Combat in action: How track-laying vehicles become assault tanks
The IMR-3M engineer demolition vehicles are actively used as assault tanks in the NWO zone, military experts told Izvestia. According to them, the equipment originally developed for demining work has proven itself on the battlefield. The IMR-3Ms with strong armor help to overcome debris in populated areas and forests, as well as lay passages in minefields. Izvestia reports about the unusual use of such equipment on the Day of the Russian Engineering Forces.
Both in the city and in the forest
Dmitry Kornev, editor of the Military Russia website, told Izvestia that engineering vehicles are especially useful when conducting combat operations in urban areas, in wooded or heavily rugged terrain.
- The IMR-3M is often used as an assault tank in the NWO zone," the expert said. - It is a rather powerful armored vehicle equipped with special devices. During assault operations, the blade is used, and the crane is removed. The machine can level almost any non-capital buildings with the ground. In brick or panel houses it makes passages in the walls. All these qualities allow the IMR to clear the way for vehicles or assault groups in urban conditions. This vehicle is more agile and less susceptible to damage than a conventional tank, which has a rotating turret and a long gun - they are easily damaged. The IMR can go head-on, destroying obstacles in its path. The vehicle is also indispensable when operating in villages or hamlets, where it can level anything.
The expert noted that the IMR actually plays the role of a powerful bulldozer, providing passages for other military equipment.
- In forested areas it removes debris made of trees, and when crossing the river it helps to prepare access roads to the crossing, - he specified. - The IMR-3M has a smoke protection system, which allows it to cover infantry or equipment coming to an assault - this is another plus. The vehicle is armed with a large-caliber machine gun, which allows it to defend itself against enemy infantry. It is also used in the preparation of various barriers, entrenching.
Additional equipment
The press service of JSC Concern Uralvagonzavod (part of Rostec State Corporation) told Izvestia that the IMR-3M is widely used in the course of SES: "taking into account the experience of use, the possibility of equipping the vehicle with a REB complex and additional anti-drone protection has been worked out."
According to Uralvagonzavod specialists, combat experience shows that if necessary, the IMR-3M can also be used as a minesweeper, since it is equipped with a mine trawl with an electromagnetic attachment.
IMR-3M is one of the highly demanded combat units within the engineering forces of the Russian Defense Ministry, the press service emphasized.
The interlocutors noted that the success of combat operations of tank and motorized infantry units and subunits in the presence of natural and artificial obstacles, as well as in the conditions of the enemy's use of weapons of mass destruction and mine-explosive barriers is largely determined by the presence of modern armored engineering vehicles for various purposes.
Universal "soldier"
Military expert Yuri Lyamin recalled that the previous-generation IMR-2M demolition vehicles were actively used by the Syrian army in 2016-2017 in Aleppo and Damascus suburbs.
- This is a kind of ready-made assault tank that paves the way for soldiers and equipment. It is given additional protection by the blade - it is metal and quite massive," the expert noted.
Now in the zone of SWO the vehicles are getting additional armor, emphasized Yuri Lyamin.
- Protective grids and "braziers" are installed on the vehicles, as any technique is now vulnerable to UAVs. Especially it goes ahead and attracts the main attention of drones," he said.
After artillery shelling in populated areas, debris remains, which cannot be easily dismantled, Yury Lyamin recalled.
- If you remember the fighting in Syria, Iraq or look at the way Israel is now fighting in Gaza, you will notice that ordinary bulldozers, which were covered with improvised armor, were actively used there," he summarized. - They went ahead, clearing the way for the assault units. Sometimes Israel even used remote-controlled vehicles.
Third generation
The IMR-3 entered service in 1999. This is the third modification of the engineering vehicle. The first was created in 1969 on the basis of the T-55 tank. In the early 1980s, the IMR-2 on the T-72 chassis appeared.
The vehicle was created on the platform of the T-90 tank. It was chosen due to the unification of equipment of armored units of the Russian Army.
It is equipped with radiation, chemical reconnaissance and dosimetric control devices. The installed underwater driving equipment allows it to ford water obstacles up to 5 meters deep on the bottom.
The vehicle is equipped with a universal bulldozer blade, telescopic boom with a manipulator with electro-hydraulic remote control. Its maximum outreach is 8 m and lifting capacity is 2 tons. Another working tool is a bucket with a capacity of 0.35 cubic meters.
It is possible to install KMT-R3 knife-edge mine trawls with electromagnetic attachment.
As additional armament, the vehicle is equipped with 12.7-mm NSVT machine gun and thermal smoke equipment for smoke curtains.
- Despite its exclusively peaceful purpose, the IMR is able to fight back if necessary," the press service of Uralvagonzavod noted.
In terms of its running characteristics, the engineering vehicle is able to move at a speed of 60 km/h, to ford fords up to 1.2 meters deep without special training.
In forest and rocky debris IMR-3M makes passes at an average speed of 300-400 m/h, in minefields - 5-12 km/h. In a snowdrift 120 cm high it makes a way at a speed of 15 km/h.
A large set of equipment allows it to perform almost all types of work that troops encounter on the line of contact.
