02SS Aerosan: A Tank in the Snow

The history of the aerosan in Russia and then the USSR is old and varied. The first mass produced aerosans were built in 1912, were actively used in WWI and then the Russian Civil War. Development of aerosans received great attention due to the geographical features of our country. It was not surprising that the Red Army had the largest aerosan fleet in the world during the Great Patriotic War. Meanwhile, the widely used NKL-26 reconnaissance aerosan was a pale shadow of what was initially planned for production. The wishes of the Soviet military materialized as the 02SS battle aerosan which had no equivalent in any country in the world.

TsKB-50 Aerosan Trials

"Central Committee of the VKP(b) decree II23/174 issued on December 10th, 1940, states that:

1. TsKB-50: In accordance with the tactical-technical characteristics approved by the Committee of Defense of the SNK on December 11th, 1940, an experimental armoured aerosan must be developed, similar to the Tunguska sleds.
2. NKVD factory #5:
1. Assemble a full sized model in parallel with the design process, due on December 25th, 1940.
2. Assemble a prototype by January 25th, 1941.

The assigned due dates for the model and prototype were met.

The experimental armoured aerosan consists of a Tunguska style two-skid sled 7.7 meters in length, 1.9 meters wide, with 0.4 meter wide skids (in the middle). The skis are wooden and the lower part is covered by 2 mm thick stainless steel. The skids are connected with a welded frame made from thin aircraft pipes. The frame cross-section resembled an arc with 400 mm clearance.