Russia’s JSC Remdizel is expanding its family of Taifun-K mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles, Designer General of the company Igor Zarakhovich told the TASS news agency. According to him, Remdizel now trials more than ten modifications of the Taifun-K vehicles. “As of October 2020, we produce nine variants of the Taifun-K, including those for export, and more than ten modifications are completing their tests,” said Zarakhovich.
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Taifun K-63968 (Picture source : Vitaly Kuzmin)
The enterprise tests four variants (including armed ones) of K-53949 Taifun-K 4×4 vehicles, some modifications of the K-63968 6×6 system, and the K-4386 Taifun-VDV 4×4 protected vehicle with a combat station armed with a 30mm cannon, said Zarakhovich.
Remdizel has also designed the ZSA-T-53949 protected medical evacuation vehicle and the ZSA-P-53939 battalion-level mobile hospital; both platforms are based on the chassis of the K-53949 Taifun-K 4×4 MRAP vehicles and have entered their serial production stages. “In 2018, we designed a prototype of the Kornet-EM/Kornet-D self-propelled anti-tank guided missile (SPATGM) system on the chassis of an armoured vehicle. An armoured platform is also planned to be used as a chassis for a command-and-control (C2) system,” said Zarakhovich.
According to him, the family of Taifun-K 6×6 MRAP vehicles сomprises only one platform, namely, the baseline K-63969 Taifun-K system. Some foreign-made armament suites and subsystems can be integrated into the Taifun-K-family vehicles at the customer’s request, said Zarakhovich, adding that the Taifun-K-family system are combat-proven platforms that have been successfully used in conflicts. The first armoured vehicle of Remdizel — the K-43269 Vystrel 4×4 protected platform — is also in high demand, he noted.
Remdizel is also planning to develop a protected tank carrier. “We are planning to design a tank carrier and a utility truck, both based on the K-53958 Tornado-K 8×8 platform,” said Zarakhovich.
The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has already received its first serial Linza (Lens) protected mobile hospitals. “This platform is based on the chassis of the K-53949 Taifun-K protected vehicle and weighs some 15 t. It is equipped with a 1st/2nd Class medical module. In accordance with our estimations, such vehicles are in high demand in the global market,” said Zarakhovich.
The enterprise has modernized the MT-LB light armoured tracked carrier, which is operated by the Russian military. “We have been doing works on the MT-LB light carriers for several years. Initially, we only maintain those vehicles; then, the enterprise decided to upgrade it. The updated vehicle, which is designated MT-LB 2.0, was unveiled at the Army 2020 international military-technical forum,” said Zarakhovich.
Remdizel also conducts technical maintenance of the KAMAZ and Ural utility trucks of the Russian military. “We have already repaired tens of thousand automotive vehicles from the inventory of the Russian MoD,” said Zarakhovich.
Some potential foreign customers from the Middle East, Africa, South-East Asia, and the post-Soviet states express their firm interest in the products of Remdizel, said Zarakhovich. The export-oriented members of the Taifun-K family have been embedded in the portfolio of Russia' s arms exporter Rosoboronexport (a sibsidiary of state corporation Rostec). The company demonstrated them at the recent Aero India 2021 and IDEX 2021 defense shows.
Remdizel is among Russia’s largest manufacturers of wheeled protected vehicles. The Taifun-K 4×4 and 6×6 systems are considered to be the most advanced MRAPs in the inventory of the Russian military.
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