IZHEVSK PLANT TURNS OUT CUSTOMER-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS

Yuri Shestakov, Director General of State Enterprise Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant
 

The Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant incorporated by the Antei Concern is an export-oriented enterprise. When the plant assimilated full-scale production of the Osa SAM system, the volume of its export sales amounted to over 60 percent of overall output.

Osa SAM system undergoing overhaul

The Osa SAM system has been produced and supplied to various customers for more than 20 years. With emphasis made on other air defense systems, its production was terminated. However, considering customer interests and a large number of Osa systems in service, the enterprise provides a wide range of after-sale services, including overhaul and modernization. The GP IEMZ is the only enterprise offering the complete set of such services. Concurrently with the Osa production, a new SAM system, dubbed Tor, was developed. The Tor SAM system was noted for enhanced automation and a capability to destroy precision-guided weapons and low radar cross- section targets.

The Osa launcher-transporter vehicle was used to develop the Saman complex designed to launch missile drones and to conduct training firings of such SAM systems as Osa, Tor and Buk. The missile drones intended to simulate modern aerial targets are controlled at all phases of their flight providing for safety within the limited area of missile ranges.

The Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant incorporated by the Antei Concern is an export-oriented enterprise. When the plant assimilated full-scale production of the Osa SAM system, the volume of its export sales amounted to over 60 percent of overall output. When the Tor AD system was offered on the market, the plant’s export potential grew and the share of export sales increased.

The high competitiveness of military equipment produced by the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant has been further proved by Tor’s winning an international tender staged by one of Mediterranean NATO members.

Back into Service: Restoring the Osa SAM System

Any country buying new military hardware has to allocate significant funds from its state budget. Therefore, in most cases armed forces rearm gradually facing a problem of maintaining the existing weapons systems and equipment in combat readiness.

Experience shows that it is economically feasible to make repairs, including major overhauls, on currently operational Osa SAM systems, which provide for the extension of their service life and allow their operation for another 7 years, or carry out full renovation making it possible to extend their service life by three to four years.

The complete package of guarantee and post-guarantee services provided by the GP IEMZ includes :

— combat and technical training of customer crews;

— technical examination of units and components;

— full renovation of systems in customer country;

— system overhaul at the GP IEMZ;

— modernization of the Osa SAM systems currently in operation;

— provision of customer repair depots with service documentation, spare parts, standard and special tools, and accessories;

— integration of SAM systems with customer AD systems and their adaptation to specific climatic conditions;

— solution of various problems related to SAM system operation and maintenance.

Another line of business of the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant is the conduct of overhauls on second-hand Osa SAM systems and their sale to new buyers.

The family of Titans: New Versions of the Tor SAM System

The need to defend military and nonmilitary installations from high-precision weapon systems (cruise and antiradiation missiles, guided aerial bombs, unmanned aerial vehicles, low-flying aircraft) required from the industry to develop and produce new SAM systems that could cope with these threats effectively. Designers of the Antei Concern developed such a system, called Tor. The Tor SAM system’s main components (launcher-transporter, simulator-trainers and service vehicles) are produced by the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant. Such features of the Tor SAM system as multichannel all-weather guidance system capable of tracking several targets and missiles at a time, use of unique performance algorithms making it possible to select and engage top priority targets, digital signal processing capability built on the basis of elements of artificial intelligence, and the system’s ability to engage two aerial targets simultaneously enable Tor to efficiently fulfill air defense missions. In terms of overall performance, this system outclasses its foreign analogs.

Osa SAM system undergoing overhaul

The Tor-M1 basic version (tracked) is already well known on the international market. The Tor-M1T mobile, towed and stationary versions designed to protect fixed and semi-fixed objects from massive air strikes are less acknowledged.

The Tor-M1T is produced in three versions:

1. The mobile version (Tor-M1TA). The equipment shelter (ES) is carried by the Ural-5323 truck and antenna/launch post (ALP) is installed on the ChMZAP-8335.5 trailer.

2. The equipment of the towed version (Tor-M1TB) is carried on two trailers. The ES is mounted on the SMZ-782B trailer and the ALP is mounted on the ChMZAP-8335.5 trailer.

3. The stationary version (Tor-M1TS). The ES is accommodated in the KP4 shelter and the ALP is mounted on a special frame.

In all versions the principal devices are arranged in the ES and ALP modules which, when deployed, are interconnected by cables.

Due to the use of analogous types of devices, the Tor-M1T’s performance and technical characteristics are similar to those of the Tor-M1 basic version. However, the advantages of the new systems are:

— lower cost;

— roads are less damaged by the Tor-M1T vehicles;

— lower ground pressure (due to the dispersal of equipment on two vehicles) enables the system to cross rivers by light bridges.

Potential customers have the opportunity to choose a version most fitting their specific requirements and conditions: objects to be protected, availability of tractors, terrain relief, types of transport communications and, finally, financial resources available.

Along with retaining military production, the Izhevsk Electromechanical Plant pursues several projects in the nonmilitary field. It produces heat blowers, various heating units and air conditioners, chromatographic equipment, laser-based devices, ultra-pure materials, medical equipment, oil production equipment, and consumer goods.

Our hard and fast principles are: the high quality of manufactured products, permanent attention to the guarantee and post-guarantee services and to customers’ needs. We take care of our good name and trade mark. Our enterprise welcomes cooperation.