BTR-70
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The BTR-70 is an eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier originally developed during the late 1970s and fielded by the Warsaw Pact and allies beginning in the early 1980s. Introduced as a successor to the earlier BTR-60, it most closely resembles a BTR-60PB with a longer hull and an improved means of accessing the vehicle with doors on each side of the vehicle replacing the dangerous and unpopular roof hatches of the earlier model.
Other improvements include heavier armor plating and tires less prone to puncture. In other respects, the vehicle is very similar to the BTR-60PB, with a more powerful (although still fuel hungry) engine configuration and armament of a primary heavy machine gun and secondary PKT machine gun on a roof mounted turret.
Like the vehicles predecessor it is fully amphibious with minimal preparation. A licensed Romanian copy was designated the TAB-77 and had various improvements and changes to make local production easier, including a better turret and different engines.
Variants
- BTR-70 M1978
- Initial version, publicly displayed in 1980.
- BTR-70 M1986/1
- Modernized version with an improved turret, smoke mortars and better armor protection.
- BTR-70Kh
- Chemical reconnaissance vehicle, designed to detonate artillery shells with proximity fuze detonators
- BTR-70MS
- Communications variant
- BTR-70KShM
- Command and control variant, designed to be used as a mobile command post.
- BREM
- Armored recovery vehicle. Essentially a BTR-70 with a crane replacing the turret.
Combat history
The BTR-70 was widely used during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and many smaller conflicts in Eastern Europe.External links
See also
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