Is Vladimir Putin planning an armed attack on Santa’s Workshop?
A story this morning on thisweek.com reports that the Russian military is developing a fleet of snowmobiles that can be carried in and dropped out of helicopters, for use by Russian paratroopers in snowbound territory.
The photo that goes along with the story in ThisWeek.com shows an unmarked/stickerless Ski-Doo (or possibly Lynx?) snowmobile, but we’re speculating that that’s just because it was the only art the magazine website had on hand of a snowmobile. The story states that the sleds (130 in all) and 110 related ATVs will be developed and built in Russia at a company called Russkaya Mekhanika in the city of Rybinsk, northeast of Moscow.
The story goes on to say the sleds will feature reinforced fuel tanks that will “self-heel” if shot and a beefed up cooling system. And, of course, they will have mounts for a machine gun and/or a grenade launcher. The sleds will weigh 705 pounds and will be powered by a 65-horsepower liquid cooled engine, the story reports.
Click through to read the full story here. Is also has some interesting details of when over-snow vehicles (i.e., early version of snowmobiles) were used in previous wars.
