This year, “Sikorsky Challenge-2018” in the finale of competition among many others projects were selected a “glass, basalt plastics packaging for the manufacture packaging capacity of military products”.

The team of project designers united professionals from several organizations, particularly, from research laboratory of basalt fiber of Institute for Problems of Materials Science of NAS of Ukraine (candidates of technical science V.P. Sergeev and V.D. Klipov), Joint-stock company “Institute of Automated Systems” (candidate of technical sciences V.V. Kudryachenko) and department of HPSM of engineering-chemical faculty with professors O.E. Kolosova and V.I. Sivetskii.

According to existing estimations, the relevance of the project, in particular, is due to the fact that the need for storage and transportation package of ammunition in Ukraine is about 3.7 million units. The use of new package for ammunition (photo) will increase the safety of storage of ammunition, fire safety and significantly reduce costs at the stage of its preservation and exploitation. At the same time, the use of large volumes of scarce industrial wood, which is currently in use, and which has increased combustibility and has a limited shelf life (5-7 years) in open storage areas, is virtually ruled out on open warehouses.

Raw materials for the proposed packaging are basalt-type rocks, which are common in Ukraine and around the world. The principle of package unification allows using its type and size for 5-7 types of ammunition. Thus, ammunition on arsenals can be packed in packaging of just a few types and sizes. The developed technical solution allows creating a unified packaging, in which it is possible to pack products of different lengths and shapes without manufacturing of new packaging types and sizes and use of additional parts, carrying out only re-adjustment of the parts of the frame. The change in the configuration of the internal support elements allows usage of packing not only for for the storage of ammunition, but also, for example, for long-term storage of explosive substances used in mines.

New package does not burn, rot, and swell from moisture and has a long working life span – up to 30 years. This packaging, having a prefabricated structure, allows it to be assembled on arsenals and bases without the use of complex technological equipment. There are already made prototypes of packaging.

Today, the Ukrainian market as well as the market of CIS countries, where the packaging is produced, is merely competitive and undersaturated. The main Ukrainian consumer of project is enterprises of the defense industrial complex, which subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Application of our project will save at least dozens of millions UAH per year for the state budget of the country. Potential foreign consumers are the CIS countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, etc.), as well as foreign countries (China, Pakistan, Iran, India), which exported ammunition from the former USSR.

Inf. IHF