Russia Testing New Armored Vehicles For Military And Export: Reports

Russia Testing New Armored Vehicles For Military And Export: Reports

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW - April 8, 2009: The BTR-90 is intended for the transport of a section of infantry, and is a further development of the line of wheel BTR with increased firepower, mobility, passability/trafficability, maneuverability and protection. In 1994 the Russian Army publicly displayed the BTR-90 [BTR = Bronyetransporter - Armored Transporter]. This vehicle has a slightly larger and higher hull than the previous BTR-80, with a pointed nose resembling LAV-25.

Testing the new Russian BTR-90 wheeled armored personnel carrier (APC) with the Berezhok weapons complex at the Arzamas Engineering Plant, part of the Defense Industry Company.

It is unclear if the BTR-90 will be produced for the Russian Army or for export only. While it has the same turret as the BMP-2 , production vehicles (assuming it is accepted into service) are almost certain to have a different turret. The armored personnel carrier APC-90 has the highest benchmarks of flotation ability (all-wheel drive, independent suspension, swimming ability, low ground pressure), of mobility (high cross-country and highway speeds, offhand overcoming of water obstructions), of maneuvering capabilities (small turning radius and the ability to move forward and backward at equal speeds), of survivability (the ability to move even with all the four wheels damaged, bulletproof tires). An armored personnel carrier of the new generation- BTR-90, has four types of weapons installed in one and the same section. These are an automatic gun, a machine-gun, a grenade launcher and an anti-tank missile complex. The equipment makes it possible to wage a fight against tanks, artillery pieces, mechanized infantry combat vehicles, helicopters and manpower of the enemy at a distance of over 4 kilometers both from a position and in movement. The high weight-carrying capacity and considerable inner capacity (12 cubic meters) of the eight-wheel BTR-90 allow to transport heavier weapons, such as an anti-tank gun, a 120-millimetre artillery piece and anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles. BTR-90 can move at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour on motorways and over 50 kilometers per hour on highly-broken ground. It can move even if its four wheels have been damaged. Despite a relatively big weight (about 21 tons) BTR-90 can without any preparations move across water obstacles due to two water-jet propellers. The machine can sail at under three-point weather and can easily travel aboard and off a landing ship. BTR-90 is the first of the armored personnel carriers which can be equipped with an automatic control system to carry out an effective control of the transmission and engine and other vitally-important parts of the machine. Testing the new Russian SPM-3 Medved (Bear) armored car at the Arzamas Engineering Plant. Armoring and bulletproof shields protect the crew and systems from the bullets of heavy machine guns and splinters of projectiles.On BTR can be established additional armoring and systems of passive (dynamic) and active protection. The devices of collective protection provide protection of combat crew from the action of shock wave and penetrating radiation during the nuclear explosions, from the radioactive dust, bacteriological, chemical weaponry during the application of a machine in contaminated area.