Combat Vehicles of Russia's Special Forces: Spetsnaz, Airborne, Arctic and Interior Troops by Mark Galeotti

Author:Mark Galeotti [Galeotti, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, Military, weapons, General, Technology & Engineering, Military Science
ISBN: 9781472841841
Google: 8hazDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2020-05-28T23:53:48.382262+00:00

Combat engineers mounted in a snow-camouflaged BTR-82 on exercise in the Rostov region. (Russian Ministry of Defence/Creative Commons CC-BY-4.0)

The venerable MT-LB (Mnogotselevoy Tyagach – Legky Bronirovanny: Multi-Purpose Light Armoured Towing Vehicle) amphibious armoured tractor, a design dating back to the 1950s, remains a stalwart of Russia’s Arctic operations, especially the MT-LBV with wider tracks to better cope with snow. Typically armed only with a single 7.62mm machine gun in a simple conical turret (although the 200th Brigade has replaced these with 12.7mm Kords), it has been used as everything from an armoured personnel carrier able to carry up to 11 soldiers along with the two crew, to a fire support vehicle, including the Shturm-S (‘Storm-S’) anti-tank version used by the brigade, with a retractable launcher for 9M114 Kokon (‘Cocoon’) (AT-6 Spiral) ATGM. The slightly larger, unarmed MT-LBu is similarly versatile. Despite minor improvements, including the ML-MLBSh adopted by the Naval Infantry, with no turret and a more powerful engine, essentially it is still the cheap, rugged vehicle first seen in the middle of the last century, a testament to the practicality of its design.

Nonetheless, as polar operations become more of a priority, the MT-LB has been adapted as the Toros (‘Hummock’) Arctic combat vehicle. Based on the larger MT-LBu chassis, with a more modern engine and more extensive heating systems, it can carry six fully equipped soldiers (even allowing for the greater bulk of winter kit) and is more heavily armed. Its MB-2 turret mounts a 30mm 2A42 automatic cannon, coaxial 7.62mm PKTM machine gun and a side-fitted 30mm AG-17 automatic grenade launcher or two Konkurs-M (AT-5 Spandrel) anti-tank missiles.

For the transport of supplies, as well as some personnel, the 200th Brigade also relies on DT-10PM and DT-30PM articulated all-terrain vehicles. These are highly mobile tracked platforms especially adapted to soft and treacherous conditions, from snow to swamp. The DT-10PM has a cargo capacity of 10t, and the larger DT-30PM 30t, but in essence they are similar designs, with a front unit containing the drivers and engine, and a rear one that can be configured for passengers or cargo or even mount artillery systems, including the Tor M2-DT with a Tor (‘Torus’) (SA-15 Gauntlet) surface-to-air missiles or the Pantsir-SA (‘Cuirass-SA’) gun/missile air defence complex, both using the DT-30PM chassis.

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