Soviet-era screw-propelled Russian truck is restored to tackle the world’s most rugged terrains

THIS may be one of the most bizarre ex-military vehicles currently in operation.

A Russian mechanics expert has restored a Soviet-era military vehicle that moves without the use of wheels or tracks - but is entirely screw-propelled.

Originally built in the 1970s, the vehicle uses giant metal screws which move it forward by twisting across the ground.

Formerly used by the Russian military, the truck was purchased by Alexei Anikin, who is the Director at JSC Plant of All-terrain Vehicles.

His team restored the motor back to working order, recently testing it swampland near the Nizhniy Novgorod Region in Russia.

Alexei Anikin said: “We’re proud that we’re the first in the country who started producing this vehicles after a roughly 30-year break, because, starting from the 1970s such automobiles hadn’t been produced in our country.”

The unique truck can move across most difficult terrains, including water, swampland and snow.

Fitted with a 159bhp engine, it is capable of carrying diggers, cranes and rescue equipment to areas that were previously inaccessible by land.

Umar Vakhidov, Deputy Head of the Construction at Novgorod State Technical University said: “We think, that it will be actively used, at first, by the army, at second, by geologists, by oil and gas producers.

"We got used to solid surfaces, but regions of Siberia and the Far North mostly have creeping soil. This car is vital for oil and gas producers.”

Screw-propelled machines were first used by the military during the Second World War, after a German soldier came up with a design for a snow machine using the mechanism.

The USA used similar vehicles to transport supplies across swamp lands during the Vietnam War, but they have remained largely disused since the mid-1970s.