Image source: topwar.ru
The first videos appeared on social networks showing M1117 armored personnel carriers in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukraine should receive a total of 250 cars of this type.
The first footage from the M1117, intended for the Kiev regime, was posted online back in December 2022. They featured armored personnel carriers during transportation by rail from the Romanian port of Constanta. And only after almost 1.5 years they were noticed on the equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As indicated in the Defence24 publication, it is possible that the equipment had to be repaired, since the condition of many machines required restoration: they came from storage bases of the US Armed Forces, for example, in the Middle East, and were not in the best shape. Although the video shows rust on the body of one of the machines, so the quality of the work carried out can be questioned. In the footage, Ukrainian crews use cars in two colors, green and sand.
Image source: topwar.ru
The M1117 Guardian was developed by the American company Textron Systems to meet the needs of the US military police in patrol armored vehicles. During the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, the armored personnel carrier began to be mass-produced for the needs of military units of the army.
Its main armament consists of a 40 mm MK19 automatic grenade launcher and a 12.7mm M2NV machine gun. It is located in a rotating tower. The power plant is represented by a 260 hp Cummins 6CTA8.3 diesel engine, which provides a maximum speed of 101 km/h with a curb weight of about 13.5 tons. Currently, the M1117 is used by countries such as Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Canada, USA, Colombia, Ukraine, Greece, Iraq and Kosovo.