BA-30 (1937)

Soviet Union, Half-Track Car (1937) prototype - 1 built

Development of the BA-30

The Soviet Union was introduced to the half track concept already in 1912 when French Military engineer Adolphe Kégresse (1879-1943) moved in 1905 to Tsar Nicholas II court, in St.Petersburg, to improved the mobility in winter of his car park designining a flexible track system and converted his personal vehicles. He fled the revolution and came back to France to continue working on the same concept for Citroën which also produced a range of military half-tracks for the French Army in the interwar. His ultimate legacy was the M2/M3 half track of WW2 fame when white acquired the Kegresse licence.

Back in USSR, the half track concept was not forgotten and in fact, in 1918 already was designed the Austin Kegresse, based on the popular Austin armoured car, which tracked system was directly derived fropm the 1913 Russo-Balt C24-30. The last were destroyed during the Russo-Polish war in 1921. Later, Lenin's personal Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was also converted with Kégresse track by the Putilov plant, at Gorki Leninskiye.

Fast forward and half-tracks were no longer seen as a priority in the red army, having seemingly no real advantage over fully tracks vehicles. Development of half-track restarted in 1934 at the KBS design bureau, Izhora plant. The following year in 1935, the Red Army procurement bureau presented a project for an half-track armored vehicle name BA-6S ("Kegress Snow") based on the NATI-3, but due to the production of the latter was cancelled after 900 made, development was stopped.

In 1936 the idea to resurfaced, ported by the NATI institute. The latter was founded in 1925, and originally designed and manufactured Motorcycles in 1931-33 under the direction of engineer Pyotr Mozharov, before being transferred to Podolsk plant. It became later essentially an engineering bureau, for the R&D of tractor designs, assemblies and systems, standardization and certification of tractor equipment. It also worked on track systems and conversions.

In 1936, the design started at NATI, with a contract signed, and initial manufactured at NATI, but the armored hull was to manufactured assembled at Vyksa. The new armored vehicle was called the BA-30, ready at the end of 1936 fir initial tests, fixes in preliminary runs and by the winter of 1937 it was sent at the NIBT testing ground for testing. The following modifications were asked for:

1. More powerful M-1 engine rated for 50 hp instead of the 40-hp GAZ-AA;
2. Improved cooling by a T-37 tank radiator (22L vs 13.5L)
3. Demultiplier installed behind the GAZ-AA gearbox;
4. Additional differentials installed between the drive wheels;
5. Chassis shortened by 50 cm, wheelbase by 39 cm.
6. Propeller shaft shortened by 39 cm
7. Front springs reinforced by adding two leafs
8. Propeller limiters with shortened rollers
9. Anti-ditch rollers mounted forward to overcome obstacles.

Thus, the idea of converting the BA-20 armoured car into a half-track to improve its handling in the mud and snow was developed, hoping to improve on its off-road performance. This was also a prototype conversion for the future BA series 6x6 armoured cars, but the final vehicle was based on the chassis of the NATI-3 half-tracked transporter, essentially manufactured later as the BA-60 half track, converted from the 4x6 GAZ-AA general purpose truck standard of the Red Army (one million built). On this chassis, the armored hull of the BA-20, heavily modified, was fully welded. A prototype was tested in 1937 and a small pre-production batch was ordered for field testing in 1938. They were later modified and made ready for the 1939 war with Finland. This vehicle received the standard designation BA-30.

BA-30 Design

Hull, protection and Layout

The BA-30 had a newly design hull, still inspired with the BA-20, but with 4-6 mm (0.3 in) welded plates and hybrid between the FAI and BA-20 in outklook. The Armament consisted of a standard 7.62 mm or 0.3 inches DT machine gun in a rotating turret taeke directly from the BA-20. It was mounted one step below compared to the forward cab. Ammunition consisted of 24 machine gun ammo disks in four racks at the rear of the hull. The crew of three accessed via two forward cab side doors. For observation, there were 5 hatches and 7 viewing slits plus the turret mushroom. Communication was done by a station of the bedframe type (handrail antenna) anchored along the hull, connected to a 71-TK-1 with radio.

Mobility

Forward was placed the steering axle with roadwheels identical to the GAZ AA. The flexible tracks at the rear were protected by a large mudguard. It was composed of four small on two bogies at the center and two large wheels, along with one return roller which was also incorporated on the NATI-3 and GAZ-60. When used in snowy environments two skis could be added to the front wheels at both ends for traction plus a single return roller on top. The rubberized fabric track was compopsed of dual track links attacched to aluminum plates to improve ground traction. To cope with snow, the forward directional wheeled axle of the BA-30 could receive a pair of skis, installed when not in use on the rear mudguards.

The track system was essentially similar to the NATI-3 and resulting GAZ-60 half-tracked truck. The cose was in steel with rubber inserts and grooves. Thos was still a heavy system, way more than the former wheeled axle. Initially the vehicle was noted for good all-terrain performance and gradient crossing capability enabled by its high power-to-weight ratio, to high sopes but it was utterly slow.

Fate

Test showed the vehicle was quite capable in endurance. In tests of February-July 1937, the BA-30 traveled 2,380 km, including 977 in winter, 236 km on paved roads, and dirt road on wheels and tracks, 739 km on the same but on virgin soil, on skis and tracks plus 1,403 km in summer and spring, 9,418 on paved road and 985 km on dirt road.

During tests the BA-30 with a weight of 4.595 tons, showed an average speed of 36.6 km/h on paved road, but 15.35 km/h on skis on dirt road, down to 8.82 km/h on virgin snow. Cruising range was 253 km on paved roads, down to 122 km on a snowy or muddy road and on skis, down to 82 km on virgin snow, also on skis. When overcoming obstacles, in summer it could negociate hard turf soil at 15-16° but in winter it could crwl thjorough snow 30-35 cm deep on a slope at 12-13°. It could overcome an obstacle and ford 68 cm water with a hard sandy soil bottom. The BA-30 was noted for having good performance over varying terrains but slow and with limited range.

Besides mobility, the commission criticized its weak armament and armor, insufficient visibility, poor ergonomics. In addition, it recommended strengthening the front axle and springs, increasing the rubber tracks strenght, with steel plates instead of aluminum ones. It was asked to simplify the track tensioning mechanism and change the drive wheels for simpler models, as maintenance showed a replacement in 6 man-hours. The front rollers were also not useful, but overall, installing a more powerful engine and other changes.

In conclusion of the report signed by the commission head, Major Kulchitsky:

"The experimental BA-30 has a number of fundamental design and production deficiencies. The main deficiencies are as follows: the armament is insufficient, the armor is weak, the chassis is overloaded and unreliable for the operation of a half-track vehicle.
Elimination of all the noted deficiencies of the vehicle chassis requires more expenditure and time than the construction of a new vehicle, and all these chassis deficiencies were discovered during operation of the vehicle with the existing BA-30 hull and M-1 engine.
If the armament system is changed, more powerful armor and a more powerful engine are installed, the weight of the vehicle and the stress in individual mechanisms will increase. This cannot but affect the dynamics and strength of this armored vehicle.
It follows that the BA-30 is unsuitable for use in the Red Army, and eliminating the deficiencies without a fundamental revision of the entire armored vehicle is impractical.
It is necessary to develop a project for a half-track armored vehicle taking into account all the materials on testing vehicles of this type."

The testing report for the BA-30 were reviewed by the scientific and technical committee by the end of 1937 and noted that of there was still an interest for an armoured half-track armored car, the originaly chassis was deemed undufficient and the production of the GAZ-60 truck was already put into quesiton. It was decided to stop further development until a new half-track drive was developed. Still, a small series of BA-30 were produced and sent to the front in the Soviet-Finnish war in 1939. But this is remained unconfirmed by archives.

In the annual reports of the Vyksa plant for 1933-1941 a single line reports the BA-30 for 1936: "BA-30 armored car - 1 unit, cost 30 thousand rubles, customer - NATI." There are no traces of a further production in the Izhora Plant documents, nor the list of armored vehicles in the Red Army on January 1, 1938, also listing prototypes, and still reportinga single vehicle. As for its participation in the Soviet-Finnish War, it remained unsupported by documents. MIt is possible tetimonies rather were of ZIS-22 and GAZ-60 half-track truck instead used by rifle divisions and tank units. In the end, the production refusal was motivated by the fact it provide no significant advantages over contemporary armored cars such as the BA-6.

BA-30 specifications
Dimensions (L-w-h)	4.94 x 2.4 x 2.34 m (16ft 2in x 7ft 8in x 7ft 6in)
Weight	4.6t (9200 Ibs.)(combat ready)
Crew	Driver, co-driver/cdr., MG gunner
Propulsion	4 cyl. gas. GAZ-M1 50 hp (37 kW) 10.9 hp/t
Speed	37 kph (23 mph)
Range	253 km (157 miles)
Armament	7.62mm DT machine gun (1512 rounds)
Armor	4-6 mm (0.1-0.23 in)
Production	1 prototype

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BA-30 half track armoured car

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