MOSCOW, February 24 (RIA Novosti) – A new online tank-themed encyclopedia, dubbed “Tankopedia,” has been launched in honor of Russia’s Defender of the Fatherland Day, the country’s largest armored vehicles producer said Monday.
Nizhny Tagil-based Uralvagonzavod said the goal of the project, patterned on Wikipedia, is to create a user-editable repository of armored warfare facts and history, including cultural works inspired by or featuring tanks, such as movies, songs, poetry and games.
Company deputy director Alexei Zharich said the website would “undoubtedly allow younger generations to become acquainted with the glorious history of the industry.”
The website, tankopedia.org, had already gone live Monday with over 2,000 Russian-language articles related to armored fighting vehicles.
The company says it intends to digitize the holdings of its museum in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil, where the factory is located, which includes more than 50,000 items, including archival documents, photographs, drawings and blueprints.
Uralvagonzavod’s output has made online splashes in the past, although perhaps not in a way the company would have preferred.
A YouTube video a T-90 tank plowing through snowbanks at high speed onto a busy road in Nizhny Tagil became an Internet sensation last year.
The company said the tank, crossing at a green light, broke no traffic rules and that oncoming traffic was at fault for ignoring a red light.
In July, the tank maker, founded under the Soviet Union’s second five-year plan as a railway car factory, launched a line of clothing and fashion accessories under its brand name, Uralvagonzavod.
The country celebrated Defender of the Fatherland Day on Sunday.
