One of the main novelties of the 10th International Exhibition of Weapons and Military Equipment MILEX-2021, which opened in Minsk, was the Belarusian armored personnel carrier MZKT-690003, also known as Volat V2 or BTR V-2.
The State Military-Industrial Committee of the Republic of Belarus told about its creation only a couple of weeks ago. They also reported about the imminent presentation of this product. After this information, military experts were at a loss to guess whether a real car or its reduced layouts would be presented. And now photos of this armored personnel carrier have been published, which, I must say, looks quite modern - it has all the attributes of equipment of this class.
For example, inside, in the landing compartment, special energy-absorbing chairs and a suspended floor are mounted.
The combat compartment in this version is inhabited. It is borrowed from the BMP-2 with a well-known, well-proven long-term operation of the 30-mm 2A42 automatic rapid-fire cannon and a paired 7.62-mm PKT machine gun. However, it is clear that new multi-channel (including with thermal imagers) sights of the gunner-operator and commander are installed.
Initially, it was reported that the engine power is 460 hp, now we are already talking about a 550-horsepower engine that works with a hydro-mechanical six-speed gearbox.
The crew consists of 3 people, plus 8 paratroopers-motorized infantry. There is a ramp in the stern for boarding and disembarking. The maximum speed on the highway is 110 km / h and up to 10 km / h afloat. Full combat weight-19900 kg.
Alexey Brusilov
