With most of the major combat vehicles having been spoken for as scale replicas, it made sense for Panzerkampf to dabble in the more obscure subjects to gain greater traction in the diecast ranks. Earlier today, we noticed plans to come out with a pair of Soviet KV-3 heavy tanks, a vehicle that never made it onto the battlefield due to the surprise German invasion of Russia in June 1941. Although two prototypes were developed, the factory building the vehicles had to be quickly packed up and relocated east of the Urals otherwise it would have fallen into the hands of advancing Wehrmacht forces.
While poking around the web, we also noticed that Panzerkampf has another KV tank up its sleeve, one which is likely due out after the KV-3: the ubiquitous KV-220 heavy tank. The KV-220 (otherwise known as KV-220-2, T-220, Object 220, or just 220 in factory documents) was proposed in 1940 as a replacement for the KV-1 that was already considered inadequate by the Red Army. Another vehicle, the T-150, was meant to have a 700 hp engine while the KV-220 was to be served with an 850 hp engine, but problems were encountered in building such powerful engines. As a result, both the KV-220 and T-150 didn’t meet the Red Army’s expectations, and bets were hedged on the KV-3, 4 or 5 as the Red Army’s heavy tank for the years to come. The Nazi invasion changed all that, so plans were overhauled in a hurry to meet the threat.
We’re going to assume that the KV-3 tanks will become available some time this summer, with the elongated KV-220 showing up in the fall.
In other news, the manufacturer is looking to become a serious player in the military aircraft space with its announcement that it plans to offer two versions of the Dassault Rafale B fighter jet. The Dassault Rafale (literally meaning “gust of wind”, and “burst of fire” in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range of weapons, the Rafale is intended to perform air superiority, interdiction, aerial reconnaissance, ground support, in-depth strike, anti-ship strike and nuclear deterrence missions. The Rafale is referred to as an “omnirole” aircraft by Dassault. Like the Rafale, dates of availability are still up in the air.