RussiaEGuide

Russian military adventures

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Night ride. Saint Petersburg military tour

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Group tank tour (tank ride + shooting)

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Winter tank ride: Snow, Sun and fun 💥

On Saturday, we had a great tank tour with our Japanese friends.

Enjoy the pictures

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Russian selfie stick😆, 2A82

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Army games

The International Army Games (also known as War Olympics) a Russian military sports event organized by the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

Army games involve about 30 countries battling it out in dozens of competitions to prove which nation has the most military might.

The competition goes on for two weeks and include heavy-duty events such as the marquee tank biathlon and fighter jet maneuvering contest Aviadarts, but also smaller scale competitions such as a service dog race or a field kitchen cook-off. 

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Maus tank

The heaviest battlefield tank to have ever been built. It weighed 180 metric tons. That’s around three times heavier than the M-1 Abrams battle tank fielded by today’s U.S. Army.

Extremely thick armour, ranging from 180 mm (7.08 in) on the sides and rear to 250 mm (9.84 in) on the frontal part of the turret.

Later, it was decided to increase the roof protection to 220 mm (8.66 in), in order to cope with Russian Il-2 Sturmovik attacks.

Developed from June 1942 through July 1944, with two prototypes produced, only one of which received a turret and armament.

According to some sources, the tank never saw combat as the Soviets overran the Kummersdorf proving grounds on April 21, 1945, capturing Germany’s two prototypes. German surrendered less than three weeks later.

The only surviving example is at the Kubinka tank Museum. See the legendary Maus tank on the <a href="https://www.russiaeguide.com/patriot-park-tour.html"><strong>Kubinka tour</strong></a>

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DP-27, machine gun blank shooting.

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The legendary Katyusha

Due to the high secrecy the name of the multiple rocket launcher, BM-13/8/31, wasn't be listed in documents until 1942.

Before the German invasion in June 1941, only 40 launchers were made.

The initial production was launched at the Voronezh Komintern Factory which had the designation of "K". The same letter "K" appeared on the factory's ware including the BM launchers.

As soldiers developed nicknames to the military equipment, they gave the name Katyusha to the launcher, after a popular song.

A typical BM battery included 4 six-man firing vehicles, 2 trucks with reload rockets, and 2 support trucks. Screaming sound of BM batteries had a demoralizing effect on German troops. German soldiers called them "Stalin's Organ" ("Stalinorgel") because of this howling sound.

Early in the war, BM launchers were initially mounted on ZiS-6, ZiS-5, and ZiS5V trucks, however the demands of war meant that sometimes they were mated to whatever vehicle chassis that the Soviet Army could find.. in some instances, the launching racks were mounted on tractors or even tank chassis. Western Allies mounted BM to their tracks such as Studebaker, General Motors, and Ford. Less frequently, Katyusha launchers of all three wartime variants were also mounted on railroad cars, river gunboats, and on wheeled trailers for towing.

By war's end, over 10,000 launchers were built.

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Beauty and The Beast

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Halloween.. in the military style

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BDM-1 ride

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Let the childhood Dream Come True✨T-80 ride

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Looks like a film frame? Actually this is a military tactic game based on a WW2 scenario. Who would join?

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Today we ride an early modification of T-34 tank – T-34-76, 1941 version. The tank is completely restored, with an authentic turret and driving systems. There are a few tanks of this modification existing worldwide, mostly on a static display, non-runnable. Book the tour: https://www.russiaeguide.com/historical-tour-battle-of-moscow-and-a-t-34-tank-ride.html

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Tank race

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T-80 Tank with a gas turbine engine. Pros and cons of GTE

The T-80 was the last main battle tank to come out of the Soviet Union. It was the first Soviet tank to mount a gas turbine engine (GTE), giving it a top road speed of 70 kilometers per hour and an efficient power-to-weight ratio of 25.8 horsepower per to

GTE mounted on T-80 has several advantages: starts in any frost, up to minus 40 degrees for three minutes. For diesel the standard – 30 min. It must first be "warmed up". This is due to the fact that in GTD there is no liquid cooling system. He don't need no water, no antifreeze, no antifreeze, nor the device itself coolant. Second, GTE better throttle response than the diesel. This is a huge gain in speed and maneuvering on the battlefield. The tank can accelerate to 70 km/h. thirdly, a tank with a turbine engine is easier to repair: to replace the power unit with a turbine engine requires no more than four hours to replace diesel – two to three times longer.

Test drive of the T-80 tank is available on the "tank driving and shooting tour": https://www.russiaeguide.com/tank-driving-and-shooting.html

However, the repair of gas turbine engines requires a complete dismantling and sending to the manufacturer. In field conditions due to the complexity of the design to repair it almost impossible. This moment – one of the disadvantages of the gas turbine installation. The second and most important – its voracity. Compared to the diesel tanks the fuel consumption of the T-80 reaches in the most difficult conditions eight liters per kilometer. For comparison, the T-72 and T-90, the figure is two to four liters. In fact, this point, and put in the time, the question of whether the operation of the T-80 in the army. Compared with the conventional machines it turned out to be too expensive. Especially that disappeared and the main purpose of its existence.

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Mi-12 (aka V-12 in the Soviet Union and Homer by NATO designstion). The largest helicopter ever built. Powered by two pairs of turboshaft engines. The Mi-12 never entered into production due to its very high unit costs and because better alternatives were emerging in the early 1970s. In particular, the Mi-26 turned out to be more effective solution to the heavy lifting challenge. All this rendered the Mi-12 obsolete before it could even enter into service. It has been produced in only two units and its quite short operational history ended up in the Monino aviation museum: https://www.russiaeguide.com/monino-aviation-museum-tour.html Rotor dia: 114 ft 10 in (35 m) Overall rotors span: 67m Length: 121 ft 4.5 in (37 m) Height: 41 ft 0 in (12.5 m) Fuselage width: 4.4 m Engines: 4 x Soloviev D-25VF turboshaft, 6500 shp / 4780kW Empty weight: 60000kg Max TO wt: 231,500 lb (105,000 kg) Max level speed: 161 mph (260 kph). Cruising speed: 240km/h Service ceiling: 3500m Range: 800km Crew: 6-10