BTR-152
| BTR-152 | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Type | Armored personnel carrier |
| Place of origin | Soviet Union |
| Service history | |
| In service | 24 March 1950 - 1990s |
| Used by | See Operators |
| Wars | See Service History |
| Production history | |
| Designer | B. M. Fitterman |
| Designed | November 1946 - 1949 |
| Manufacturer | Automotive Factory No. 2 Zavod imeni Stalina (until 1956) Automotive Factory No. 2 Zavod imeni Likhacheva (from 1956 to 1962) |
| Produced | 1950 - 1959 |
| No. built | around 15,000 |
| Variants | See Variants |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 9.91 tonnes |
| Length | 6.55 m 6.83 m for BTR-152V |
| Width | 2.32 m |
| Height | 2.04 m (without the mg) 2.36 m (with the mg) 2.41 m (BTR-152V with the mg) |
| Crew | 2 (+18 passengers) |
|
|
|
| Armor | welded steel 15 mm front 9 mm sides and rear 10 mm roof 4 mm bottom |
|
Main
armament |
7.62mm SGMB light machine gun (1,250 rounds) (12.7 mm DShK 1938/46 heavy machine gun (500 rounds) can be used instead) |
|
Secondary
armament |
2x7.62mm SGMB light machine guns (1,250-1,750 rounds) on side pintel mounts (optional) |
| Engine | ZIS-123 6-cylinder in-line water-cooled petrol (for variants based on ZiS-151) ZiL-137K 6-cylinder in-line petrol (for variants based on ZiL-157) 110 hp (82 kW) at 3,000 rpm. (for variants based on ZiS-151) 107 hp (80 kW) (for variants based on ZiL-157) |
| Power/weight | 11.1 hp/tonne (8.3 kW/tonne) 10.8 hp/tonne (8.1 kW/tonne) for BTR-152V |
| Suspension | wheeled 6×6 front - 2 leaf springs and hydraulic shock absorbers. rear - equalising type with 2 leaf springs and torsion bars. |
| Ground clearance | 300 mm |
| Fuel capacity | 300 l (79 gal) |
|
Operational
range |
650 km (404 miles) |
| Speed | 75 km/h 65 km/h for BTR-152V |
The BTR-152 (also known as BTR-140) was a six-wheeled Soviet armored personnel carrier (БТР, from Бронетранспортер/Bronetransporter, literally "armored transporter") †, built on the chassis and drive train of a ZiS-151 utility truck. It entered service with a number of Warsaw Pact member states beginning in 1950, and formed the mainstay of Soviet motor rifle battalions until the advent of the amphibious BTR-60 series during the 1960s.
BTR-152s were available in several marks and manufactured in large numbers for the Soviet military and export. Late production models utilized automotive components from the more reliable ZIL-157 truck. Three primary variants of the BTR-152 appeared between 1950 and 1959: the base armored personnel carrier with a single pintle-mounted 7.62mm or 12.7mm machine gun, an unarmed command vehicle with a higher roofline, and an anti-aircraft variant armed with a ZPU-2 mount. BTR-152s could carry a single infantry squad each, or specialist weapons teams along with their mortars and anti-tank equipment. In Soviet service, a number were also deployed as artillery tractors.
During World War II, Red Army tacticians favored combined arms offensives, which emphasized the deployment of light infantry in concert with tanks. However, the Soviet infantrymen lacked the armored protection and rapid mobility of the tanks, and remained comparatively vulnerable to enemy fire.(Perrett 1987:65)
By the end of the war, the initial Soviet tactic of tank desant, in which the infantry rode into battle atop the tanks they were supporting, had been superseded by the introduction of M3 Half-tracks and M3 White armored cars. These were widely used for troop transport, giving rise to a new doctrine in which armored vehicles capable of keeping pace with tanks brought infantry to an engagement. The infantrymen would then debark and enter combat dismounted.
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Wikipedia