In Ukraine, a sapper robot was used on a tank chassis

The layout of the vehicle in comparison with the tank has been seriously changed in order to give the best possible clearance capabilities. Unmanned and electromagnetic effects on mines significantly distinguish it from foreign samples.

From the very beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been actively using mines of various types, but often they do not make maps of minefields or even use remote systems for mining, scattering mines of the Petal type. Unlike the mines installed by the Russian "Agriculture" system, the Ukrainian ones are not equipped with a self-destruct time or radio command, therefore they remain dangerous for the civilian population for decades.

Due to such chaotic and ill-conceived actions on mines, citizens of Ukraine themselves are regularly killed, and far from the line of contact (in the photo — a destroyed tractor in the Chernihiv region, a tractor driver was killed). Therefore, the task of mine clearance is of particular importance.

The Breakthrough-1 robotics complex was created on the basis of the BMR-3MA armored mine clearance vehicle. The mass of the system, depending on the specific minesweeper selected, is 50-51 tons. The trawls are mounted in front to the unified fasteners and replaced relatively quickly. A typical trawl — for example, TMT-S. It has two rows of large-mass skating rinks: eight in the front row, six in the back.

In addition, the trawl is equipped with an electromagnetic EMT prefix designed to activate mines oriented to a magnetic field. The impact on anti-ship anti-tank mines ensures their detonation at a distance of up to 100 meters. Dynamic armor blocks are used to protect against such systems.

BMR-3 with one of the variants of mine trawls

Image source: A.V. Karpenko

A tower has been removed from the chassis of the complex, in place of which there is a cabin. There may be two crew members in it, but there may be no one — the control system of the car has a mode that is often mistakenly called "unmanned". In fact, everything is somewhat more complicated: there is a remote control mode when there is no one in the "Breakthrough" itself, but the operator gives commands through an interference-proof radio channel.

But there is also a programmable mode: in it, the operator tells the car in advance the route through the minefield, as well as the way back to the desired point for the crew. In this video, one of the remote control options of the complex is implemented, although it is not indicated which of the two:

At first glance, the possibility of unmanned operation of a remote-controlled sapper robot may seem redundant: the basic mine clearance machine itself is very well protected, and its mine protection is enhanced in comparison with a conventional tank. However, in the future, such a step may be more than justified. The Russian army has already created anti-tank mines that hit the roof of the tank, PTKM-1R. By the way, they managed to apply them in Ukraine. The peculiarity of such mines is that, unlike all others in world history, they are more like a "roof-piercing" Javelin-type ATGM. Only, unlike the latter, the launch of a roof-piercing mine, automatically searching for targets in the vicinity, is more difficult to notice from the tank:

Although other countries do not have such mines today, it is impossible to exclude their appearance in the future. In addition, roof-piercing ATGMs can use enemy forces wishing to interfere with mine clearance. In this case, the capabilities of a robotic sapper will also be in high demand.