The Russian News Agency, TASS, announced, Friday, that the Russian state-owned tech giant Rostec delivered a batch of the latest Zemledeliye remote-controlled minelaying vehicles to Russian troops ahead of schedule.
"Rostec has delivered a batch of Zemledeliye remote minelaying engineering vehicles ahead of schedule. The latest system is capable of covering an area of several football pitches with mines within just several minutes thanks to programmed munitions. The munitions can self-destruct or deactivate at the designated time," the Rostec press office said in a statement.
Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and the Kiev regime’s failed counteroffensive have shown that skillfully planted minefields can pose an insurmountable obstacle for the enemy, Rostec Industrial Director for the Conventional Armaments, Munitions and Special Chemistry Cluster Bekkhan Ozdoyev said.
The Zemledeliye remote minelaying vehicle can quickly lay programmed minefields in hard-to-access terrain. The explosives can self-destruct or deactivate at the designated time, which ensures safe and quick mine clearance after the end of combat operations, he added.
"It is also important that the Zemledeliye raises the combat capabilities of troops to cope with the objectives of minelaying while complying with all the international treaties on the prohibition or limitation of the use of mines, booby traps and other devices," the Rostec press office quoted Ozdoyev as saying.
Earlier, Rostec reported that the Zemledeliye remote minelaying vehicle had proven its worth in the conditions of a high-intensity conflict and demonstrated its reliability and combat efficiency. The state tech giant also said that its staff was constantly analyzing the results of its combat employment and feedback from the military.
Zemledeliye minelaying vehicle
The Zemledeliye features the principle of multiple launch rocket systems but uses munitions with a solid propellant engine that are stuffed with various types of mines for laying minefields. In the process of minelaying, the vehicle’s digital terrain map marks mined areas’ coordinates that are subsequently transmitted to the higher command and control level.
The Zemledeliye minelaying vehicle comprises a launcher, an ammunition suite of 50 122mm munitions stuffed with high-explosive anti-personnel or anti-tank mines and a transporter-loader vehicle with a loading crane in the rear.
Both vehicles are mounted on Kamaz-6560 eight-wheel trucks and are outfitted with armored driver cabins. The rockets are placed in containers loaded into special packs of 25 munitions each. Each Zemledeliye vehicle carries two such packs. A launcher is outfitted with communications, a fire control system, meteorological sensors and a defensive suite that comprises six smoke grenade launchers, with three of them on each side.
The Defense Ministry of Russia and the Tula-based Splav defense firm signed a contract for the delivery of Zemledeliye remote minelaying vehicles to Russian troops in December 2013. The Splav Research and Production Association is Russia’s largest company engaged in developing and producing multiple launch rocket systems.
Russia unveiled the Zemledeliye remote minelaying vehicle to the public at large at the military parade on Moscow’s Red Square on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War. The initial batch of Zemledeliye minelaying vehicles entered service with Russian engineering troops in 2020.
