MOSCOW. May 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The state defense order for vehicles made at the Ural motorcar plant (the RusPromAvto holding company) grew eight times in 2005.
"Our designers have significantly improved the characteristics of Ural vehicles made for the Armed Forces, which resulted in the state defense order increasing eight times in 2005," the enterprise's press service quoted Viktor Korman, director general of the plant, as saying.
According to the press service, the plant has modernized the family of army trucks and shows them at the Russia-Kazakhstan Border Cooperation international exhibition underway in Chelyabinsk.
Ten new vehicles are demonstrated at the exhibition, including three road-type ones, i.e. a 10-tonne 4x2 truck, a 20-tonne 6x4 dump truck and a 4x2 tow truck. It is stressed that non-all-wheel-drive Urals feature modular design for the customer to equip the vehicles with units and accessories of other brands as required.
The Ural motorcar plant has been the main vendor of vehicles for the Armed Forces in the country for over 60 years. Present-day Urals have engines that meet the Euro-2 requirements. The vehicles can ford 1.75-m water, and the manufacturer guarantees their enhanced reliability and service life.
Over 400 types of weapons and materiel are based on the Ural chassis, including the multiple-launch rocket system and the new Pantsyr-S gun/missile air defense system. It is also important that two-axle, three-axle and four-axle Urals are 93% unified which makes their operating and maintenance costs far less.
The plant is going to increase its output twice by 2010. This will be achieved by launching new types of vehicles into production, primarily the ones of the road type. For instance, two prototypes of road-type trucks were made at the plant last year, and their small-series production commenced this year.