The shortage of Western weapons and the uncertainty of further supplies from allies encourage Ukrainian defenders to look for non-standard ways out of a difficult situation, and the creativity of military engineers sometimes leads to unexpected results. Recently, the Kharakternyk armored vehicle and the Sikach armored personnel carrier, copied from foreign HMMWVs and M113s, were put on combat duty in several units of the Security and Defense Forces.
The production of such equipment was launched at the facilities of several companies in different parts of the country. The authors of the idea and engineers told OBOZ.UA about it.
– Of course, this is not a full-fledged equipment manufacturing line, but rather a cottage industry. Nevertheless, we managed to achieve almost complete correspondence to the original samples. Of course, with certain technical peculiarities,” said one of them.
According to him, the current production capacity allows for five copies of Humvees and M113 vehicles per month. After the necessary tests, the equipment is immediately sent to the front.
The authors of the development say that the Ukrainian Humvee is almost identical to its American prototype. It should be noted that the chassis for the Kharakternik is taken from either GAZ-66 or Ford F-15 or F-350. Today, vehicles of all types are in service, but only a few have been converted from GAZ-66, as it was much easier to improve the Fords.
As for the Sikach, they used a running MTLB and old BMP-1s.
The production of individual components caused some difficulties, but in the end, the technical machines were almost completely reproduced, and in some ways even improved.
– Although Ukraine cannot boast of a rich tradition of high-quality automotive manufacturing, we already have considerable experience as military operators, and together with the creativity of our engineers and mechanics, we managed to do the almost impossible,” explained one of the specialists who participated in the development of Ukrainian Humvees.
Interestingly, the exterior of both cars is almost identical to the original models.
– When I first got into this Humvee of ours, I could not have imagined that it was a copy, not the original. Almost everything here is exactly the same as on an American car. Only when I was told that it was no longer a Humvee, but a Kharakternyk, did I take a closer look and notice certain differences in the interior,” the fighter with the call sign “Satan” admitted.
In the case of the M113, a much deeper modernization was required.
– You know that this was originally the first aluminum APC, but this war has shown a certain vulnerability of this solution. That’s why our Sikach is made of an original alloy, which I’m sure will pleasantly surprise our guys. And the enemies will be unpleasantly surprised,” the developer noted.
The power plant of the armored personnel carrier has also undergone significant changes. The authors of the idea say that their solutions have even improved the driving and speed characteristics of the car.
– Of course, we do this without a license, so we had to do everything on the go, on the wheels, as they say. The war does not give us time to quickly coordinate all formalities. We hope that our American allies will understand our situation and, given their problems with supplies at the legislative level, will not condemn us for this, but rather help us. We, on the other hand, are ready to share our own experience in improving these machines. “When people find out after the victory how we managed to set up the Humvee assembly line in Ukraine, everyone will be very surprised,” said one of the authors of the development, who goes by the call sign “Smoke.”
The operators of such equipment, the soldiers, assault and reconnaissance men and women themselves, are only surprised and happy to have the opportunity to fight with Ukrainian “NATO” equipment.
– It was a very cool feeling when American M113s and Humvees arrived for the first time, when we saw them and used them in combat. But now, knowing that our craftsmen can do no worse, practically from scrap materials, it is beyond words how inspiring it is. “We have already cut down more than a dozen orcs with these ‘Sikachs’,” summarized “Smoke”.
