Kharkovchanka (Manufacture 404S) is a model of Antarctic off-road vehicle made in 1958 in the Soviet Union. These vehicles were manufactured by the Malyshev Factory in Kharkiv, Ukraine. These used parts from a T-54 tank and were based on the AT-T tractor platform. They were delivered to the South Pole in 1959 and a second generation of the Kharkovchanka was produced in 1969 and delivered later in 1975.
Russian South Pole Traverse
The seismic traverse had originated at Komsomolskaya (335 miles north of Vostok) on 6 November 1959, using five tractors and ten towed sledges for the first leg. The Vostok-South Pole trip, 800 miles each way, used 3 large tractors and 4 sledges. The first two vehicles seen here are heavy 35-ton Kharkovchanka (“snow tractor” or perhaps “chunky vehicle built in Kharkov”) machines. These were the second generation of Russian heavy traverse vehicles, designed for the annual inland station resupply trips. They had been delivered to Mirny and driven to Komsomolskaya the previous summer. Read more here…
This vehicle has got to be the ULTIMATE “BUG OUT” vehicle, PERIOD! –
And I WANT ONE! – Where can we buy one? I know there has to be a surplus unit or mothball yard somewhere that would gladly want to pull in some extra cash, and clean out inventory at the same time.