hydro-cylinders enable independent rotation of elements in the horizontal, vertical and longitudinally vertical planes. All the cylinders can be blocked when the vehicle overcomes ditches that are up to 4 m wide.
V-shaped engine,710 h.p.
The machines are exploited in very severe conditions. It sometimes takes them over a week to cover a couple of hundred km. People live inside the machine as it is too cold to go outside and access to equipment elements must be possible right from the cabin.
The way the vehicle is exploited determine its service life. Some can be used for over 10 years, others fail to function after 1 trip.
In case of an accident it i necessary to arrive at the place of an oil-and-gas pipeline location fast. As the places are usually too remote, only the vehicles are capable to complete the task.
The bodies are hermetic, the first link contains an engine, a cabin for 4-7 people and a place for a cargo.The 2nd link is represented by a platform used during transportation or equipment loading. Sometimes the 2nd link embraces residential complexes for workers.
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The cabin is supplied with autonomous heating system.
It is not allowed to use the heating system when it is warm outside.
There is a polygon next to the factory where one can get trained to handle the huge machines. By the way, only vehicles marked with the Russian letter П can overcome rivers and swim.
It is very easy to drive the vehicle, the most important thing is not to forget about its sizes.
The vessel is 3 m wide and 3,5 m high.
And it is 16 m long.
The hatches on the cabin allow to move across the vehicle without landing on the ground. It is very useful as the ground is often absent.
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This is how the wonderful machines are born. Their gifted constructors use old equipment to create them.
Location: Ishimbay
via zizis
Better’n a Hummvee any day of the year!
What are you comparing? Tank is also better than an Humvee!
But, to the case. Machine is amazing, the roughness of the terrain and the fact that it´s so cold out there makes the survivability of this machine so great.
There is little doubt that the Russians have a rare genius in the design of tracked vehicles.
DT-30 Vitjaz is better
With these trucks, the Ice Road Truckers could run all year!
Very nice indeed. If the nazis had one of those in ww2……….
The design looks very old though. This doesn’t look very modern. It is almost as if it came from the WW2 era. Compare it to more moder tracked vehicles. Engine placement, visibility, and quality, are probably serious issues.
Ah, at last. You found something wrong. All is right with the world again!
just a copy of volvo bv-206 used by the ‘rest’ of the world
Just have a check before writing anything stupid.
You can’t really compare a toy of 4,500 kg weight with a truck to 30 tonns.
Then, from wikipedia:
“Development of the Bv 206 all-terrain articulated tracked carrier began in 1974″
“In February 1971,first two Vityaz ATVs, designated DT-LP and DT-L,were produced for the State trials”
Enough said I think.
Great machine but factory is getting old. Probably difficult to get spare parts in future.
Russia can build military equipment, ask a Russian to design shoes and you will receive 2 planks of wood with chiseled out slots for your feet. Ask Russian man to design tank and he will design a work of art.
the manufacturing stuff on Englishrussia is fascinating. many thanks for putting it up here. And to think people are still dumb enough to under estimate Russia.
I agree with bloke, Russia is still a manufacturing powerhouse with a large population of engineers. They may might not be the powerhouse they used to be, but I wouldn’t want to start a war with them.