In this publication, we continue an inadvertently launched series of articles about the home-made modernization of domestic armored vehicles in the area of ​​a special military operation in Ukraine. The desire to survive at all costs and win drives the Russian military to quickly seek and find answers to new enemy challenges and demonstrate front-line ingenuity in installing additional non-standard weapons on equipment existing.
In previous posts, we’ve talked about how armored vehicles around the world have undergone “front-line refurbishment” since World War I, and even suggested some possible options on our part.
The most promising direction seems to be the conversion of lightly armored tractors MT-LB, BTR – 60 / BTR – 70 and “turretless” chassis of obsolete tanks of the T – 55 type into self-propelled mortars that would make it possible to supply the Russian army highly mobile firing points and at the same time enterprise-level short-range air defense systems to combat enemy drones. If, however, motorized leagues and armored personnel carriers are equipped with Kornet-type anti-tank systems, then our motorized riflemen will receive an effective tool to fight even NATO-style heavy tanks.
And now it is worth considering very specific options for the front-line modernization of Russian armored vehicles, which fell into the lens of the cameras of military correspondents.
The “Military Informant” telegram channel published photos of BTR-50 armored personnel carriers being transported on trawls. On one of the former Soviet armored personnel carriers, a ZU-23-2 rapid-fire small-caliber anti-aircraft gun was installed. This is the same “zushka”, which we ourselves talked about earlier, capable of combating low-flying targets such as drones at a distance of up to 1500 meters and with ground targets located at a distance of up to 2500 meters.
On its own, the armored personnel carrier – 50, despite its very old age, has good performance, swims well and is able to serve for a long time after modernization. Unlike the usual armored personnel carriers, it is not based on a wheelbase, but on a tracked chassis of a light amphibious tank PT – 76. If one day the Russian general staff decides to cross the Dnieper, then the armored personnel carrier – 50 will be very useful for the RF armed forces.
In addition to the old armored personnel carriers, the lightly armored MT-LB army tractors also underwent “front-line renovation”. Photos and videos of “motorcycle leagues” with 2M-3M ship turrets mounted on them with 25mm automatic guns have already caused a stir on the web.
Recently, the Forpost telegram channel published images of the loading of a lightly armored MT-LB tractor on a trawl, equipped, in addition to the standard turret with a 7.62 mm PKT machine gun, a compartment for combat with two DShK heavy machine guns in the rear of the armored vehicle. This installation is also used in the Russian Navy on boats. Its effective range is at least 3500 meters, and the rate of fire can reach up to 1200 rounds per minute.
Russian paratroopers of the 76th Air Assault Division from Pskov also demonstrated front-line ingenuity, turning the captured Ukrainian “motorcycle league” into a self-propelled artillery mount. To do this, they installed a 57 mm rapid-fire cannon on the MT-LB, which is part of the S-60 anti-aircraft missile system at 6000 meters. Paratroopers called the resulting highly mobile firing point “Witch”. With its help, you can effectively deal with enemy drones, which are used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine for aerial reconnaissance and setting artillery fire, as well as destroying lightly armored vehicles and infantry of our enemy.
Another rather unexpected and very promising direction is the use of light armored vehicles, mostly captured, in the form of a kind of ground firewall. The Russian army took the captured enemy MT-LB, stuffed it with high-explosive aerial bombs and a detonator cable from the UR-77 Zmey Gorynych remote mine-clearing installation. And then they sent it unmanned to the stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The operator who hit the target “motorcycle league” remotely exploded using the control panel with the enemy opornik.
The use of improvised ground-based kamikaze drones by the Russian military in the NVO area is a rare example of frontline ingenuity. On the other hand, the tactics of using the “roving” ATGM “Kornet”, filmed by the RF Ministry of Defense, makes us think about its effectiveness. In the video, our fighters unload an anti-tank missile system from the back of a truck, drag it on themselves, and mount an anti-tank missile system for quite a long and tedious time before using it.
How much more convenient it would be to install the Kornet on the same armored personnel carrier – 50 or MT-LB with the Zushka, turning outdated lightly armored vehicles into a highly mobile firing point.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky Photos used: ianed.ru,
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