Malyshev Factory

Malyshev Factory

Company type	Government-owned enterprise
Industry	Heavy industrial manufacturing, defense
Predecessor	Kharkov Locomotive Factory
Founded	1895
Headquarters	Kharkiv , Ukraine
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Diesel engines, agricultural machinery, coal mining equipment, sugar refining machinery, wind farm components, armored fighting vehicles (including tanks such as BT series, T-34, T-64, T-80, T-84)
Owner	State corporation Ukroboronprom
Number of employees	~5,000 (as of recent years) (circa 2015)
Parent	Ukroboronprom

The Malyshev Factory (Ukrainian: Завод імені В.О. Малишева, romanized: Zavod imeni V.O. Malysheva; abbreviated ЗІМ, ZIM), previously known as the Kharkov Locomotive Factory (Russian: Харьковский паровозостроительный завод, romanized: Khar'kovskiy parovozostroitel'nyy zavod, ХПЗ, KhPZ), is a government-owned enterprise specializing in heavy industrial manufacturing located in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The facility is named in honor of Soviet statesman Vyacheslav Malyshev and operates under the state corporation Ukroboronprom.

Its production portfolio includes diesel engines, agricultural machinery, equipment for coal mining, machinery for sugar refining, and components for wind farm installations. However, the factory’s primary reputation stems from its role in producing Soviet-era armored vehicles, including the swift BT tank series, the iconic World War II T-34, the Cold War models T-64 and T-80, as well as their contemporary Ukrainian evolution, the T-84. The Malyshev Factory maintains close collaboration with the Morozov Design Bureau (KMDB), responsible for designing military armoured fighting vehicles, and the Kharkiv Engine Design Bureau (KEDB), which focuses on engine development. Notably, in 1958, it engineered the Kharkovchanka, an all-terrain vehicle that successfully reached the South Pole in 1959.

During its peak period within the Soviet Union, the factory employed approximately 60,000 workers out of Kharkiv’s 1.5 million residents.

By As of 2015, its workforce had decreased to around 5,000 employees.

Naming

The facility has undergone multiple name changes over time. Initially designated in Russian, English-language references have alternated among terms such as factory, plant, or works. Presently, sources tend to adopt the Ukrainian equivalent of zavod to describe the establishment.

Timeline

• 1895—The Kharkov Locomotive Factory was founded (Russian: Харьковский паровозостроительный завод or KhPZ, Khar'kovskiy parovozostroitel'nyy zavod, ХПЗ / Ukrainian: Харківський паровозобудівний завод, romanized: Kharkivskyy parovozobudivnyy zavod)
• 1923—Initiation of tractor manufacturing for the Kommunar model
• 1928—The factory was renamed Kharkov Komintern Locomotive Factory (Russian: Khar'kovskiy parovozostroitel'nyy zavod imeni Kominterna, Харьковский паровозостроительный завод имени Коминтерна), and established a tank design bureau
• 1936—Rebranded as Factory No. 183 (Zavod No. 183)
• 1941—Relocated to Nizhny Tagil in the Urals due to wartime conditions, merging with the Uralvagonzavod Factory to create Ural Tank Factory No. 183
• 1945—Reopened at Kharkov as Diesel Factory No. 75
• 1957—Renamed as Malyshev Plant (Ukrainian: Zavod imeni V.A. Malysheva, Завод імені В.А. Малишева)

History

Originally, the Kharkov Locomotive Factory (KhPZ) was responsible for manufacturing approximately one-fifth of the Russian Empire’s railway engines. Following the Russian Revolution and the rise of the Soviet administration in Ukraine, the factory shifted its focus to designing and producing tractors, and after 1927, it expanded into tank manufacturing. In 1929, under the terms of the Treaty of Rapallo, 1922, both Leningrad’s Bolshevik Factory and Kharkov’s KhPZ became the initial Soviet tank production facilities to benefit from modernization efforts supported by German expertise.

Tank production

In 1928, a dedicated tank design bureau was formed within the factory, which later evolved into the Morozov Design Bureau. This bureau was instrumental in creating some of the most effective tanks ever produced. The KhPZ developed and manufactured twenty-five units of the T-24 tank and nearly eight thousand BT fast tanks. It also produced a limited number of multi-turreted T-35 tanks.

Just prior to the German invasion of the Soviet Union, KhPZ commenced mass production of the T-34, recognized as the most widely manufactured tank during World War II. Production began in June 1940 at Kharkov and subsequently expanded to include facilities such as the Stalingrad Tractor Plant and the Krasnoye Sormovo Shipbuilding Plant. In response to German advances in 1941, both the factory and its design teams were relocated to the Ural Mountains. There, they merged with Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil, forming a consolidated entity known as Ural Tank Plant No. 183.

Following the Soviet triumph over Germany, production resumed in 1945 with the new T-44 tank and prototypes of the T-54. Postwar, both the design bureau and manufacturing operations gradually returned to Kharkov. The "No. 183" designation remained associated with Nizhny Tagil, while in Kharkov, operations were integrated into Factory No. 75—a pre-existing facility notable for producing T-34 diesel engines. Between 1947 and 1948, production of T-54 tanks began concurrently in both the Urals and Kharkov. The relocation process culminated in 1951 with the reestablishment of the Design Bureau under the name KB-60M in Kharkov. In 1957, Factory No. 75 adopted the name Malyshev Plant; a year later it initiated manufacture of the widely produced T-55 tank. The design bureau also created specialized flame-thrower tanks such as the OT-54 and TO-55, which were produced at the Omsk Transport Machine Construction Plant. Production of the T-64 tank began here in 1967 alongside facilities like the Kirov Plant and Uralvagonzavod. Starting in 1983, manufacturing included the high-performance gas turbine-powered T-80, followed by a diesel variant known as T-80UD introduced in 1985.

Although final assembly of tanks occurred at multiple plants, Soviet industrial strategy intentionally prevented any single region from achieving full autonomy over arms production. Instead, components and subassemblies were distributed among various factories, with Malyshev Plant specializing in engine and transmission manufacturing.

In independent Ukraine

In 1991, the Malyshev factory's extensive million-square-meter complex produced 800 tanks; however, following the Soviet Union's dissolution, production sharply declined to just 46 units by 1996. That year marked a turning point when a $650 million contract was secured to deliver 320 T-80UD tanks to Pakistan. Executing this contract proved challenging due to the fragmented nature of Soviet-era military manufacturing, which necessitated dependence on Russian facilities for components. Additionally, political obstacles from Russia compelled the development of indigenous capabilities, culminating in the creation of the T-84 tank model.

Similar to many Ukrainian enterprises, Malyshev was initially prohibited from directly negotiating contracts with foreign governments and had to operate through Ukrspetsexport, the state-controlled arms trading company. Although it was denied exporter status in July 1999, a presidential decree by Leonid Kuchma in November of the same year granted Malyshev this privilege—a move widely interpreted as an electoral favor benefiting Kharkiv Oblast. Subsequently, Malyshev spearheaded a coalition of thirty-four firms forming an export consortium named Ukrainian Armored Vehicles.

Malyshev has showcased its main battle tanks to countries including Turkey, Greece, and Malaysia. It also secured a contract to provide engines for Chinese-built Al-Khalid tanks used by Pakistan. In September 2000, an agreement was reached to modernize Soviet-era tanks and armored personnel carriers for the United Arab Emirates. Beyond military hardware, the Malyshev plant produces components for Bizon, a Polish manufacturer specializing in agricultural combines.

In April 2009, Malyshev signed a contract valued at ₴200 million ($25.1 million) to upgrade 29 T-64B [Т-64Б] tanks to the T-64BM "Bulat" [Т-64БМ "Булат"] standard for the Ukrainian Army. The initial batch of ten upgraded tanks was delivered in 2010, with nineteen more scheduled for 2011. These T-64B units undergoing modernization were originally manufactured in Kharkov in 1980.

By 2012, the Malyshev Factory operated a substantial tank dismantling facility. Following the onset of the war in Donbas, the factory shifted its primary efforts toward supplying newly built and refurbished tanks to Ukrainian military forces.

On 22 July 2014, the facility served as a logistical hub for repatriating bodies from the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster back to their respective home countries.

The factory sustained damage from Russian missile strikes on multiple occasions: March 2022, December 2022, and February 2023.

Locomotives

The manufacture of locomotives spanned from 1897 until 1969. Prior to the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the facility specialized in producing steam locomotives, which were also manufactured at various plants throughout the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. Following World War II and the factory's reconstruction in 1947, production shifted to diesel locomotives, continuing until 1969.

• 1897–1915 Russian locomotive class O (notably О^д and О^в)
• 1906–1916 Russian locomotive class Shch
• 1912–1919 Russian locomotive class S (approximately nine units built within the Ukrainian State in 1918–19)
• 1915–1917 Russian locomotive class E (possibly produced until 1935)
• 1924–1951 Russian locomotive class S (enforced variant)
• 1935–1941 Soviet locomotive class SO
• 1939–1941 Tender equipped with water heating for SO18
• 1947–1950 TE1 (ALCO RSD-1 design), produced alongside Kharkov Elektrotyazhmash and Moscow Dynamo
• 1948–1955 TE2, in cooperation with Kharkov Elektrotyazhmash
• 1953–1973 TE3, manufactured jointly with Kharkov Elektrotyazhmash, Luhanskteplovoz, and Kolomna Factory
• 1952 TE4, a single experimental unit based on TE2
• 1948 TE5, two experimental units derived from TE1
• 1956–1964 TE7, developed with Luhanskteplovoz and based on TE3
• 1958–1997 TE10, produced together with Luhanskteplovoz
• 1961–1968 TEP10, initially designated as TE11
• 1964–1968 2TE40, an experimental series of five units created with Kharkov Elektrotyazhmash

Tracked vehicles

While primarily recognized for tank manufacturing, the plant also produced artillery tractors and originally began by making agricultural tractors.

• 1924–1931 Communard (agricultural use)
• 1935–1940 Comintern
• 1939–1941 Voroshylovets
• Series 400
• 1958 Kharkovchanka, a specialized vehicle designed for Antarctic expeditions (notably the 4th Soviet Antarctic Expedition)

Engines

Cutaway view of the 2D100 engine

Among Kharkov’s prominent diesel engines are the 2D100 producing 1472 kW power (utilized in the TE3 locomotive) and the 10D100 delivering 2208 kW (used in the TE10 locomotive). Both engines are ten-cylinder opposed-piston two-stroke diesel designs from the 1950s. Another variant in this series was the twelve-cylinder 9D100, which saw limited success and was not widely adopted.

External links

• Official website of Malyshev Plant
• T-64BV tank refurbished at Malyshev Factory