KrAZ-255
KrAZ-255
Motor vehicle
The KrAZ-255 is a Ukrainian (formerly Soviet) three-axle off-road truck with six-wheel drive (6 × 6), intended for extreme operations. It was manufactured at the KrAZ plant beginning from 1967.
The KrAZ-255 was developed directly from its predecessor, the KrAZ-214 (produced 1956-1967). Despite being very similar at first glance (both using the same cab, flatbed as well as the suspension), there are few major differences. Firstly, the 255 used new and much more powerful engine - the YaMZ-238 (same used in MT-LB tracked APC), replacing the previously used and sensibly weaker YaAZ-206B which was used in 214. The 255 also featured new and more reliable transmission, the YaMZ-236N, instead of the previously used YaAZ-204. It also featured new headlights (which were now, together with turn signals, located in their own housings mounted on the fenders) and, most notably, much wider tires (1300 x 530 x 533 in dimensions), which offered lighter ground pressure and thus, even greater off-road capabilities when compared to its predecessor.
Along with Ural, ZiL, Kamaz, GAZ and MAZ, the KrAZ once represented one of six models of cargo/towing trucks (in its basic version, the KrAZ-255B) used by the Soviet Armed Forces, as well as by many civilian organizations in the former Soviet Union (mainly by various construction plants), where it was also used as a logging (the KrAZ-255L/L1) and dump truck (the KrAZ-256[3]).
Since the KrAZ-255 was the heaviest (weighing 12 tons empty) and most powerful (using a 14,900 ccm engine, producing 240 hp/180 kw) of all Soviet three-axle (6 × 6) military cargo trucks, it was most often used for towing heavier artillery pieces (such as D-74, M-46 and 2A65 howitzers or T-12 anti-tank gun) and also for towing various aircraft from their hangars to runways, or vice versa (in tractor-unit version, the KrAZ-255V).
Furthermore, it was also used as a platform for control cabin and the antennas of PRV-9/1RL19 Naklon[4] (NATO reporting name: "Thin-Skin") and PRV-16/1RL132 Nadyozhnost[5] (NATO reporting name: "Odd-Pair") Soviet height-finding radars, as well as for various engineer duties in specially-designed versions (such as PMP collapsible ferryboat intended to be used as a pontoon bridge and TMM-3[6] mobile bridgelayer), which are still being used today by various military forces across the globe.
The KrAZ-255 ultimately evolved into a new model as its successor in 1979, the KrAZ-260, whose only difference was a new design of cab and the interiors. Despite that however, the KrAZ-260 did not replace it in production, but was actually produced alongside it up until 1994, when both were finally discontinued in favour to KrAZ-6322 (a modernized model of KrAZ-260).
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