Arzamas Engineering Plant: history, description, products

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

JSC "Arzamas Machine-Building Plant" (AMZ) occupies a unique position among all enterprises of the defense sector of the country. This is the only large-scale production of wheeled armored personnel carriers of all stripes in the Russian Federation. Its workshops produce both the legendary BTR-80/82, which is the shield and sword of motorized rifle units, and ultra-modern armored off-road vehicles of the Tiger class. In general, the model range includes dozens of modifications of the most diverse military and fire vehicles.

The start of the journey

Arzamas Machine-Building Plant, whose product photos will not leave indifferent connoisseurs of military equipment and history, was founded in 1972. At that time, Arzamas (not to be confused with Arzamas-16) was a backward provincial town, wherethere was almost no street lighting.

After the establishment of the enterprise, specialists from all over the USSR rushed here, and jointly with the townspeople ennobled the "Nizhny Novgorod outskirts". Over the past decades, Arzamas has grown in breadth and height, and today it is a city of 100,000 people, comfortable for life.

Through hardships to the stars

The formation of the Arzamas machine-building plant was not easy. The military department did not consider the enterprise as a priority. As a result, the administration regularly faced a lack of funding, a lack of equipment, and qualified personnel. In the 70s, shock absorbers for armored vehicles assembled at the Gorky Automobile Plant were produced here.

Initially, AMZ products were criticized because of the low quality of workmanship. In order to improve the situation and increase the responsibility of workers, in the mid-1970s, at the request of the first director, V. A. Shilov, a system of military quality control, the so-called “military acceptance”, was introduced in production.

The main page in the history of the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant was opened in 1980. The government made a decision in principle to first place a trial military order for the manufacture of armored personnel carriers, and later to transfer the production of armored personnel carriers from the Nizhny Novgorod GAZ automobile plant to Arzamas.

Crashing the paradigm

Until the 90s, the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant (AMZ) was heavily loadedwork. Unpretentious and reliable BTR-80s of various modifications and special vehicles were mass-produced here. In parallel, social and cultural projects were carried out, new microdistricts were built.

However, life in the early 90s made its own amendments to the long-term plans of the plant. In the wake of the ideas of "Perestroika", a large-scale conversion program was adopted, which proposed to reduce the production of weapons, partially replacing them with "consumer goods". By the end of 1991, the volume of military products at AMZ was about 70%, a year later - less than 40%.

Decision time

However, the leadership had the will and endurance to withstand the unexpected economic realities. While production facilities were being freed up for consumer goods, the engineers of the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant, together with GAZ specialists, were developing a whole family of promising multi-purpose wheeled all-terrain vehicles with a reserve for the future. These are cars with independent wheel suspension that are not afraid of off-road, thickets, pits, potholes and even fallen trees. This technique is in demand in mining companies, among geologists, water and forestry workers, extreme travelers. A log truck equipped with a manipulator was designed separately for logging.

Despite the efforts of the administration, the main production activity - the production of armored personnel carriers - was actually curtailed. The peak of the fall came in 1995, when the production of armored vehicles decreased by 6 times relative to the "fat" 80s. The existence of the Arzamas machine-building plant became meaningless. somehowmiraculously, director V. I. Tyurin managed to convince the RF Ministry of Defense to allow the sale of armored vehicles for export. This saved the enterprise.

Today

It cannot be said that the plant has passed underwater reefs at the moment. However, being the largest manufacturer of wheeled armored vehicles, AMZ looks to the future with more confidence. The events of recent years have shown the importance of lightly armored highly maneuverable vehicles in regional conflicts. And here the Arzamas Machine Plant has something to offer.

Firstly, the old BTR-80 has undergone radical modifications. Based on it, model number 82 was created, devoid of many of the shortcomings of the previous generation machine. Crew protection has been improved in the armored personnel carrier, ergonomics have been improved, and new equipment has been installed. Increased (and significantly) firepower due to the use of 30-mm high-firing guns.

Secondly, the Russian army received the long-awaited armored SUV of the Tiger series, which is a good analogue of the famous Hummers. Naturally, when designing it, the shortcomings of the American model were taken into account, which made it possible to produce excellent equipment.

Products

JSC "Arzamas Machine-Building Plant", acting as a flagship manufacturer of mobile armored vehicles, is able to produce a wide range of special, civil and mobile equipment. Issue mastered over the past years:

• Armored wheeled transporter seriesBTR-80/80A/82/82A/90 (including modifications).
• Repair and evacuation (BREM-K), medical floating armored vehicles (BMM).
• Highly mobile vehicles ("Tiger", "Vodnik"), armored and unarmored.
• Fire trucks.
• Off-road vehicles and all-terrain vehicles of the GAZ-5903 series.
• Unified chassis for mounting special equipment.

At the moment, the main capacities are directed to the production of the Tiger and BTR-82A models.