Ukrainian army receives Swedish Bandvagn 202 all-terrain vehicles.
The Ukrainian army has received a batch of Swedish all-terrain vehicles Bandvagn 202, en.topwar.ru reports. According to the Ukrainian press, this is not an official supply from the Swedish Ministry of Defense: these vehicles were purchased by a private person and donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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One of the first two Bandvagn 202s received from Sweden has been adapted to the MEDEVAC role on the front lines. The background of the picture has been blurred to prevent localization (Picture source: via topwar.ru )
To date, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have received two Banvagn 202s that have been modernized locally, topwar.ru writes. One of them has been adapted for MEDEVAC on the front line, since civilian vehicles cannot be used there. In the future, the Armed Forces of Ukraine should receive another 10-12 vehicles that will also be modernized.
The Bandvagn 202 is an articulated tracked all-terrain vehicle developed by Bolinder-Munktell, a Volvo subsidiary, specifically for the Swedish army. Production started in Arvika in 1964 and ended in 1981. The Bv 202 has since been succeeded by the Hägglunds Bandvagn 206. The last Swedish unit to use this vehicle was the Cavalry, which found that the manual gearbox Bv 202 was much quieter than the automatic transmission Bv 206. The Bv 202 was used by NATO forces and replaced the older Swedish Snow Trac ST4 Over-snow Vehicle, which was employed by the British Royal Marines under NATO.
The vehicle is formed by two rubber Kegresse track units with a multi-directional pivot in between. The front unit contains the engine and gearbox through which power is delivered to the front and, via a prop shaft in the pivot mechanism, the rear tracks. A hydraulic ram on the pivot "bends" the vehicle in the middle to steer it—there is no braking of track units for steering as on conventional tracklaying vehicles. The controls are a conventional steering wheel on the left-hand front of the vehicle. It can reach a speed of 35 km/h on land and 7 km/h (4 kts) on water. The Bv 202 carries a driver and a commander in the front unit and 8–10 troops in the trailer unit.
The Mk1 Bv 202 is powered by an 82.5 bhp (61.5 kW) Volvo B18, the MK2 by the 97 bhp (72 kW) B20. It has less ground pressure than a skier and is fully amphibious.
