The BTR-60 wheeled armored personnel carrier from the 1960s is an armored personnel carrier in name only. Yes, it carries personnel. No, he is not armoredwrites Forbes.
That is why Bulgaria’s new large donation to Ukraine of one hundred locally upgraded BTR-60s is not as exciting news as it might seem at first glance. The BTR-60 is better than the alternative if the alternative is a pickup truck. But it is no better than a modern mine-resistant truck or a tracked infantry fighting vehicle, says the publication of the publication, cited by BGNES.
The fact that Ukraine will even bother to put a hundred old APCs into service speaks to the bottomless appetite of the Ukrainian armed forces for combat vehiclesas the war enters its 19th month, Forbes also writes.
The government has approved sending armored personnel carriers to Ukraine
Bulgarian Defense Minister Todor Tagarev announced the transfer on Monday. But he was quick to explain that the machines would not arrive quickly as the donation required parliamentary approval. “As soon as the parliament goes back to its meetings in September, I think that will be one of the priority tasks and by the end of September or the beginning of October we will have the ratification of this agreement. I think then the transfer will be able to start.”said Tagarev.
The APCs are likely to be the 11-tonne BTR-60PB-MD1, which have the same eight-wheeled 17-seater chassis and 14.5mm turret-mounted machine gun as the other BTR-60s, but also boast unique Bulgarian modifications, including better night vision and a new 250 horsepower Cummins diesel engine.
But improvements since the early 2000s have done little to improve the BTR-60’s biggest weakness: its nine-millimeter steel armor. The defense is so weak that a focused machine gunner can easily disable an APC, the article says.
Mitov: We will give Ukraine more than a hundred pieces of armored vehicles that are no longer needed
“>Mitov: We will give Ukraine more than a hundred pieces of armored equipment that are no longer needed
The Bulgarian army acquires about 150 BTR-60PB-MD1. They are in stock today. The transfer of a hundred of the wheeled APCs will not affect Bulgaria’s own defense capabilities, the government concludes.
That the old APC models are vulnerable is evident from the statistics. Ukraine entered the war in February 2022 with only a handful of APC-60s, has reactivated dozens of old stored APCs, mostly to add mobility to reserve and national guard formations, and has already decommissioned 20 of them. The Russian army has mostly newer BTR-70 and -80 tanks, and has lost hundreds of them, Forbes adds.
The APC should not come close to the front line and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense knows this, the publication claims. When the Ukrainian firm Praktika proposed to modify the old Soviet BTR-60s with a new turret and thicker armor and rename them BTR-60M, the plan was for the upgraded machines to escort road convoys, a role that should not require heavy armor Protection.
The deputies decided to give APCs to Ukraine
The Russian invasion in February 2022 disrupted plans for mass production of the BTR-60M, but a single upgraded BTR-60 appeared briefly in February.
The ex-Bulgarian BTR-60PB-MD1 is not as heavily armored as the BTR-60M, but should be fully capable of moving trucks on the roads behind the front. But don’t expect it to last very long at the front, adds Forbes.
Source bgnes
2023-08-24 07:53:21
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