BRDM-1 is a Soviet armored reconnaissance and patrol vehicle, developed in the design bureau of the Gorky Automobile Plant and adopted into service in 1958. It was mass-produced from 1957 to 1966 and became the world's first vehicle of its class. Its Nizhny Novgorod (Gorky) connection is direct: the entire cycle, from design to the start of production, took place at GAZ.[1]
Development
Work began in late 1954 at the design bureau of the Gorky Automobile Plant under the supervision of designer Vladimir Dedkov; the project was directly led by chief designer Vsevolod Rubtsov.[3] Initially, the vehicle was planned as an amphibious modification of the BTR-40 armored personnel carrier. In the plant's documentation it was listed under the designations BTR-40P and GAZ-40P, where the letter "P" stood for "plavayushchiy" (amphibious).[1] However, the military's requirement that it cross trenches and ditches up to 1.2 m wide called for a fundamentally different chassis, and the result was an entirely new vehicle with no analogues either in the USSR or abroad.[1]
The first prototype was built in February 1956. During trials, one of the vehicles swam across the Kerch Strait. A pilot batch was produced at the end of 1957, and by order of the USSR Minister of Defense dated January 10, 1958, the BRDM-1 was officially adopted into service.[1]
Design
The key technical solution was four additional powered wheels mounted in the central part of the hull. In normal position they are retracted behind the armored sides, but when needed they are lowered and driven by a chain drive from a special transfer case. This turned the four-wheeled vehicle into an eight-wheeled one (8×8 configuration) and allowed it to cross trenches up to 1.22 m wide. The hydraulic system of the raising and lowering mechanism and the small-diameter air cylinders were borrowed from the aviation industry.[3]
The load-bearing hull is welded from rolled armor plates 6, 8, and 12 mm thick; the upper front plate is inclined at an angle of 85°. An armored cabin with two vision hatches fitted with glass blocks is welded onto the hull. Armament consists of an SGMV heavy machine gun on a swivel mount (ammunition load of 1,250 rounds), later replaced by a PKT; firing ports for the personal weapons of the crew and troops are located at the rear and along the sides.[1]
The powertrain is a boosted six-cylinder liquid-cooled carburetor engine, the GAZ-40P, with a displacement of 3.5 L and an output of 90 hp. When afloat, cooling is provided by outboard water through a heat exchanger. The propulsion unit in water is a water jet, conceptually borrowed from the PT-76 amphibious tank: a four-blade impeller draws water in through a duct in the bottom and expels it through the stern plate; the turning radius in water was only 1.5 m.[2][3] The suspension consists of four longitudinal semi-elliptical leaf springs with eight hydraulic shock absorbers. The vehicle could climb slopes of up to 31°, cross snow up to 0.65 m deep, and travel over sand of any looseness; self-recovery was provided by a capstan with a 50 m cable.[2]
Production and Service
Serial production ran from 1957 to 1966 at the Gorky Automobile Plant. The BRDM-1 was widely used in reconnaissance and signals units of the Soviet Army. According to its developers, the vehicle surpassed foreign counterparts of similar purpose in its main performance characteristics.[1] Later, at the same GAZ production base, a successor was developed — the BRDM-2 (GAZ-41), whose serial production moved to the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant in 1965. Demilitarized examples of the BRDM-1 have survived to the present day: a vehicle in good condition registered with the State Technical Inspectorate (Gostekhnadzor) was valued on the secondary market at about 5 million rubles.[3]
Sources
- voentex.ru — THE EIGHTH ARMORED RALLY "ROAD OF COURAGE" WILL TAKE PLACE FROM JULY 14 TO 21
- modeli-gaz.ru — BRDM-1
- web.archive.org — 8 Wheels (4 Hidden) and the Ability to Swim: How to Drive a BRDM? (Best of 2020) (archive)
- ko.ru — BRDM-1: A Vehicle for Tough Men / "Kompaniya"