The Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau (KMDB) is a state enterprise, which is now Ukraine's leading design authority for armoured fighting vehicles and used to play a key role in the development of armoured tracked vehicles in the former Soviet Union.
The contemporary activities of the KMDB are distinguished by three main factors:
- the ability to offer customers a wide range of armoured vehicles and other products for both military and civil use, as well as obsolete vehicle upgrade packages;
- the provision of equipment closely tailored to customer's individual requirements;
- the availability of long-term support for the end user.
Main Areas of Activities and Product Range
The KMDB mostly specialises in the design, development and manufacture of armoured fighting vehicles. This capability is comprehensive and coves the whole life of a vehicle, from initial concept to post-design services.
The KMDB's range of tracked vehicles include Oplot MBT, Yatagan MBT, T-80UD MBT, BTMP-84 heavy infantry fighting vehicle, and BREM-84 armoured repair and recovery vehicle.
The wheeled vehicles the KMDB is dealing with comprise BTR-60, BTR-70, BTR-80 armoured personnel carriers, BTR-3U APC and BRDM-2 armoured reconnaissance vehicle.
The KMDB also specialises in the development of upgrade packages for the battle tanks that have become obsolete including T-72, T-64, T-62, T-59, T-55, and T-54.
Other projects the KMDB is involved in include the design and manufacture of engineer vehicles, as well as sophisticated training aids for armoured fighting vehicles.
In addition to these key businesses, the KMDB is involved in development of various equipment for civil use including equipment for metallurgy industry, radioactive waste handling equipment, special vehicles based on heavy tracked chassis, etc.
Tailoring the Equipment to Customer's Individual Requirements
In today's rapidly-changing and highly competitive market-place, the KMDB is flexible enough to respond quickly to customer's individual requirements. This is achieved by the modular design of the KMDB's vehicles and other products enabling the vehicle configuration to be changed quickly at low re-development cost. The other effective way to achieve quick response to customer's particular needs can often be by collaborative developments at the systems level, and the KMDB has been engaged in joint vehicle configuration development work with companies and organisations of France, Switzerland, Germany, Turkey, Pakistan, and China.
Product Support
Particular attention of the KMDB is paid to providing customers with a comprehensive range of product support services which include training cources, training equipment, assistance and advice on equipment management, in-country support, scaling and supply of spare parts, post-design services, and publications.
Training courses are provided covering all aspects of operation, maintenance and repair, as they have been designed both for the user and for the technician. These courses are held at Ukrainian Army training establishments in Ukraine, at the KMDB's own training facilities - where advanced technical training in repair can be provided - or, if appropriate, in the customer's own training schools and other in-country training facilities. Instruction can also be carried out in the facilities of the KMDB' sub-contractors.
Training of technicians is available to field and workshop levels of repair in mechanical and electrical parts, electronics, armament and instruments. Courses available for users cover operation, recovery, maintenance, and storeman skills.
A full training equipment package has been developed for each vehicle, ranging from simple classroom aids such as wall charts and viewfoils to full size training simulators. The training equipment is designed to allow both operator and technician training to be carried out in an efficient and cost effective manner with minimum requirement to divert armoured vehicles from their operational role.
The KMDB provides assistance and advice on equipment management, including an equipment management policy statement setting out the logistic plan to support the vehicles in service.
In-country support provided by the KMDB and its sub-contractors is normally established under the control of a resident project manager to receive, check, and commission vehicles prior to hand-over to the customer. A Ukrainian guarantee maintenance team will also be available to offer advice and assistance in maintaining the operational status of equipment and will remain on site for a specified period following delivery of the vehicles.
The scaling and supply of spare parts is an important consideration in maintaining operational effectiveness. The initial two year scaling of spare parts is specified with every vehicle contract, ant this takes into account such factors as fleet size, planned vehicle usage, climatic conditions, terrain and includes an operational contingency. Its content is the result of detailed consultation with the appropriate agencies in the customer's armed forces.
The timely supply of follow-on spares is ensured to meet customer's requirements, and expert advice on stock holding levels can be provided to take into account the possibility of local sourcing of spares. Spares are also supplied in the form of self-contained mobile technical stores (based on cross-country vehicle).
Post-design services are provided to meet the needs of users considering retrofit programmes in order to take advantage of new technology as it becomes available.
Full technical publications are available covering the operation, maintenance and repair of the vehicles designed or upgraded by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau. A full Illustrated Spare Parts List is provided to facilitate provisioning of repair and maintenance spares stocks and an Illustrated Tools Catalogue allows the easy identification of tools.
Test Facilities
The importance of comprehensive testing of both prototype and production vehicles has led the KMDB to invest heavily in a wide range of test facilities.
These facilities include a proving ground with cross-country and road test tracks for full automotive trials, firing range, and premises with sophisticated test-benches for proofing various systems and units of armoured vehicles, both tracked and wheeled.
Modern, purpose-designed test-bench rooms enable hot and dusty desert conditions to be artificially created to test the performance of vehicle power pack and other systems at ambient temperatures of up to +55°C.
Computer analysis, modern laboratories, and advanced instrumentation are also available. In addition, the KMDB maintains a proving ground with obstacle negotiating facilities used for trialling both tracked and wheeled armoured fighting vehicles.
Workforce
The greatest assets that the KMDB has are its people who develop and apply new ideas and new skills to ensure that the businesses within the KMDB stay at the forefront of technology, product innovation and quality engineering.
The KMDB's reputation for engineering excellence is founded on a high level of skill and commitment from its workforce achieved due to substantial investment in staff training. It's the people, their knowledge, their attitudes and beliefs that form the core that supports the enterprise.
At the KMDB there are over 1,000 talented peopled dedicated to the design, development and production of armoured vehicles, related systems and other products.
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