The Russian army may receive the Italian Iveco LMV M65 armored vehicles. SKD assembly of equipment, according to the Ministry of Defense, is planned to be carried out at KAMAZ. But a domestic machine of a similar class - the famous GAZ-233036 "Tiger" - is already in service with the Russian army.
According to experts, the vehicles have differences, including in terms of armor protection.
Viktor Korablin, a candidate of military sciences, says that the 6th class of protection, which is available in some places on an Italian car, can better protect against a rifle bullet when talking about short distances. If the firing distance is 200-300 meters, then both one and the second vehicle will reliably protect the crew of the armored car from rifle bullets used for firing from sniper rifles and machine guns.
In addition, Iveco and Tigre use different technologies to ensure the safety of the landing force and the crew. The domestic car has an all-welded armored capsule, the Iveco LMV M65 has ceramic armor. According to experts, ceramic sheets are bolted to the car frame. In their opinion, the joints of the ceramic armor plates are a kind of "Achilles' heel" of this vehicle.
Korablin notes that the joints of doors and hulls, niches of door locks are zones that are weakened by armor. Thus, in Iveco, there is no continuous protection of ceramic armor plates.
The arrangement of car interiors is also different. Iveco has a lot of partitions inside. The commander and driver of the armored car are isolated from the rest of the crew.
There are no obstacles to communication in the domestic car - any of the fighters can take the driver's seat without leaving the Tiger. The Iveco LMV M65 itself is smaller in size and is designed to carry 5 people, including the driver. "Tiger" can carry 8 passengers, not including the driver. Inside the "Italian" car there are comfortable seats, the GAZ-233036 has simpler seats, but they are more functional.
Korablin noted that if you move apart the seats in the troop compartment of the domestic vehicle, they can easily be used as a bed, and the wounded can be transported on them. In addition, the small backrests of the commander's and driver's seats make it possible to quickly replace people if necessary.
It is not known what the future of the "Italian" in Russia may be. But already now experts are focusing on the fact that, even if the production of Italian armored vehicles at KAMAZ is established, Russia may become dependent on the supply of components from abroad. As for the defense industry, this factor was previously considered unacceptable.
Korablin emphasizes that there is already a great lack of uniformity in the Russian army. And in the case of foreign cars, which have other components and not a single spare part for our equipment, this can generally cause serious harm. In his opinion, Russia needs to develop its equipment and build a complex of machines that would use one chassis.
But the Russian Federation has already reached an agreement with Italy on the purchase of ten armored vehicles. Moreover, already at the end of 2011, the first Iveco may leave the assembly line of KAMAZ.
