The BTR-60 opened a new page in the creation of wheeled armored personnel carriers, becoming the world's first serial four-axle combat vehicle in its class. Developed in 1956-1959, the BTR-60P became the progenitor of numerous combat vehicles built on its base, as well as further modifications of the BTR-70 and BTR-80, which are still in service with the Russian army and police. In total, during serial production from 1960 to 1987, from 10 to 25 thousand BTR-60 of all modifications were assembled at various plants.
The history of the creation of the BTR-60
In the 1950s, the main armored personnel carrier in service with the Soviet Army was the three-axle BTR-152, developed by the engineers of the ZIS plant on the basis of the chassis of the ZIS-151 all-terrain truck. The vehicle was highly reliable, but the military had complaints about it. This armored personnel carrier could not overcome wide trenches and ditches, and was also characterized by insufficient maneuverability, its ability to interact with tanks on rough terrain was limited. One of the attempts to solve the problem was work on improving the BTR-152, which was to receive a new chassis with a uniform arrangement of bridges, which was considered an effective way to increase cross-country ability. Such an armored personnel carrier was actually created. Tests of the prototype vehicle, known under the designation BTR-E152V, took place at the beginning of 1957. The car really showed a tangible increase in cross-country ability, but a new problem with handling surfaced.
In parallel, back in 1956, at the Gorky Automobile Plant, work began on the creation of a new armored personnel carrier. The vehicle received the working designation BTRP - armored vehicle floating. By creating a new sample of wheeled armored vehicles, the developers expected to provide the vehicle with high cross-country ability, as well as an average speed that would allow it to move over rough terrain with tanks, using the track laid by tanks. Based on these requirements, the appearance of the new armored personnel carrier was also formed, which was supposed to have a high ground clearance, tank track, and a high specific engine power. It was planned to create an armored personnel carrier with such a ground clearance that the contact of the vehicle bottom with the ground would be short-lived and would not interfere with movement in the terrain. At the same time, the designers expected to endow the new armored personnel carrier with good amphibious properties: stability, speed, unsinkability and controllability on water bodies.
The first prototype of a new combat vehicle, created by specialists from the design bureau of the GAZ plant, received the designation GAZ-49 and was ready by mid-1958. The work on the new vehicle was directly headed by Vladimir Alekseevich Dedkov, who had previously established himself as the creator of a whole line of Soviet armored vehicles: BTR-40, BRDM-1 and BRDM-2. The armored personnel carrier created in Gorky (today Nizhny Novgorod) met all the requirements of the military. The armored personnel carrier was built on a completely original wheelbase with four axles equally spaced along the base. At the same time, the designers turned to an unconventional layout for the armored personnel carrier. In the front part there was a control compartment, followed by the troop compartment, and the engine compartment was located in the stern.
The prototype differed from the first production samples of the future BTR-60 by installing one GAZ-40P gasoline engine with a maximum power of only 90 hp. It was obvious to everyone that the engine power was clearly not enough for a vehicle with a combat weight of 10 tons. However, an attempt to replace the GAZ-40P carburetor engine with the YaAZ-206B diesel engine, which produced 205 hp, was unsuccessful - such a power plant was too heavy, and the armored personnel carrier received a significant advantage at the stern. Since there were simply no other suitable domestic engines at the disposal of the designers, the way out of this situation was to install a pair of two GAZ-40P gasoline engines with their own transmissions. Each of the engines worked on two bridges of the combat vehicle. Both engines were placed on a single frame, but not the motors themselves were interlocked, but only their control drives.
A modified sample of an armored personnel carrier with two GAZ-40P carburetor engines was fully ready by the fall of 1959. It is worth noting here that at the same time in the Soviet Union, other armored personnel carriers were also being developed, the projects of which were proposed by ZIL, the Altai Tractor Plant, the Mytishchi Machine-Building Plant, as well as the SKB of the Kutaisi Automobile Plant. Of the variety of projects, the military chose the GAZ-49, the model was considered the cheapest, simplest, most reliable and technologically advanced in production. The armored personnel carrier could easily be mass-produced in large quantities. It is curious that the military also liked the decision with the power plant, which the internal commission of the Ministry of Automobile Industry openly called "illiterate" and "adventurous." The military in a pair of engines were pleased with the fact that when one of the engines failed, the armored personnel carrier retained the ability to move along the highway at speeds up to 60 km / h. As a result, it was the GAZ-49 that was adopted by the Soviet Army. The corresponding order of the Ministry of Defense was signed on November 13, 1959. The new combat vehicle was adopted under the designation BTR-60P, where the letter "P" meant "floating".
Technical features of the BTR-60P armored personnel carrier
Created on the original base, the armored personnel carrier became the world's first serial armored personnel carrier on a four-axle chassis with an 8x8 wheel arrangement (all wheels are leading). A feature of the new Soviet combat vehicle was an uncharacteristic layout for an armored personnel carrier with a front-mounted command compartment, an airborne compartment in the middle, in which, depending on the modification, it could freely accommodate from 8 to 14 people, and aft MTO location. When overcoming small water obstacles on the armor, the armored personnel carrier could carry up to 10 more soldiers, the buoyancy margin was enough. In all modifications, the crew of the combat vehicle consisted of two people - a driver and a commander.
The power plant of the BTR-60 was a pair of six-cylinder GAZ-40P carburetor engines, producing a total power of 180 hp. The engines allowed the mechanized drive to disperse armored personnel carriers with a combat weight of 10 tons up to 80 km / h on the highway, afloat - up to 10 km / h. The engines were powered by B-70 gasoline, which was poured into two tanks with a total capacity of 290 liters. The fuel supply was enough to cover up to 500 km on the highway. The new chassis provided the machine with easy overcoming of trenches and ditches up to two meters wide.
The BTR-60P hull was welded from armor plates with a thickness of 5 to 9 mm, it provided the vehicle with a very conditional bulletproof booking, even though many of the hull armor plates were located at good angles of inclination to the vertical. The hull was load-bearing, its lower part was streamlined, and the bottom was flat. On the BTR-60P model, the hull was open on top, on the march to protect the crew and troops from bad weather, it was possible to pull on a tarpaulin awning, which was part of the armored personnel carrier's packing. The landing force was placed on wooden transverse benches, to facilitate leaving the combat vehicle in the upper parts of the side, doors that were reclining to the side were located. On the BTR-60PA version, two special rectangular hatches for landing troops appeared in the roof, and on the BTR-60PB, two side hatches were added to them. This option for the location of the landing had obvious drawbacks. The soldiers had to leave the car through the sides, finding themselves at a height of two meters under enemy fire, on the BTR-60PA the situation worsened even more, since there were only two hatches. At the same time, it was very difficult for the wounded soldiers to get out of the APC before that, and with a roof over their heads, the situation in this regard only worsened. On the BTR-60PB, the problem was solved by placing side hatches, but only partially.
The main armament of the armored personnel carriers of the BTR-60P and BTR-60PA models was the 7.62-mm SGBM machine gun. On the BTR-60P version, there were three swivel brackets designed for the installation of a machine gun: frontal (this is the main mounting option), two side (on the left and right sides). Machine gun ammunition consisted of 1250 rounds. Especially to increase the accuracy of fire, a shoulder rest was introduced into the design of the CBSS. The paratroopers could also fire at the enemy over the sides of the hull from personal weapons. The armored personnel carrier also included an RPG-7 grenade launcher, one AKM assault rifle, 9 F-1 hand grenades, and a signal pistol.
Three main modifications of the BTR-60
The BTR-60 was mass-produced in the USSR from 1960 to 1987. From 1960 to 1976, the assembly was carried out in Gorky at the native plant, and since 1976, the armored personnel carriers were produced only in Kurgan at the facilities of the KZKT - Kurgan wheel tractor plant (the transfer of part of the production to KZKT began already in 1967). Also, the serial production of the licensed version of the armored personnel carrier under the designation TAB-71 was carried out in Romania. The first version of the combat vehicle, designated BTR-60P, was produced in Gorky from 1960 to 1963. During this time, GAZ employees assembled 2,626 vehicles. The main difference between these armored personnel carriers was the airborne compartment open from above, in which 14 motorized riflemen could freely accommodate.
The next modification of the BTR-60PA entered the scene quickly enough, the main difference of which was the presence of a roof over the troop compartment and a completely closed hull. This version was mass-produced at the GAZ plant from June 1963 to 1966, during which time 2348 BTR-60PA came off the assembly line of the plant. At the same time, in order to maintain the combat mass of the armored personnel carrier at the same level, the number of the landing party was reduced to 12 people. The military switched to the version with an armored roof under the influence of the military events in Hungary in 1956, even then it was decided to release part of the armored personnel carrier with a closed troop compartment. But the main reason was the reorientation of the ground forces in the early 1960s to the possibility of operations in conditions of the use of tactical nuclear weapons by the enemy. In the conditions of the use of weapons of mass destruction, the actions of the shooters who were in the open hull were considered impossible.
The most popular, recognizable and extant version is the BTR-60PB, which, in addition to a completely closed hull, was distinguished by the presence of an armored turret with powerful machine-gun armament. The combat vehicle was created on the basis of the BTR-60PA in the period from 1962 to 1964 and was produced until the end of serial production, being the most successful representative of the series. The BTR-60PB could not only transport an infantry squad, but also provide it with powerful fire support in battle. At the same time, the number of paratroopers transported once again decreased, this time to 8 people, one of them served as a gunner. Due to the presence of a completely sealed housing and the installation of a special filter and ventilation unit, reliable protection of the crew and troops from the damaging factors of weapons of mass destruction was provided.
It differed from the previously produced BTR-60PB models by improved protection (the front of the hull held an armor-piercing 7, 62-mm B-32 bullet), the presence of a tower installation and more powerful weapons. The turret, which was similar to the one on the BRDM-2, was equipped with a large-caliber 14.5 mm KPVT machine gun paired with a 7.62 mm PK machine gun. The presence of a 14.5 mm machine gun allowed the armored personnel carrier to fire at targets at a distance of up to 2000 meters. At this distance, the 14.5-mm cartridge did not leave any chances for unarmored vehicles and some samples of lightly armored vehicles, and also ensured the defeat of enemy soldiers and officers in any personal protective equipment, including those behind light shelters.
The wheeled armored personnel carrier developed in Gorky was supposed to first supplement, and in the long term, replace all Soviet armored personnel carriers of the first generation, created in our country in the post-war years. The BTR-60 coped well with this task. Unlike all its predecessors, the Sixtieth received a new original chassis with an 8x8 wheel arrangement. The four-axle vehicle was distinguished by high cross-country ability and dynamic qualities, good smoothness and quickly became very popular. Following the tanks, the armored personnel carrier could easily overcome trenches, rows of trenches, various ditches, as well as water obstacles. The BTR-60 was actively exported, having managed to take part in the Arab-Israeli wars, the Iran-Iraq war and other conflicts of the second half of the 20th century. In dozens of countries around the world, these armored personnel carriers are still in service with both the army and police forces.
