BTR-D

BTR-D

Type Airborne Amphibious Multi-Purpose Tracked Armoured Personnel Carrier
Place of origin Soviet Union
Service history
In service 1974 – present
Used by See Operators
Wars See Service history
Production history
Designer Volgograd Tractor Plant
Designed Early 1970 – 1974
Manufacturer Volgograd Tractor Plant
Produced 1974 – ? (out of production)
Variants See Variants
Specifications (BTR-D)
Weight 8 tonnes
8.5 tonnes (combat weight)
Length 6.746 m
Width 2.94 m[1][2]
Height 1.67 m[3][4][5]
Crew 3 (commander, driver and bow machine gunner) (+ 10 troopers)

Armor 15 mm at 78° upper hull front[6][7]
15 mm at 50° lower hull front[6][7]
10 mm rest of the hull[8][9]
Main
armament
pintle-mounted automatic grenade launchers (AGS-17, AGS-30 or AGS-57) and/or machine guns (PKM, 6P41, "Utyos" or "Kord").
Secondary
armament
2×7.62 mm PKB bow general purpose machine guns (2,000 rounds)[12]
Engine 5D-20 6-cylinder 4-stroke V-shaped liquid cooled 15.9 litre diesel[7][10]
241 hp (180 kW) at 2,600 rpm[7][11]
Power/weight 30.1 hp/tonne (22.5 kW/tonne)
28.4 hp/tonne (21.3 kW/tonne) (loaded with equipment)
Suspension torsion-bar
Ground clearance Adjustable[7][13]
100 mm to 450 mm[11][13]
Fuel capacity 300 l[11]
Operational
range
500 km (road)[3][4][5]
116 km (water)[11]
Speed 61 km/h (road)[3][4][5]
35 km/h (cross country)[3][4][5]
10 km/h (swimming)[3][4][5]

The BTR-D is a Soviet airborne multi-purpose tracked armoured personnel carrier which was introduced in 1974 and first seen by the West in 1979 during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. BTR-D stands for Bronetransportyor Desanta (БТР, Бронетранспортер Десанта, literally "armoured transporter of the Airborne").[14] It is based on BMD-1 airborne IFV. NATO gave it the designation BMD M1979.[1][2][3][4][5][12]

Contents

Development history

In 1969 the BMD-1 airborne IFV entered service with the Soviet Army. The vehicle had many flaws, but the biggest was the fact the troop compartment was extremely cramped and could only transport up to four infantrymen; in fact this number was often shortened to three because it was impractical for four infantrymen to operate inside the troop compartment and dismount the vehicle. Because of that in the beginning of 1970s the design bureau of Volgograd Tractor Plant which designed the BMD-1 began designing an airborne APC based on BMD-1. The prototype was ready in 1974 and in the same year after it passed the trials it entered production and service with the Soviet Army as the BTR-D.

Description

Overview

BTR-D is based on BMD-1 however it's 60 mm longer and its turret is removed. A small flat superstructure with a hatch on top of it is in place of the turret.[3][4][5][6][1]

Crew

The crew consists of the driver, the commander and the left bow mounted machine gun gunner who are in the same positions and have the same equipment like in the BMD-1.

Armament

Although the turret with all of the main armament was removed, the two bow mounted machine guns have been retained.[6] However the original PKT tank machine guns have been replaced by PKB general purpose machine guns. The vehicle can also be fitted with pintle-mounted automatic grenade launchers (AGS-17, AGS-30 or AGS-57) and/or machine guns (PKM, 6P41, "Utyos" or "Kord").

Maneuverability

The BTR-D is powered by the same engine as the BMD-1 however its suspension is longer because the entire vehicle has been lengthened by 60 mm. Because of this the vehicle has six roadwheels on each side instead of five. It also has five return rollers on each side unlike the BMD-1 which has four.

Amphibious ability

Armour protection

The armour protection is slightly better on the BTR-D than on the BMD-1. That's because the upper front armour has a dual slanted angle.[3][4][5] Also its armour is made out of aluminium[12] which proved to be much better than the armour on the BMD-1 which was made out of cast magnesium alloy and caught fire and burned fiercely, often killing the crew if hit with a weapon such as an RPG.

Troop compartment

Because the turret has been removed the troop compartment has been enlarged and can carry up to ten fully equipped soldiers. It's also linked with the crew compartment in the front. Also there are two firing ports in the sides and one in the rear, two of which are for RPK-74 light machine gun.[1][3][4][5]

Equipment

BTR-D has all the same equipment as the BMD-1 but also has towing equipment for ZU-23-2 twin AA autocannon.[12]

Air-drop techniques

Service history

BTR-D entered service with the Soviet Army in 1974 and was used by Soviet airborne troops during the Soviet war in Afghanistan where it was seen for the first time by the West in 1979.

As of now BTR-D and vehicles based on it are used by the following units of Russian Army or are stationed in following bases:

104th airborne regiment from Pskov (34 BTR-D, 6 BTR-RD , 13 BTR-ZD and 6 BMD-1KSh)
234th airborne regiment from Pskov (32 BTR-D, 6 BTR-RD , 12 BTR-ZD and 5 BMD-1KSh)
1140th artillery regiment from Pskov (14 BTR-RD , 3 BTR-ZD , 1 BMD-1KSh and 18 2S9 Anona)
165th independent air defense division from Pskov (4 BTR-ZD and 1 BMD-1KSh)
656th independent engineer battalion from Pskov (8 BTR-D and 1 BMD-1KSh)
728th independent commandos battalion from Pskov (2 BTR-D, 6 BMD-1KSh, 3 BMD-1R and 2 R-440-ODB )
7th independent repair battalion from Pskov (2 BTR-D).[15]
217th airborne regiment from Ivanovo (32 BTR-D, 6 BTR-RD , 11 BTR-ZD , 7 BMD-1KSh and 1 BMD-1R)
331st airborne regiment from Kostroma (33 BTR-D, 6 BTR-RD , 15 BTR-ZD , 5 BMD-1KSh and 1 BMD-1R)
1065th artillery regiment from Kostroma (15 BTR-RD , 3 BTR-ZD and 2 BMD-1KSh)
318th independent air defense division from Ivanovo (4 BTR-D, 8 BTR-ZD and 1 BMD-1KSh)
661st independent engineer battalion from Ivanovo (7 BTR-D and 1 BMD-1KSh)
674th independent commandos battalion from Pskov (2 BTR-D, 6 BMD-1KSh, 4 BMD-1R and 3 R-440-ODB )
15th independent repair battalion from Pskov (7 BTR-D).[15]
51stairborne regiment from Tula (32 BTR-D, 6 BTR-RD , 13 BTR-ZD , 2 BMD-1KSh and 1 BMD-1R)
137th airborne regiment from Ryazan (38 BTR-D, 6 BTR-RD , 13 BTR-ZD , 7 BMD-1KSh and 1 BMD-1R)
1182nd artillery regiment from Yefremov (4 BTR-D, 3 BTR-ZD , 2 BMD-1KSh and 18 2S9 Anona)
107th independent air defense division from Donskoy (18 BTR-D, 6 BTR-ZD and 1 BMD-1KSh)
332nd independent engineer battalion from Tula (8 BTR-D and 1 BMD-1KSh)
731st independent commandos battalion from Tula (2 BTR-D, 6 BMD-1KSh, 5 BMD-1R and 2 R-440-ODB )
15th independent repair battalion from Tula (4 BTR-D and 1 BREM-D).[15]
108th airborne regiment from Novorossyysk (35 BTR-D, 9 BTR-RD , 13 BTR-ZD , 7 BMD-1KSh and 19 2S9 Anona)
247th CDO regiment from Stavropol' (26 BTR-D, 9 BTR-RD and 13 BTR-ZD )
1141st artillery regiment from Anapa (5 BTR-D and 9 BTR-ZD )
30th independent air defense division from Novorossyysk (4 BTR-D and 8 BTR-ZD )
629th independent engineer battalion from Starotitarovskaya (8 BTR-D)
743rd independent commandos battalion from Novorossyysk (2 BTR-D, 8 BMD-1KSh and 3 R-440-ODB )
6th independent repair battalion from Novorossyysk (4 BTR-D and 1 BREM-D).[15]

Variants

Operators

Former operators

References

  1. ^ a b c d Global Security BMD-1. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  2. ^ a b BMD-1. Fas.org. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Global Security. Global Security. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m fas.org. fas.org. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n warfare.ru. warfare.ru. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d e Gary's Combat Vehicle Reference Guide
  7. ^ a b c d e Pancerni.net BMD-1 1. Pancerni.abajt.pl. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  8. ^ Global Security BMD-2. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  9. ^ BMD-2. Fas.org. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  10. ^ Pancerni.net BMD-2 1. Pancerni.abajt.pl. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  11. ^ a b c d Pancerni.net BMD-1 2. Pancerni.abajt.pl. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q JED
  13. ^ a b JED BMD-1
  14. ^[1]
  15. ^ a b c d e f g [http*//www.warfare.ru/?catid=239&linkid=2241 warfare.ru VDV]
  16. ^ Russian/FSU Armored Fighting Vehicles. Armscontrol.ru. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  17. ^ Belarus Army Equipment. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  18. ^ Ground Forces Equipment – Ukraine. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.
  19. ^ Uzbek-Army Equipment. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved on 21 September 2011.