Russians test military hardware in first ever drive to Arctic island

[Zarvan]

A Trekol cross-country vehicle (foreground) and tracked two-unit articulated vehicles of the DT-10PM and DT-30PM family (background) being put to the test on the Laptev Sea's ice cover. Source: TASS

An Arctic expedition by the Russian military has become the first ever research mission to drive by vehicle from Russia's east Siberian coast to Kotelny Island in the New Siberian Islands archipelago, according to Russian deputy defence minister General Dmitry Bulgakov.

"Members of the expedition became the first in the world to drive on vehicles from the mainland to Kotelny Island," said Gen Bulgakov, giving an update on the mission's progress on 13 March. "Representatives of the Russian defence ministry and industrial enterprises used modern snow and swamp-going vehicles to drive 1,140 km on the ice of the Laptev Sea and the coastal zone to the destination," he added.

The expedition, which began on 20 February, will ultimately cover more than 2,000 km. The journey is being used to assess the ability of various equipment to operate in temperatures below freezing (down to -60°C) and involved close to a hundred various research and laboratory tests.

Vehicles tested included army snow-going vehicles, special low-pressure wheeled transportation hardware on Trekol all-terrain vehicles, as well as DT-10PM and DT-30PM tracked two-unit articulated vehicles. Assessments have been made of the vehicles' operating capabilities, technical readiness, crew comfort, and their overall ability to negotiate ice and deep snow in the most extreme conditions of the High North.

The expedition is soon scheduled to drive back on the Laptev Sea's ice cover to Tiksi on the northern coast of Russia's Sakha Republic, arriving there at the end of March.

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