Forgotten monster of the AFU: will an old Soviet machine work after a nuclear strike?

Speaker 1

The old horse of Barazdyny Portuna doesn't plow deep. Does this one plow? Well, it still stirs a bit. Do you feel like you could move mountains right now? The handbrake, for one, jams in some incomprehensible way. Press it with all your weight. The seats have no comfort either. The pedals are also poorly made. And there is no neatness here at all. Fuel might leak somewhere. It's soldier-style.

Speaker 2

it. And only to manage her, then it turns out,

Speaker 1

that she should be loved. It turns out, yes. Very much. Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2

Glory to Ukraine to the viewers of the "Army" channel. Imagine a machine built on the basis of a tank. It has a bucket, like an excavator. A manipulator that can lift up to 2 tons. It is also designed for work in radioactive conditions. Imagination isn't enough, we will help. Before you is the IMR-1.

Speaker 1

Engineering clearance vehicle. What task does it perform. In the front, it has a front blade. It removes obstacles from the road. At the back, it has a boom. On the boom, there is a hook, specifically for removing these obstacles. It extends up to 8 meters. And on the sides? And on the sides. It works on the sides and in a circle. Like a crane? Like a crane, yes.

Speaker 3

It is simply called a doomsday machine among the people. It protects a person from radiation a bit. In the Soviet Union, they dreamed, they believed that gamma radiation does not pass through metal. The thicker the metal, the better the fevu, the better the person is protected. There is a bit of that. A person is indeed slightly protected. But against a nuclear war, there will be nothing left here. Batteries immediately fail, communication is lost.

Speaker 1

What can it tow? Literally everything, I think, with special hooks here, both in the front and in the back. Weight and generally, does that allow it? Yes, it does. I think it can easily. Its weight also allows it, 37.5 tons.

Speaker 3

It may be enough for her to partially bury a one-story or two-story house; she will knock down a one-story house immediately. She can come and knock down all those trees.

Speaker 1

Beast. I say, beast.

Speaker 2

What role does he play in the engineering support of the troops?

Speaker 4

In military engineering support, the IMR-1 occupies a very distant place if compared, for example, to robotic complexes and UAVs. But if compared to the same excavators, graders, and even the PZM-2, it takes first place in earthworks and the creation of passages. It is multifunctional, let's put it that way. How much does it consume?

Speaker 1

Quite certain. Within, I think, 40-30 liters per hour. To start it, how much burns immediately? Well, 10 to 20 liters, probably, that's for sure.

Speaker 2

With our diesel targets now, it's just… oh. And it has certain characteristics that cannot be compared with civilian equipment, and certainly not with MRKs.

Speaker 3

Indeed, this vehicle is protected. In reality, MRKs, they are at least unmanned, but very fragile in this regard. A couple of mines and the MRK will be gone, any MRK.

Speaker 2

How many of you are in the crew?

Speaker 1

Two men. A driver-mechanic and a boom operator, and he helps, basically, here, it's apparently very bad, anyway, and he helps, he literally directs.

Speaker 2

to drivers. Whose place, in your opinion, is safer, his or yours?

Speaker 1

No, I think the driver's seat.

Speaker 2

It is modern and, probably, the type of its application changed a bit, they revised it.

Speaker 4

Of course, of course. As a unit commander, I would never send this vehicle even to the second line, let alone the first. In current realities, this vehicle is intended for work in the rear. This is for creating some platforms for equipment, the evacuation of some heavy equipment by towing, and the creation of some field airfields, leveling the terrain. And, as shown, there is this manipulator,

Speaker 2

This is lifting loads. How long does it take to learn how to use it?

Speaker 3

And there, the courses last one and a half to two months for the driver-mechanic and for the commander-stops. Well, the same for the Sazhanskyi courses. It is very easy to drive, so when driver-mechanics arrive, they are all fully capable of operating it; they know how to maintain it, how, where, when, and how to use it, some tricks, how to start it more easily in winter, and specifically the maintenance during a certain period. Therefore, in our country, they teach everything to the maximum, to the maximum.

Speaker 2

When you were offered or told to get on such equipment, what was the first thing you thought?

Speaker 1

Well, how to put it, I've always been, basically, someone who likes to learn something new. I agreed to it, thinking, let me try. Yes. And once we sat in it, what did we think? Well, I was a bit frantic from all this, well, how to put it. I overcame it.

Speaker 2

What is the most difficult thing about handling it?

Speaker 1

It's manual here, basically, there is nothing like that here. Strength is needed, and so, I'd say, forcing it, and the machine works.

Speaker 2

Why does the main relevance of heavy equipment remain, as here, for example, which is built on the basis of a tank?

Speaker 4

High mobility, in a densely planted forest, in the ballast of the terrain, in the sands. There, those same excavators, they will be impractical and will not be able to do what we families do.

Speaker 2

Regarding repairability, does she manage, or does she whine when something breaks?

Speaker 3

Everything is in the screenshot, for repair, very skilled technicians in this regard. This car recently had a major overhaul.

Speaker 2

What in it requires the most care? What should always be considered, before those who

Speaker 1

get in and start? Before that, when the machine doesn't start, first of all we look at the oil levels in the engine, the coolant. We check the levels in the gearbox, look at the track, carriages and so on, because it may be that the track needs to be tightened a bit or something else loosened. Leaks, whether there are oil leaks anywhere, on the tubes, on the hoses, all that. We walk around, look around, and then we try to start it. Yes,

Speaker 5

will try to start the imeru.

Speaker 5

Use the primer. Pump the fuel a couple of times. Give it a little gas. Switch on the master power. Press the button to pump oil pressure into the engine. Start the engine.

Speaker 2

Did you also work on one like this a lot? Yes, of course. Could you tell an interesting story? What work did you perform? Maybe some task that you imagined you wouldn't be able to do, but then it worked out?

Speaker 4

Well, as for the tasks, the goal once was to clear a collapse and collapse a building in the same way. And we demolished it with it. This is very good equipment for creating such passages. For destroying, so to speak, a building that is getting in our way of completing the mission. Two floors can be demolished easily. Without any strain, let's put it that way.

Speaker 2

Well, it's not like a civilian excavator, it's straight-up armor. You sit, well, directly in the middle of the engine. What's it feel like when you drive through a house?

Speaker 4

First loud, and then everything will bloom. Everything is very simple.