James Kinnear looks back at Russian development of remote-controlled tanks – ‘Telemekhanicheskie Tanki’
Not so easy to pronounce, especially after a beer or two perhaps, but the history of Soviet ‘Telemekhanicheskie Tanki’ – telemechanical (remote controlled) tanks, sometimes abbreviated to ‘teletanki’ (teletanks) is one of many remarkable stories of Soviet military experimentation in the 1930s. The first Soviet experiments with remote control systems for the operation of tanks began in the mid-1920s, which is remarkable for a country that had at that time only just begun to series-produce indigenous tank designs. Work on tele-tanks was undertaken at several design institutes from the mid-1920s until the outbreak of war, with a significant number of different Soviet tanks and armoured vehicles being tested for application of this new technology, which could, if mastered, prove a significant advantage for the Red Army on the battlefield.
Almost a century later, the modern Russian Army has recently fielded several remotecontrol tracked armoured vehicles such as the ‘Uran’ series, with uses ranging from mine-clearance and combat engineering roles to mobile weapons platforms. These 21st Century developme…
