Created from MiG-21 fighters and T-34 tanks, the Big Wind machine possesses tremendous power. It does not release firepower but to spray water.
In the first months of 1991, Kuwait was engulfed in fire with about 605-732 oil wells in this country burned by the Iraqi army. At times, the amount of smoke released absorbs up to 75-80% of solar radiation, leading to local people having to deal with a serious environmental pollution disaster.
In the midst of that difficult situation, a massive tank called Big Wind appeared, slowly moving to each oil well, releasing water from the pools dug near the fire at a fast speed like lightning and putting out the fire. In November 1991, the last burning oil well in Kuwait was extinguished, and Big Wind became the “hero” of this country.
Since the late 1980s, the Russians have been researching and developing cars capable of spraying water at high speed and flow. By mounting the MiG-15’s engine on the truck, they created a special vehicle for clearing snow and extinguishing large fires.
However, the Hungarians – allies of Russia at that time were the authors of the Big Wind fire truck. Big Wind is created from the chassis of the T-34 tank and the engine of the MiG-21 fighter jet is capable of generating more than 12,000 kg of thrust.
With such tremendous power, this monster is capable of spraying 832 liters of water per second with a spraying speed of up to 1,239 km / h – approximately the speed of sound.
With a massive, sturdy body inherent to a tank, and two giant muzzles made from military aircraft engines, Big Wind is likened to the Frankenstein of the fire department – a monster assembled from the kit parts of dead machines.
The Big Wind control team has 3 members, including the pilot, the aircraft engine operator and the fire commander. Together with Big Wind, these teams have won many big fires around the world.
Big Wind proved to be very effective because during 43 days of deployment in Kuwait, this monster extinguished 9 to 10 well fires, far more than the average rate of only 2 to 3 cases of other fire departments.
Since the victory in Kuwait, Big Wind has been modernized with the chassis of the T-55 tank and continues to extinguish oil fires and clear many runways around the world. This giant water jet becomes a demonstration of what military technology can be applied to in life.