Russia to upgrade its BTR-82A armoured personnel carrier to BTR-87 TASS 32403162

Defence & Security News - Russia
 
Russia to upgrade its BTR-82A armoured personnel carrier to BTR-87
The manufacturer of armoured personnel carriers (APC) for Russian Armed Forces, Military-Industrial Company (Russian acronym: VPK, a subsidiary of the Basic Element Group) is developing new modification of the BTR-82A APC, according to 2015 presentation-statement of JSC "Hulls Plant" (a subsidiary of VPK).
     
     
The upgraded BTR-82A is designated as BTR-87. The main difference from basic BTR-80A/82A vehicles is the location of the engine compartment at the front-right part of the hull. The manned MB2-03 combat module armed with 30mm 2A72 automatic cannon, co-axial 7.62mm PKT/PKTM machinegun and six Tucha 902V smoke grenades launchers is moved to central part of the hull. The troops compartment is located at the rear part of the vehicle. Troops disembark through rear and roof hatches. BTR-87 is supposed to retain the BTR-82A armour protection.
     
Russia to upgrade its BTR 82A armoured personnel carriers to BTR 87 640 002New BTR-87 APC (Photo: otvaga2004.mybb.ru)
     

According to Russian military experts, the development of BTR-87 is a coherent project. The upgraded vehicle is estimated to be in high demand by financially constraint potential foreign customers, as it has good cost-effectiveness ratio (comparable to the related ratio of BTR-80A/BTR-82A).

Several latest developments of Russian defense industry, namely TKN-4GA-02 and TKN-4GA-03 sighting systems could be installed on BTR-87, according to the experts. TKN-4GA-02 system provides the air burst of 30mm high-explosive shells, siginificantly increasing their effectiveness against enemy`s personnel (including anti-tank soldiers). TKN-4GA-03 sight includes thermal imager, allowing it to aim by day and night in all climatic conditions.
     
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