The Armiya-2024 military forum continues in russia, and this time we take a look at the Karakal unmanned ground vehicle demonstrated by Kurganmashzavod. Usually, this enterprise specializes in the production of BMP-3 and BMD-4M light armored vehicles, which are among the most advanced in the russian military; this makes their new development worth particular attention.
It becomes even more interesting if we consider the declared specifications of this product, provided by btvt.info, as they reflect that the engineers seemingly did not fully understand what they were making their robot for and which tasks it was supposed to perform.
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The control range of Karakal is 1,500 meters, and the empty weight is 3.4 tons. No information regarding any weapons or payload supported by this unmanned platform, same with payload capacity. Considering the design, it would be more appropriate to call it a robotic tankette: there's no equipment to keep cargo in place if carried outside and very limited room on the inside.
The only hint about its purpose is mentioned in the written description saying it's designed to operate both in urban and off-road environments, and there are unspecified "modules of various purpose" it can be equipped with based on operational needs. At the same time, the manufacturer positions this development as intended mostly for surveillance and cargo delivery.
The diesel engine integrated in this vehicle was commonly used in commercial skid-steer loaders, it has a power of 46 kW, it comes with a hydraulic transmission. Karakal has three cameras: for day and night vision in the front plus another optical camera in the rear. We can see tubes of the smoke screen launchers facing forward. The document also mentions inertial and GPS guidance systems potentially indicating an ability to autonomously return to the home base if the control link is disrupted.
In general, the concept of this UGV raises more questions than gives answers. It is positioned as a simplistic load carrier but implements a layout suitable for an armored combat unit, with its compact design and tracked chassis, not particularly efficient for delivering cargo or swiftly moving around on reconnaissance missions.
Earlier Defense Express closely analyzed another odd creation of the russian defense industry presented at this event: the D-30 howitzer mounted on a robotic platform which turned out to be a flop that clearly illustrates russia's real industrial capability, with automated chassis but still required the crew to tag along and lay the gun manually after each shot.
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