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The 'peace dividend' borne out of the collapse of Communist
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Russia has had a far-reaching impact on one former Soviet truck-maker. CM investigates.
Words: Brian Weatherley, additional reporting Vladimir Chekhuta Images: MZKT and Vladimir Chekhuta
Ifs hard to believe that more than 20 years have passed since the Berlin Wall came down and Communism collapsed in Europe. But from those early tentative days of Glasnost and Perestroika, the 'peace dividend' has been felt by millions, not least by those working in the truck assembly plants of the former Soviet Union.
Visit the website of the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant (MZKT) in the Republic of Belarus and you'll find a staggering array of timber and dump trucks, crane and emergency vehicle chassis, specialist equipment carriers, plus heavy-duty oilfield trucks, assorted trailers and exotic wheeled vehicles — all marketed under the VOLAT brand name.
MZKT's product portfolio is certainly impressive, stretching from conventional on/off-road rigids and artics to 12x12 specialist chassis (there's even a 16x16 model on the website) for extreme terrain operations.
Within that catalogue you can specify as many steered axles as you want, payloads from 12 tonnes to 220 tonnes, and engine outputs from 165hp to 1500hp.
However, look closely at some of the more 'extreme' models and you can't miss clues to the fact that not that long ago MZKT built slightly more, shall we say, 'aggressive' vehicles, as a major supplier to the Soviet Army. In fact, 25 years ago, you were more likely to see a MZKT missile carrier heading the May Day parade in Red Square, than parked up in a truckstop.
The split-cab design on the company's 16x16 '7922' model featured on its website is a dead giveaway — the gap in between the two cabins is where a TOPOL nuelear ballistic missile would normally have sat. Today, it's just as likely to have a huge heavy-duty tipper body on the back... now that's progress!
Military business decline
MZKT has undoubtedly travelled a long way over the past two decades. Having originally existed as a special-purpose division of the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ), it became a standalone company in 1991. Back then, specialist military vehicles made up around 95% of its production, and in the best tradition of home-grown Soviet activity, MZKT manufactured most — if not all of its own cabs, engines and chassis components.
However, since the end of the Cold War, its military business has rapidly receded in line with the peace dividend. Today, MZKT builds mainly for the civilian market, selling its trucks in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), equipped with cabs from MAZ and engines from the YaMAZ engine plant.
Ft also produces its own nine-speed gearbox used in the 5x4 tippers it provides for Russian operators.
Somewhat fortuitously, the major decline in military vehicle building has been offset of late by the growin.g demand for specialist civilian vehicles needed to support the rapidly developing oil-and-gas producing regions of Western Siberia and the Caspian Sea. And it is to oil and gas companies, as well as the mining, timber and construction industries that MZKT is clearly aiming its products.
While trucks sold within the CIS continue to use cabs and engines from indigenous suppliers, MZKT is certainly not averse to fitting Western European or North American drive-train components from the likes of Daimler-Benz, Deutz, Allison and Caterpillar to export vehicles.
Designed to haul loads ranging from massive pumps and generators to a 55-tonne Caterpillar 09 bulldozer across extreme terrain, the 12x12 '79806' multi-wheeler has a gross weight of 95 tonnes, and is powered by a 720hp Deutz BF' 8N11015CP engine coupled to an Allison M6610 AR auto 'box. The 14.8m-tong six-axle rigid (it comes with rear steering) has a top speed of 75kin/h and sits 3.96m high on Michelin 23.5R25 XLB sand tyres. Originally ordered by a client from the United Arab Emirates, it was delivered to Turkmenistan to work in the oilfields.
There's no question that MZKT would dearly like to take the 'Desert King' crown from more established makes, having joined that select band of tnily 'niche' machines sold into the Middle East and Eurasian oilfield exploration market, including Kenworth, Faun, Liebherr, Titan and Oshkosh.
Tipping the scales at a 'mere' 73-tonnes GVW, the 8x8 'little brother' comes with an equally formidable spec of 550hp Caterpillar N-15 engine and Allison auto, which it uses to propel a 45,000kg payload.
Meanwhile, 20 years after the Berlin Wall came down, the success or otherwise of the once-state-run Russian vehicle manufacturers will ultimately depend on whether or not they can adapt to a global market, where demand is based on customer requirements, rather than a politically-driven five-year plan, But MZKT has been more than willing to turn its metaphoric swords into ploughshares, and considering its heavy-duty off-road pedigree, it could become a contender in the battle for 'King of the Desert'... •