After the war is over, experts believe the country will need builders and architects, engineers and IT specialists, transport and logistics workers, and others. The prestige of the engineering profession-the degree of respect for it in society-which has recently declined should rise again. After all, engineers are primarily the creators of new, advanced things, aimed at progress in society. And the example of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute graduates is a confirmation of this.
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A powerful armored vehicle that appeared on Polytechnic Street one September day attracted the attention of passers-by. They stopped, wondered, and started talking. The formidable-looking machine, with large wheels and a gray-greenish color, was menacing and at the same time admired for its undisguised power. It was Artem Yushchuk, a graduate of the Institute of MMI, who was demonstrating a prototype of a new armored vehicle, Inguar3, created for the Defense Forces by his own company, Inguar Defense.
The beginnings. It all started with the student club “Formula Student KPI”, where, under the guidance of Professor Vitaliy Pasichnyk, then Head of the Department of Integrated Mechanical Engineering Technologies at MMI, the guys designed and manufactured cars and even took part in the Formula Student engineering competition alongside teams from well-known European universities with powerful sponsors and material resources. The club members learned how to work with cars, look for sponsors, and present a product. By the way, almost all of the “designers-mechanics-pilots” who created the first racing cars at KPI 10 years ago now work at machine-building enterprises, and eight of them work at Inguar Defense.
When they were still students, Artem and his friends rented a garage and started providing car repair and tuning services, including for European races. (For laymen, tuning is not only about the exterior design, but also about improving the car and changing its factory features and parameters.) The work is painstaking, responsible, and expensive.
The Great War. From the very first days of the war, the guys wanted to be useful. At first, they repaired old Soviet trawls that were urgently needed by the Armed Forces to transport armored vehicles, and prepared Canadian Senator armored vehicles for shipment to the front (the first batches of these vehicles were designed for the police and were not very suitable for frontline conditions).
They also repaired other vehicles for the military, gradually expanding. “We received various types of armored vehicles and even armored personnel carriers,” Artem Yushchuk recalls. “From his communication with the military, he understood well what a modern armored vehicle should look like. And together with his friends, he decided to create such a vehicle.
“Inguar3. A young team was assembled to develop the armored vehicle: the oldest is 25 years old, the youngest is 22. Artem Yushchuk says: “The military uses armored vehicles in particularly dangerous areas of the frontline. Where there are enemy drones, saboteurs or mines, the crew travels in an armored vehicle. These vehicles are required to be fast, cross-country and protected from explosions.
Typically, Ukrainian armored vehicles are made on a basic chassis. Manufacturers buy a pickup truck (most often a Ford F550) and layer armor and additional equipment on it. This is the fastest and cheapest way to build an armored vehicle, but it has certain weight and armor limitations. For the Inguar3 vehicle, we created our own chassis capable of maintaining STANAG 3 protection, which means it can withstand hits from 7.62mm armor-piercing bullets, fragments from 155mm shells, and an anti-tank mine. No other Ukrainian company has ever achieved this level of protection on a production armored vehicle.”
Today, Inguar3 is a multifunctional modular armored vehicle with a unique configuration. It can be transformed into an amphibious vehicle, a pickup truck or a heavy weapons carrier. The vehicle has already been tested at a training ground in Kyiv and in the combat zone, where it served as an evacuation and transportation vehicle. The vehicle was highly appreciated by the military of the 12th Azov Special Forces Brigade. The vehicle has been approved for use by the Ministry of Defense and the company is ready to sign contracts. The armored vehicle also has a STANAG 3 quality certificate from NATO. If everything goes well, it may find a place in the global market.
IN KPI. But let's get back to the Polytechnic. Artem not only demonstrated his work, but also gave a lecture to the students: “How KPI will become a new core of modern technical education in Ukraine and what a student needs to do to become a powerful, highly paid specialist.” He once again emphasized that Inguar Defense plans to assemble armored vehicles for defenders and revive the profession of engineer, for which the company takes interns from his native KPI and intends to launch an engineering school: “The university is now an opportunity to attract hundreds of new ideas to the country's defense. To master, reengineer, develop. Of course, it would be cooler to make cars for racing. But in order to return to this tomorrow, we have to work for victory today. And prove to everyone that the new core of high-quality technical education is here, in the heart of Kyiv.” It should be noted that the open-air event brought together students from different faculties and institutes of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, in particular, the Institute of MMI, the Institute of IAT, IHF, FL, the Institute of IMZ, the Institute of ITS, PBF, RTF, FEA, FIOT and FMM.
“Formula KPI Student is not just a club, it is a legendary community that has existed for over 10 years and has raised a whole galaxy of talented engineers, launching many successful projects, including the development of an armored vehicle and the creation of the Kotyhoroshko platform,” the Institute of MMI noted. The Inguar armored car, the legendary Formula KPI Student project, the development of the KPI TechnoHUB - all of these started with simple ideas, but thanks to work and inspiration, they became great. Each of you can become a part of these success stories. So don't be afraid to take the first step and join the FS KPI team if you dream of implementing your engineering developments.”
Indeed, the future grows out of the present, but it is born and begins to develop in the past.