There is no armored personnel carrier of the XXI century in Russia yet, but the existing one has undergone a serious modernization
Recent statements by the top officials of the Russian military department, including the chief of armaments of the Armed Forces - Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Vladimir Popovkin, about the refusal to purchase a number of samples of armored vehicles, left a somewhat ambiguous impression. While some decisions of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense look quite logical, others are perplexing. The latter are also connected with the further fate of the main wheeled vehicle of Russian motorized riflemen - the BTR-80 armored personnel carrier.
Recall, Vladimir Popovkin said that the Ministry of Defense will not buy the BTR-80, since the side doors are intended for the landing of this vehicle and the fighters cannot leave it on the move. However, the side doors for motorized riflemen are not a whim of the engineers who created the Soviet armored personnel carriers. This arrangement with the location of the engine compartment in the rear of the armored personnel carrier and the compartment for the landing in its central part was due to the tactical and technical tasks for the development of the BTR-70 and BTR-80, which required the mandatory buoyancy of these vehicles. In addition, the possibility of landing on the move when designing these armored personnel carriers was still envisaged, although leaving them in motion is not a very simple matter.
BEST OUTPUT - HORSE RIDING
It is worth noting that the lateral arrangement of the landing hatches is partly really suboptimal, but at the same time it has such an important advantage as the ability to disembark and land soldiers under the cover of the side. In the event of an ambush attack on an armored personnel carrier with a rear ramp (with this arrangement, landing on the move is not a problem at all), the large rear hatch creates much more danger for the landing force. A successful shot from a grenade launcher, fire from small arms from the right point threaten the death of all people inside such a machine.
Of course, the side doors of the BTR-80 are also not without drawbacks. First of all, they are rather narrow, and therefore they are not well adapted for quick entry and exit, it is more difficult to drag the wounded through them.
However, the given set of arguments and counterarguments regarding the layout of armored personnel carriers as a whole is somewhat counterproductive. After all, we are talking about the use of armored personnel carriers, created for the "big" war in the European theater of operations, in the context of local conflicts and counter-terrorist operations. The soldiers themselves gave their answer to the question, which location of the landing hatches is more convenient in such a war, back in Afghanistan - since then and until now, the domestic infantry rides their combat vehicles exclusively "on horseback". This means that rebellion requires fundamentally different armored vehicles and fundamentally different methods of using it.
According to reports, the development of a new generation of armored personnel carriers in Russia is proceeding at an accelerated pace. So far, nothing is known about the design of this machine. However, we can say with confidence that it will be noticeably more expensive than its predecessors. That is why it would make sense, on a par with this, while maintaining a hypothetical new armored personnel carrier in service with the well-known BTR-80, which is well-known in the army and generally quite good BTR-80, which, of course, has undergone serious modernization. Moreover, such an improved machine already exists. We are talking about the BTR-82 and BTR-82A. They were created by the team of the Military Engineering Center (a design bureau as part of the Military Industrial Company) in close cooperation with specialists from the Russian Ministry of Defense and are being prepared for serial production at the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant (AMZ). Currently, a joint commission, which includes developers, representatives of the manufacturer, customer and scientific organizations of the Main Armored Directorate, has begun the final phase of type tests of two modifications of the new wheeled armored vehicle.
WORK FOR THE PUBLIC
Last Friday, at the AMZ training ground, the public premiere of the BTR-82 and BTR-82A took place, which have so far been seen "alive" only by a very limited circle of people, including Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In general, the mobility, maneuverability and firepower of the new armored vehicles leave a very favorable impression.
The first thing that catches your eye when looking at the modernized armored personnel carriers is a unified combat module instead of the old small turret. In the version of the BTR-82, it is equipped with a KPVT machine gun, which is classic for this model of domestic armored vehicles, with a caliber of 14.5 mm, and in the version of the BTR-82A, a 30-mm automatic cannon 2A72. Both options also provide for the presence of a coaxial 7, 62-mm PKTM machine gun. The combat module is equipped with electric drives for vertical and horizontal guidance and a digital two-plane weapon stabilizer, maximally unified with the BMP-2 stabilizer. Due to the use of a stabilizer and electric drives, the crew of the BTR-82 (82A) was able to conduct aimed fire on the move. According to the developers, the firing efficiency of the modernized armored personnel carrier has increased approximately 2.5 times. It is important to note that on the BTR-82, where the main weapon is the 14.5-mm KPVT machine gun, the ammunition load remained the same - 500 rounds, but instead of 10 boxes with 50 rounds of strips, as was the case on the BTR-80, a power supply system appeared with a single tape, that is, the gunner is relieved of the need to make a rather laborious reloading of the machine gun after every 50 shots.
To increase reconnaissance capabilities and firing efficiency, the gunner received a combined all-day sight TKN-4GA (TKN-4GA-02) with stabilization of the field of view. He, according to the chief designer of the Military Engineering Center (VIC) Yuri Korolev, allows remote detonation of 30-mm shells. "The development of this type of ammunition is currently nearing completion," said Yuri Korolev. Adopting them into service will significantly increase the capabilities of domestic armored vehicles to defeat enemy personnel located under the cover of terrain folds or in trenches.
To improve the command controllability of the BTR-82 (82A), the vehicles are equipped with the fifth generation R-168 radio stations, which are capable of providing negotiations both in open and confidential mode, the Trona-1 topographic orientation system and the combined observation devices of the TKN-AI commander … This device is equipped with laser active-pulse illumination and allows the commander to detect the enemy at distances of up to 3 km, provides increased accuracy in measuring distances, eliminates the unmasking signs of infrared searchlights installed on the BTR-80. Topographic orientation system "Trona-1" is designed to determine the current coordinates of the vehicle and display its location on an electronic map of the area. It has autonomous and satellite channels for receiving navigation information. The system helps to automatically find out how far the destination is, automatically display destinations, checkpoints and targets on an electronic map, and record the route of movement. In addition, work is currently underway to install a software and hardware complex on the BTR-82 (82A) for integration into a single tactical echelon control system.
WITHIN THE POSSIBLE
When modernizing the armored personnel carrier, the designers of the VIC paid serious attention to increasing the level of protection of the crew and the landing force, trying to squeeze everything that was possible from the basic design without a serious increase in the mass of the vehicle. The inner surfaces of the armored hull, for example, are sheathed with an anti-splinter lining, which is a multi-layer synthetic material of the Kevlar type. It delays secondary fragments when piercing armor and eliminates the possibility of a bullet ricochet from the sides.
It is not possible to seriously improve the mine resistance of the vehicle's hull, since an increase in underbody protection will inevitably lead to a sharp increase in weight and, as a consequence, an increase in loads on the chassis and transmission, which will entail a sharp decrease in their reliability. Yes, this is actually impossible, says the chief designer of the VIC. To increase the resistance of the existing armored personnel carrier body to explosions to the level of vehicles of the MRAP type, an armored personnel carrier must be built from scratch. To reduce the negative consequences of explosions under the wheels or the body on the BTR-82 (82A), the floors are covered with mine-action mats, which are a multilayer rubber coating, the layers of which have different properties. Such mats partially dampen the impact of the blast wave.
In addition, it is planned to equip the seats of the crew and the landing party with a special suspension, which should also reduce the impact of the explosion energy on the people inside the armored personnel carrier. On the two experimental vehicles presented in Arzamas, such a suspension has not yet been installed, since it is not easy to "fit" it into the limited interior space of an armored personnel carrier designed 20 years ago. According to Yuri Korolev, in comparison with the basic version, the mine resistance of the BTR-82 (82A) has increased by about 10 percent.
Another solution aimed at increasing the survivability of the modernized vehicles is the installation of an improved fire extinguishing system. In general, according to the developers, as a result of the implementation of a set of measures to increase the protection of the armored personnel carrier, the survivability of the vehicle increased by 20%, its crew, units and systems were able to be guaranteed against being hit by enemy small arms armor-piercing bullets from a distance of 100 m, as well as from secondary damage by shrapnel. in case of penetration of the main armor.
For the first time, an autonomous power unit with a capacity of 5 kW was installed on domestic armored personnel carriers. It saves the life of the main engine by eliminating its operation during operations in defense, at checkpoints, etc., increasing the resource and battery charge, as well as reducing the visibility of the vehicle in the thermal and acoustic ranges.
In order to solve the paramount ergonomic tasks - the comfort of the crew's stay in the car, the reduction of its fatigue during marches and combat, especially at elevated temperatures - an air conditioning system is installed on the BTR-82 (82A). It also provides optimal operating conditions for electronic devices and devices.
Equipping with new equipment increased the weight of the BTR-82 (82A) in comparison with the basic linear BTR-80 by approximately one ton. BTR-82 weighs 15 tons, BTR-82A - 15.4 tons. To maintain high levels of mobility, they are equipped with new engines with a capacity of 300 liters. with. They are 85% unified with serial engines intended for the KAMAZ army trucks of the Mustang family. The improvement of the suspension and the installation of shock absorbers of increased energy intensity ensured a smooth ride and, as a result, made it possible to increase the average speed of vehicles on rough terrain to 45 km / h. In the BTR-82 (82A) axles, gear-type locking differentials are installed, thanks to which the cross-country ability has increased by 30%. Thanks to other measures to modernize the transmission, the service interval has significantly increased (for some items it now reaches 15 thousand kilometers - like in modern passenger cars) and the total resource of the armored personnel carrier.
The mobility of the modernized vehicles on rough terrain, demonstrated during the demonstration races at the AMZ test site, really looks very impressive. In particular, the machine-gun and cannon armored personnel carriers easily performed the ascent and descent from the hill, the steepness of which is by eye comparable to the 40% calibrated rise of the Dmitrov auto-range. In other words, driving in mountainous areas should not pose any serious problems for these vehicles.
According to representatives of the Military Engineering Center, equipping motorized rifle units and units of the Russian army with armored personnel carriers BTR-82 and BTR-82A will help ensure parity with similar formations of NATO countries, equipped with the main mass armored personnel carriers. As for Chechnya, the introduction of splinter lining and mine mats is still unlikely to force the Russian infantry to hide under the armor, although to some extent it will make life easier for the crew. For the sake of fairness, it must be said that not every MRAP will save from an explosion on a land mine made of a 122-mm projectile, and even a tank will receive very significant damage. But the ability to conduct aimed fire on the move and the expansion of the APC's potential for operations at night in the North Caucasus, I think, will be appreciated.
