The IMR-2 is a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n tracked military engineering vehicle built on

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks ha ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

chassis. IMR stands for ''Inzhenernaya Mashina Razgrazhdeniya'' (russian: link=no, инженерная машина разграждения-2; ИМР-2), meaning "Clearing Engineering Vehicle". Development of the IMR-2 begun in 1970s and completed in 1980, while commercial production commenced in 1982. IMR-2 developed to replace aging IMR which built on the basis of

T-54/55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks ...

tank. The IMR-2 combat engineering vehicle is in service with Russian Army and some foreign militaries. It took part in Soviet-Afghan War,

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also known as the First Chechen Campaign,, rmed conflict in the Chechen Republic and on bordering territories of the Russian FederationФедеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 1995 (в реда� ...

Second Chechen War The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russia, Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from Augus ...

, Russian invasion of Ukraine and was in addition used in relief operations after

Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...

Design

IMR-2 was derived from the

tank. The turret of the

was replaced with a new rotating multipurpose telescopic crane. The IMR-2 has a bulldozer blade fitted on the front of the hull, which has a V shape and a straight shape and a 200 – 250 m³/h capacity. When not required, the blade is folded upwards. Stone barriers can be cleared at the rate of 280 to 350 meter an hour while trenches and tree barriers can be filled in at the rate of 350 to 400 m³/h. A 12.7 mm NSVT machine gun is mounted on the crew operator/commander cabin, for the self-protection of the vehicle.

Propulsion

The IMR-2 is powered by a multi-fuel water-cooled diesel engine V-84Ms developing 840 hp, the same engine used in the

. The IMR-2 can run at a maximum road speed of 50 km/h with a maximum range of 500 km. The IMR-2 uses the same torsion bar suspension as the main battle tank

, which consists of six road wheels on each side. This combat engineering vehicle is operated by a 2-man crew.

Variants

*IMR: First version of combat engineering vehicle built on T-54/55 medium battle tank chassis, powered by a V-55 diesel engine developing 520 hp. *IMR-2M1: Simplified model without the mine-clearing system. Entered service in 1982. Based on

T-72A The T-72 is a Soviet Union, Soviet-designed main battle tank that entered production in 1971. It replaced the T-54/55 series as the workhorse of Soviet tank forces (while the T-64 and T-80 served as the Soviet high-technology tanks). In front- ...

tank hull. *IMR-2M2: Improved version that is better suited for operations in dangerous situations, for example in contaminated areas. It entered service in 1990 and has a modified crane arm with bucket instead off the pincers. *IMR-2MA: Latest version with bigger operator's cabin armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun NSV. *Klin-1: Remote controlled IMR-2. *IMR-3M: Combat engineering vehicle built on the

T-90 The T-90 is a third-generation Russian main battle tank. It uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an upgraded engine, and gunner's thermal sight. Standard protective measures include a blend of steel and compos ...

main battle tank chassis. The vehicle is 9,320 mm long, 3,500 mm wide and 3,430 mm high and weighs 49.5 t with the KMT-RZ minesweeping device. The IMR-3M is powered by an 840-hp V-84MS multifuel diesel engine, producing a maximum speed of 60 km/h and a range of 500 km. The baseline AEV is fitted with a U-type dozer blade, jib-type crane with an excavator bucket, and minesweeping plow. A chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear BRNreconnaissance device, smokescreen generator, advanced signal suite and automatic fire extinguisher are fitted. The IMR-3M is armed with an NSVT 12.7 mm heavy machinegun MGin a remotely controlled station. Production started in 2016 and is currently ongoing. IMR-3M is capable of fording water barriers up to 5 m deep along the bottom.

References

{{Tanks converted to armored vehicles Military engineering vehicles of the Soviet Union Omsktransmash products Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s