BTR-60

BTR-60
A BTR-60PB
Type	Wheeled Amphibious Armored Personnel Carrier
Place of origin	Soviet Union
Service history
In service	13 December 1959 – present
Used by	See Operators
Wars	See List of Conflicts
Production history
Designer	V. A. Dedkov
Designed	1955
Manufacturer	Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (USSR) Ratmil Regie Autonoma (Romania, TAB-71)
Produced	1960 – 1976 (USSR)
No. built	~25,000 (USSR) +1,872 (Romania, TAB-71)
Variants	See Variants
Specifications (BTR-60PB)
Weight	10.3 tonnes (11.4 tons)
Length	7.56 m
Width	2.83 m (9.28 ft)
Height	2.31 m (7.58 ft)
Crew	3 + 14 passengers (original roofless BTR-60P had 2+14 capacity, reduced to 2+12 in BTR-60PA and 2+8 in BTR-60PB)
Armor	Welded steel 7 mm at 86° hull upper front 9 mm at 47° hull lower front 7 mm hull sides 5 mm hull upper rear 7 mm hull lower rear 5 mm hull floor 7 mm hull roof 10 mm turret front 7 mm turret sides 7 mm turret sear 7 mm turret roof
Main armament	14.5mm KPVT heavy machine gun (500 rounds)
Secondary armament	7.62 mm PKT tank coaxial machine gun (3,000 rounds)
Engine	2×GAZ-40P 6-cylinder gasoline 90 hp (67 kW) each 180 hp (134 kW) (combined)
Power/weight	18.4 hp/tonne (13.7 kW/tonne)
Suspension	wheeled 8×8
Ground clearance	475 mm (18.7 in)
Fuel capacity	290 l (76.6 g)
Operational range	500 km (310.7 mi)
Speed	80 km/h (49.7 mi/h) on road 10 km/h (6.2 mi/h) in water

The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers (APCs). It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. BTR stands for Bronetransporter (БТР, Бронетранспортер, literally "armoured transporter").

The BTR-152 and BTR-40, the first two Soviet mass-produced APCs developed after the Second World War, gave the Soviet Army useful experience with wheeled armoured personnel carriers. However, even as they were designed, they weren't suited for the needs of the Soviet Army as they lacked a roof (which was added in later versions designated BTR-152K and BTR-40B respectively). The low combat values of the BTR-152 and BTR-40 were exposed when the Egyptian Army used them during the Suez Crisis. This was one of the reasons why the new APC was developed.

Between 1956 and 1957, a decision was made to convert all rifle and mechanized divisions into motor rifle divisions and a requirement for a new transport vehicle was drawn up.

Development proceeded along two paths: a more expensive vehicle that would eventually become the BMP-1, for use in tank divisions, and a cheaper vehicle for use in motor rifle divisions, that would eventually become the BTR-60. Two design bureaus were given the requirements, GAZ led by V. A. Dedkov, and ZiL led by Rodionov and Orlov. The requirements stated that the vehicle should have all wheel drive, at least two turnable axles, independent suspension as well as mobility and fording capabilities allowing it to operate alongside tanks. The vehicle was also supposed to be amphibious. The GAZ design team started to work on the new APC during the winter of 1956. Despite the fact that the army wanted a fully roofed vehicle with NBC protection system, the GAZ design did not have those features. It was argued that firing from the cramped interior would be difficult and that the limitation of losses wasn't a priority. The prototype was built between 1957 and 1958. ZiL developed a 6x6 design, the ZiL-153, similar in hull shape to the GAZ design. There were also three other 8x8 prototypes: Ob'yekt 560 (also known as MMZ-560), Ob'yekt 1015 (developed by KAZ), Ob'yekt 1015B (developed by KAZ, it had with a turret-mounted armament and stream propellers, also known as BTR-1015B) and Ob'yekt 1020B (developed by KAZ). All prototypes were submitted to and passed state trials in 1959. Even though the Ob'yekt 1015B performed best, the GAZ design was selected and given the designation BTR-60P. Officially, the committee that made the decision did so because of the GAZ plant's production capabilities and experience. The main reason was that the GAZ design was the simplest and cheapest one and introduced the lowest amount of technological advancements, which made it easier to put into mass production.