Two of the largest automotive factories in Russia were of American design and use American machinery and equipment, or European versions of American technology. The Russians knew, early in their search for technology and plant designs, that civilian vehicles can be used for military purposes. The Russians incorporated this priniciple in the design of military vehicles like supply and personnel trucks, half-tracks, and jeep equivalents. The Russians were careful to incorporate chassis, motors, and other parts of civilian vehicles in their military vehicles. This enabled rapid changes in production lines from civilian to military vehicles.
After the end of World War II, the US government formed an interagency committee to plan the future of the German automotive industry in order to limit its war-production capability. One of the committee's most important findings to this historical review of East-West trade in the Cold War years, as uncovered by researcher, historian, author, and economist Antony Sutton, was that any vehicle industry is a major force for war. The committee advised that Germany should not have an automotive industry in post-war Europe. That advice was not implemented in the case of Germany after WWII, and completely disregarded in the case of Russia in the Cold War years.
One of the cabinet-level agencies that deliberated about the German automotive industry after WWII was the Commerce Department. Charles R. Weaver was the Commerce Department's representative with the Interagency Committee. The Commerce Department's position concerning the military potential of the German automotive industry changed when it came to considering export of US technology for the construction of entire automobile plants in Russia. Apparently, automobile plants in Germany had military applications, but automobile plants in Russia were entirely "peaceful," as in "peaceful trade." The Commerce Department had no problem approving all kinds of exports for the construction of lots of automotive plants in Russia from as early as 1920 until the early 1980s, as we will see. We will also see that the Commerce Department knew the factories built in Russia by US corporations had military potential. The Russians admitted as much in open source documents, articles, and books.
The first agreement between Ford Motor Company and the Soviet (Russian) government was in 1929. Russia agreed to purchase $13 million of automobiles and parts in exchange for Ford providing technical assistance to construct an automobile plant at Nizhni-Novgorod. The plant was finished by the Austin Company, a US firm, in 1933. The plant is known as Gorki, producing the GAZ line of military vehicles. Subsequent shipments of machinery and technology from the United States to Russia to upgrade the Gorki facility included a 1968 shipment during the Vietnam War, while Russia supplied North Vietnam with military vehicles, including the trucks carrying weapons, supplies, and reinforcements for the North Vietnamese Army in South Vietnam. A list of the military vehicles produced over the years at Gorki follows. This is not an exhaustive list.
That Interagency Committee that the US government set up to deliberate about the future of the German automotive industry after WWII found that automotive plants also produce weapons that could be mounted on some of the vehicles. This was true of Russia (the Soviet Union). At Gorki, the following are among the weapons manufactured for the Russian military.
In 1929, the Arthur J. Brandt Company of Detroit contracted with the Russian government to expand the Russian AMO truck plant. This was the beginning of the standard ZIL line of Russian military vehicles. The AMO plant's expansion was designed in Detroit and American engineers were sent to Russia to manage the construction. In 1936, AMO was expanded again by the Budd Company (US) and Hamilton Foundry (US). This was when the name change began, with the plant, and its trucks, designated ZIS. Later, the plant and its trucks would be designated by today's ZIL.
The first armored vehicle made at AMO was the ZIL-6, which served as a mount for either the 76.2 MM anti tank gun, or the 76.2 MM anti-aircraft gun. Other trucks and weapons mounted on the trucks were produced at AMO/ZIL, and included:
The ZIL series of Russian military vehicles gained another manufacturing site in 1972. At the time, the Kama plant was to be the largest and most modern heavy truck facility in the world, producing 100,000 multi-axle, 10-ton trucks, trailers, and off-road vehicles. The majority of design and engineering work, and the technology came from the United States in the period of 1972-1975 while the Vietnam war was still going on. The Soviet Union (Russia) supplied all the trucks the North Vietnamese used to move men and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to attack Americans in South Vietnam.
Capital for the Kama River project came from the US Export-Import Bank loans of $86.5 million, while US banks like Chase Manhattan chipped in more loans to build what was the largest and most technologically advanced truck plant in the world. ZIL series trucks from the Kama River plant help keep the Russian military on wheels, and were used in the final attack on South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army in 1975. The KamaZ truck pictured above is one of those that were sold to Vietnam in 2016 to replace Vietnam's aging fleet that dated back to the 1970s.