Thursday, January 15, 2015

Gasdynamic trawler "Progvev-T"




Looking like something out of a sci-fi movie. The concept was simple to imagine. Take a jet engine and use the considerable heat and blast effect to clear and disable mines. Easy right? The Soviets tried to do just that with the Progvev-T......

The only problem with the design is the size of the tank and noise generated do not make it a stealthy beast at all. Weighing in at 37 tons, it is not light. The MiG-15 engine used a lot of fuel. The T-55 hull could take the weight with no problem however. It just was an easy target and no assurance that every mine would be cleared.

This was simply a good idea that did not work out. Even if modified to take two MiG-21 engines. This time the idea was to use the force of the engine's blast to knock out oil well fires. It was marginally more effective than in the mine clearing role.

A Russian tank with a Mig jet engine mounted on it, to clear mines on hard surfaced roads by blasting them with heat.

Designed to detect and sweeping mines laid on roads covered with asphalt
Width of trawling - 10-12 m
Speed ​​of trawling - 1 ... 3 km / h
The reliability of trawling - 99%
Continuous operation time - 2.5 hours
Minesweeping to a depth of - 20 cm (operating shank ripper - up to 50 cm) from the top of the hock is a ripper.