The Military Industrial Company (VPK) has started to test an amphibious armored fighting vehicle, developed on the basis of a unified wheeled armored platform Bumerang.
Photo: Reuters / Maxim Zmeyev
The Military Industrial Company (VPK) which is a leading manufacturer of armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles and armored vehicles for the Russian army, started preliminary testing of an amphibious armored fighting vehicle, developed on the basis of the unified wheeled armored platform Bumerang, the Izvestia Daily newspaper reported.
The new vehicle is able to move along the ground, as well as to cross water obstacles. According to the official representative of the VPK, Sergei Suvorov, Bumerang is a completely new ‘word’ in the family of Soviet and Russian wheeled armored personnel carriers – it is built on a unified combat platform, which can be used in the interests of the Ground Forces and the Navy.
As previously reported, the new wheeled armored personnel carrier will be put into service in 2017.
“Eight wheels are the only thing that Bumerang and the previous models of armored personnel carriers BTR-80 and BTR-82 have in common,” Suvorov said. “It is a completely new unified platform designed to complete various tasks in the interests of the ground units of the Russian Army, as well as of the Russian Navy, in particular, of the marines.”
According to Suvorov, one of the main problems of the BTR-80 family is a relatively low level of protection against mines and roadside bombs. For this reason, soldiers prefer to stay at the top of the armored carrier, but not inside it. The weakness of mine protection became one of the main reasons for the beginning of work on a new armored personnel carrier.
Boomerang was presented to the public for the first time during the parade in May 9, 2015. Modularity was called its main feature that means the possibility of developing a whole family of combat vehicles on a single platform. For example, the K-16 armored personnel carrier and the K-17 infantry fighting vehicle were created on the basis of the Bumerang. This allows to offer a platform to practically any Federal State Power Structures, whether the Ground Forces, the National Guard or the Navy marines.
According to the editor of the ‘Arsenal Otechestva’ (‘Fatherland’s Arsenal’) magazine, Viktor Murakhovski, the Russian Defense Ministry strictly adheres to unification and modularity in the development of armored vehicles.
“For this reason, the Bumerang can be considered as a compromise, which will provide a seaworthy vehicle during disembarking from the water, as well as enhanced firepower. For example, through the use of unmanned automatic weapon stations,” Murakhovski said.
The expert also noted that the Bumerang has superior performance of overcoming the water spaces, mobility on land, and crew protection. For the first time, the car engine is located in the bow of the hull. Because of this, the combat compartment for soldiers is not only more secure, but also more spacious. The landing of soldiers is now carried out at the stern of the hull on the ramp. This solution features the vehicle from the Soviet armored personnel carriers, where soldiers had to use the side doors to come inside.