ZIL-2906

The ZIL-2906 was a screw-driven amphibious craft made by ZiL from July 1975 to 1979, with five built in total, and it was followed in 1980 by the ZIL-29061, which stayed in production until 1991. Its screw propulsion let it travel across swamp, snow and water where wheeled vehicles could not go. It was designed to recover returning Soyuz space capsules from difficult terrain, and was fitted with heaters for the front seats, a transponder, a radio and stretchers. It was carried on the back of a ZIL-4906 Bluebird six-wheeled recovery vehicle, which had a top speed of 80 kilometres per hour, until the ground became impassable for the larger vehicle, when it was unloaded, a job that took about half an hour. It weighed 2,000 kilograms, measured 4.9 metres long, and reached 16 kilometres per hour on water, 20 on swamp and 45 on snow.