The BTR-90 (factory designation GAZ-5923, experimental name "Rostok") is a Russian wheeled armored personnel carrier with enhanced armament, developed in the early 1990s by designers of the Gorky Automobile Plant in Nizhny Novgorod. Serial production was never launched; the vehicle remained at the stage of prototypes and testing.[1] The prototypes were built by the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant.[2]
History of development
Work on the new vehicle began immediately after the BTR-80 entered serial production in 1985. GAZ designers, led by Alexander Masyagin, received an experimental design project codenamed "Rostok". The requirements for the vehicle were shaped by combat experience accumulated during the Afghan war: in addition to high mobility, the new APC was to have significantly greater firepower and protection, along with versatile armament capable of engaging infantry, anti-tank assets at various ranges, light armored vehicles, and slow-moving aerial targets.[3]
The armored hull for the prototype was welded in Chelyabinsk in September 1993, and the vehicle itself was assembled at the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant in early 1994.[1]
Design and specifications
In layout, the BTR-90 resembles an enlarged BTR-80, but it substantially exceeds its predecessor in size and weight: the vehicle's combat weight is about 20,900 kg, its length is 7,640 mm, and its width is 3,200 mm.[2] Payload capacity increased to 7 tons, and the internal volume of the troop compartment to 12 cubic meters.[1] The crew consists of 3 people, and the vehicle carries 7 troops.[2]
The welded hull is made of armor plate of increased thickness with rational angles of inclination (9–12 mm, with some sections up to 15 mm), which provides protection against large-caliber bullets and shell fragments.[2] Mine protection has been strengthened: the underbody is V-shaped, which withstands blast waves better than a flat one.[1] The vehicle is equipped with a collective protection system against weapons of mass destruction — nuclear, chemical, and biological.[1]
The armament matches that of the tracked BMP-2: a 30 mm 2A42 automatic cannon (500 rounds), a coaxial 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun (2,000 rounds), a 9P135M launcher for 9M111/9M113 anti-tank missiles (4 missiles), and an AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher (400 rounds).[2]
The powerplant is a 2V-60-2S multi-fuel diesel engine from the Chelyabinsk plant, rated at 510 hp, liquid-cooled and turbocharged, and mounted in the rear of the vehicle. The transmission is an automatic, reversible hydromechanical one, allowing the vehicle to travel forward and backward at the same speed (up to 100 km/h on highways). A hydrostatic drive and the ability to brake with one side halved the turning radius compared with the BTR-80. Afloat, the vehicle moves by means of two water-jet propulsors at speeds of up to 9 km/h. Highway range is 800 km.[1][2]
The Nizhny Novgorod Connection
Development was carried out by the design team of GAZ OJSC in Nizhny Novgorod under the leadership of Aleksandr Masyagin.[3] Prototypes were built at the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant — the same enterprise that has been mass-producing the BTR-80 since 1986.[1][2]
The Fate of the Project
Despite its considerable technical potential, the BTR-90 was never accepted into serial production. In the early 2000s, a number of Russian military commanders publicly criticized domestic wheeled armored vehicles, comparing them with Western designs developed at roughly the same time — the French VBCI, the German Boxer, the Swiss Piranha, and the Finnish Patria. The Rostok project remained at the stage of prototypes and trials and never entered service with the Russian army.[3][1]
Links
- Wikidata (Q288286 — entry in the free knowledge base)
Sources
- valka.cz — BTR-90 (infantry fighting vehicle): Russia (RUS)
- alternathistory.ru — The Trampled "Rostok" — Alternative History
- army-guide.com — BTR-90 / GAZ 5923, Wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier