Description
BTR-60 Communications Vehicle:Information
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”).
BTR-60 was a revolutionary design for its time. It had a non-standard layout for an APC; the crew compartment was in the front, the troop compartment in the middle and the engine compartment in the rear. This meant that, while the BTR-60 didn’t share some of the weaknesses that other APCs had, it had several disadvantages of its own.
In the BTR-60, the crew compartment is located in the front of the vehicle and had a roof – unlike the troop compartment, which first received one with the introduction of the BTR-60PA. In the BTR-60P and BTR-60PA, the crew consists of a driver and a commander. The driver’s seat is on the left and commander’s seat is on the right.
The troop compartment is behind the crew compartment and in front of the engine compartment.
The BTR-60 has a 8×8 suspension. The BTR was fitted with two six-cylinder gasoline GAZ-40P engines (67 kW) located side by side in the rear of the vehicle. The combined power of the engines is 180 hp (134 kW). Each engine propels two of the vehicle’s axles. The engine on the right propels the second and the fourth axles.
BTR-60 Communications Vehicle Model:
We believe this BTR-60 Communications Vehicle is either the BTR-60MS, a BTR-60 converted into a communications Vehicle fitted with a “High Ball” antennae mount or
the BTR-60 R-145BM, a BTR-60 converted into a turret-less communications vehicle and equipped with five radio sets: two R-111 or R-171, one R-123 or R-173, one R-130M, and one R-012M.
References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTR-60
