BTR-70

The BTR-70 represents a further development of the successful line of BTR-60 armored personnel carriers of Soviet design. They are eight-wheeled lightly armored systems capable of off road and amphibious travel and can field up to seven combat-ready personnel into battle. The BTR-70 features improvements over the preceding BTR-60 design in the way of a more powerful engine, power-to-weight ratio and side firing ports for the passengers. The system is still in active service with a variety of operators around the world.

Outwardly, the BTR-70 retains the look of the BTR series as a whole and follows along the lines of the BTR-60PB model. Armor is sloped on the front, sides and rear of the vehicle and eight large rubber road wheels are present (four to a side) with the front four being power assisted. A tire pressure regulation system ensures proper balance. A crew of three is standard and seating for up to seven passengers is available via an entry/exit door along the side of the hull between road wheels two and three. The vehicle's commander sits at front along with the driver. The sloped-armored turret (standard on the base model - some models remove the turret based on specialty) sits to the front top portion of the hull with a primary armament of 14.5mm KPVT heavy caliber machine gun and a secondary 7.62mm PKT anti-infantry machine gun. The turret is manually traversed but has a field of fire covering 360 degrees and is the same weapon system as found on the BRDM-2 scout car and BTR-60PB armored personnel carriers. The troop compartment makes up most of the rear portion of the hull which also includes the engines. Power is generally derived from gasoline engines developing about 120 horsepower each, allowing for ideal road speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour.

The BTR-70 was first made public to Western observers in a 1980 Moscow parade. Since then, the vehicle has appeared in quantity and in varied forms. BTR-70 systems serving in the Soviet war with Afghanistan were seen fitted with the AGS-17 30mm automatic grenade launcher just to the rear of the driver roof hatch. The BTR-70 has been made into artillery spotting vehicles, command and communications platforms, NBC protection and analysis, combat engineering systems and battlefield ambulances. Besides the basic Soviet-Russian type, the BTR-70 has appeared in modified forms with Germany (East), Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia and Belarus.

Being of an amphibious pedigree, the BTR-70 can enter bodies of water from land under its own power. A trim vane must first be erected at the front of the hull and bilge pumps turned on to ensure the vehicle does not sink while a single water jet mounted at the rear of the hull propels the vehicle forward at roughly 9 kilometers per hour. Amphibious capabilities are almost an absolute necessity on today's modern battlefield and the BTR-70 is no exception.

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Last Updated: 8/13/2008