About a year ago, it became known that in anticipation of new models of armored personnel carriers, the domestic Ministry of Defense intends to modernize the existing equipment. A little later, the first details appeared: during the first stage of this work, domestic repair enterprises had to update the equipment of two motorized rifle brigades, a total of 134 armored personnel carriers. At the same time, it was announced that the existing BTR-80 of early modifications would be repaired and re-equipped in accordance with the modernization of the BTR-82A project. Finally, in October of this year, documents on the organization's plans for next year appeared on the official website of Rosoboronpostavka. Among other things, it is planned to repair and modernize another 134 armored personnel carriers, this time to the version of the BTR-82AM. Interestingly, before the publication of the documents regarding the repair order, the modification of the armored personnel carrier with the “AM” index did not appear anywhere, which caused a lot of questions. The deadline for the order is November 2013.
About a month before the last messages - on the twentieth of September - a small note on the festive events dedicated to the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the enterprise appeared on the official website of the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant. The holiday was held at several venues, including in one of the AMZ workshops, where amateur performers and the ensemble of the Volga command of the Internal Troops performed. During this concert, a photojournalist of the AMZ official website took a picture, which aroused increased interest from specialists and amateurs of military equipment. On it, several employees of the plant are looking at the performance of the artists, sitting and standing on a certain armored vehicle. By the general outline of the hull, an armored personnel carrier of the BTR-80 family was recognized in it, but its turret and armament attracted special attention.
Very quickly, it was suggested that this was the modernization of the BTR-82A armored personnel carrier, which had previously been rumored. Later, after the publication of information about the order of repair work, an armored vehicle from the AMZ workshop sometimes began to be called the BTR-82AM, although there was no official information about the armored personnel carrier that served as a spectator tribune. In addition, there is every reason to consider the armored personnel carrier from the workshop of the Arzamas plant as just a slightly modified BTR-82A, which differs from the original version of this modification by the presence of a perforated cannon casing. As for the rest, the car seen at the plant, as far as it can be argued, is similar to those captured in the photographs of the BTR-82A, available on the same AMZ website. The towers of both examples have a number of similar characteristics, which serves as a proof of identity.
One more question is caused by the weapon of the "lighted" machine. The existing photos of the BTR-82A clearly show that it is equipped with an automatic cannon 2A72 of 30 mm caliber. This weapon is easily recognizable by the characteristic barrel casing in the breech and two annular thickenings: at the muzzle and in the middle of the barrel. In the photo from the workshop, the front "ring" is noticeable, located next to the muzzle. In this case, the finning plates can be seen through the perforation holes. Obviously, the gun of this armored personnel carrier has additional air cooling means. Such a nuance attracts attention and makes you wonder: what kind of gun is installed on the "shop" armored personnel carrier? The most likely version of the origin of the barrel ribbing is some kind of modernization carried out by the developers of the gun and not made public at the time. There is information regarding the two-plane stabilization of the weapons of the BTR-82. In addition, a rifle caliber machine gun paired with a cannon is installed on the combat module in a separate casing.
The rest of the measures for upgrading the BTR-80 to the state of the BTR-82A are sufficiently known and do not raise any special questions. So, instead of the native 260 hp engine. BTR-82A has a 300-horsepower diesel engine, which increases speed and cross-country ability. The chassis has been slightly improved. For the first time in the practice of building domestic armored personnel carriers, the BTR-82A has a number of design features necessary for protection against mines and shelling from small arms. For this, the bottom of the car received a new two-level structure that absorbs the energy of the explosion, and all the internal parts of the armored hull are covered with a special anti-fragmentation lining, which delays the fragments of armor that crumble when hit by some shells and, under certain circumstances, also protects from the bullets or shells themselves. According to various estimates, the survivability of the BTR-82A is about 20% higher than that of the base BTR-80.
It is possible that the upgrade to the state of the BTR-82AM implies minor changes in weapons, namely the installation of a protective casing, but the basis for the upgrade is most likely a significant change in the composition of electronic equipment. There is information about the imminent start of the release of the "Agat-MDT" sighting and observation system, with the help of which the crew of the armored personnel carrier will be able to detect and destroy targets in any weather conditions, including at night. Agat-MDT has optical and thermal imaging observation channels, as well as a laser rangefinder and a ballistic computer. The use of such an aiming and observation complex significantly increases the combat capabilities of the armored personnel carrier. However, due to the lack of official data on the modification of the BTR-82AM, it is impossible to say for sure about the presence of "Agata-MDT" on it.
In general, the BTR-82AM project, as opposed to simply "82A", still remains a kind of classified machine, the appearance of which has not been announced. All versions are based solely on fragmentary information and just one photo from the workshop of the Arzamas machine-building plant. So the characteristics, composition of equipment and weapons of the armored vehicle BTR-82AM in the near future will be the subject of controversy. Only the publication of official data will be able to shed light on the appearance of the mysterious armored personnel carrier.
