The BTR-60 is the world's first mass-produced four-axle, all-wheel-drive amphibious armored personnel carrier, designed at the design bureau of the Gorky Automobile Plant. It was built in Gorky (present-day Nizhny Novgorod) from 1960 to 1976, and then, until 1987, at the Kurgan Wheeled Tractor Plant.[1][2] It began an entire family of Soviet wheeled armored vehicles that continues to develop to this day.
Development
Work on the vehicle, which carried the factory designation GAZ-49 (and the army designation BTRP — "amphibious armored personnel carrier"), began at the plant's design bureau in the winter of 1956 under the direction of V. A. Dedkov. The first prototype was built by mid-1958.[1]
On 13 November 1959 the vehicle was adopted into service with the Soviet Army under the designation BTR-60P — "P" for "plavayushchiy" (amphibious). Series production began in Gorky in 1960.[1]
Significance of the layout
Four axles combined with all-wheel drive and a waterborne hull proved to be a successful combination: the vehicle retained mobility even with damaged wheels, could swim without preparation, and was cheaper to operate than tracked vehicles. This same layout became the basis for the BTR-70 and BTR-80 — both vehicles likewise came from the Gorky design bureau.
Sources
- udachnyj-enot.com.ua — ENOT — BTR-60. The world's first mass-produced four-axle amphibious armored personnel carrier (archive)
- kskdivniy.ru — Museum of National Military History — Armored Personnel Carrier BTR-60 (archive)