ラリー車を戦闘用に改造、前線へ　ウクライナ南部の工場

【ザポリージャＡＦＰ＝時事】ウクライナ南部ザポリージャの工場で、自動車競技のラリー用の車を戦闘用に改造する作業が行われている。改造車は、ウクライナ軍がロシア軍と戦う前線へ送られる。（写真はラリー車を改造した「戦闘用バギー」）
　作業員は、車のマフラーを交換し、競技用の装備を外し、内装を変えるなどして改造を進めていく。監督するのは、実業家のウォロディミル・タルホフさん（３２）だ。
　以前はグラスファイバー製の船やカヤックを作っていたというタルホフさんは、ロシアによるウクライナ侵攻開始後、友人と共に一般車約３０台を軍事用に改造したという。
　地元の複数の実業家が支援を申し出ており、鋼材や車のパーツの購入費用を負担している。
　工場ではこの日、「戦闘用バギー」への改造作業が行われていた。ウクライナ人のラリードライバーが使用していたロシアの「ラーダ」のエンジンを搭載している。
　ドアを外し、走行音を抑えたほか、機関銃での射撃を想定してフロントに大きな開口部を設けた。このバギーは「とても速くて運転しやすい」と、兵士から好評だという。
　改造車両を点検するため工場を訪れた兵士の一人は、前線部隊用の車両は不足しており、部隊が現在使用している車両の多くは有志から提供を受けたものだと話した。
　兵士はこの「戦闘用バギー」について、全方向に銃撃が可能である点を評価し、「きょう納車され、前線基地へ届ける」と語った。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/06/22-15:51）

At a workshop in Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine, mechanics are hard at work turning rally cars into vehicles that can be used to fight Russian troops on the frontline.
They change mufflers, remove sports tuning and change the interiors to create pared-down vehicles -- all under the supervision of businessman Volodymyr Tarkhov.
Before the Russian invasion, the 32-year-old produced fibreglass catamarans and kayaks.
Since the start of the war, Tarkhov said he and his friends have converted around 30 ordinary passenger cars for the military.
Now they are completing work on a combat buggy with the engine from a Russian Lada model used by Ukrainian rally drivers -- their second such conversion.
They took out doors, made it quieter and added a large hole at the front through which to shoot with a machine gun.
Welder Maxym Sendukov, 33, said the new muffler will make the car almost completely inaudible to the enemy.
The goal is to make the car a little quieter to be able to pass by and stay invisible, he said.
- 'Comfortable for soldiers' -
In the early days of the Russian invasion, the mechanics were busy building anti-tank obstacles and installing concrete blocks to protect the entry points to the city.
Their car conversion is sponsored by local businessmen who buy metal and car parts.
In general we are just making the car comfortable for soldiers to sit in it or get out, said Yevgen, 45, whose role is to strip out the car to prepare it for welding.
He said the soldiers who have been using the other buggy the team produced have said it is very fast and easily manoeuvrable.
It is very useful in intelligence and military missions, he said.
One of the soldiers who had come to inspect the car, a 50-year-old with the callsign Mamai, said there were not enough cars for soldiers operating on the frontline.
He said many vehicles brought to the frontline were being sourced by volunteers.
Jeeps and minibuses are needed at the frontline to move lots of people.
For Mamai, the advantage of the combat buggy was that all the passengers could shoot on all sides of the car.
We will take the car today and take it to our positions, he said.