Russia Develops New Air-Transportable Armored Vehicle
The Strela vehicle weighs just 4.7 tons, which allows it to be carried by military transport helicopters like the Mi-8 on an external sling
Eyal Boguslavsky
| 14/07/2020
https://defence-blog.com/
Defense-blog.com reports that Russia’s Military Industrial Company has unveiled a new state-of-the-art family of armored vehicles that can carry out a wide variety of missions, including reconnaissance, command and control, recovery and evacuation of wounded personnel.
The company's CEO Alexander Krasovitsky told TASS that "Designers of Military Industrial Company developed and offered on their own initiative and within the shortest time possible the concept of making light vehicles, which helped create an experimental armored vehicle model of the VPK-Strela family.”
The Strela vehicle weighs just 4.7 tons, which allows it to be quickly transported to other areas or carried by military transport helicopters like the Mi-8 on an external sling as part of tactical airborne assault operations, he said, adding that "As of today, our Army simply has no armored vehicles of this type.”
The vehicle’s armor provides 2nd-degree ballistic protection. It shields against bullets with a heat-strengthened core of 5.45x39mm cartridges of the AK-74 assault rifle, bullets with the heat-strengthened core of 7.62x39mm rounds of the AKM submachine-gun, and bullets with the non-heat strengthened core of 7.62x54mm ammunition fired from the Dragunov snipe rifle. The vehicle’s anti-blast protection shields the crew if the vehicle hits mines or explosives with a yield equivalent to up to 2 kilograms of TNT.
The Strela can reach a speed of up to 155 km/h on the road and carry eight personnel. The vehicle’s design is based on advanced assemblies, units and accessories planned for use in mass production in the domestic auto industry. All of the vehicle’s components are produced on Russian territory.
The Strela vehicle weighs just 4.7 tons, which allows it to be carried by military transport helicopters like the Mi-8 on an external sling
https://defence-blog.com/
Defense-blog.com reports that Russia’s Military Industrial Company has unveiled a new state-of-the-art family of armored vehicles that can carry out a wide variety of missions, including reconnaissance, command and control, recovery and evacuation of wounded personnel.
The company's CEO Alexander Krasovitsky told TASS that "Designers of Military Industrial Company developed and offered on their own initiative and within the shortest time possible the concept of making light vehicles, which helped create an experimental armored vehicle model of the VPK-Strela family.”
The Strela vehicle weighs just 4.7 tons, which allows it to be quickly transported to other areas or carried by military transport helicopters like the Mi-8 on an external sling as part of tactical airborne assault operations, he said, adding that "As of today, our Army simply has no armored vehicles of this type.”
The vehicle’s armor provides 2nd-degree ballistic protection. It shields against bullets with a heat-strengthened core of 5.45x39mm cartridges of the AK-74 assault rifle, bullets with the heat-strengthened core of 7.62x39mm rounds of the AKM submachine-gun, and bullets with the non-heat strengthened core of 7.62x54mm ammunition fired from the Dragunov snipe rifle. The vehicle’s anti-blast protection shields the crew if the vehicle hits mines or explosives with a yield equivalent to up to 2 kilograms of TNT.
The Strela can reach a speed of up to 155 km/h on the road and carry eight personnel. The vehicle’s design is based on advanced assemblies, units and accessories planned for use in mass production in the domestic auto industry. All of the vehicle’s components are produced on Russian territory.
