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BTR-152

1950 ARMORED PERSONNEL CARRIER COLD WAR

History

The Soviet army adjusted its doctrine of the battlefield after experiencing World War II (1939-1945) against the Axis powers - especially Germany. The Soviet advances generally proved effective, but came at a high cost to the infantrymen tasked with protecting their fast-moving tank fleets from enemy infantry ambushes. This posed a logistical challenge for Soviet war planners, who had to rely on a range of local solutions and foreign-born equipment, such as the American M3 half-tracks lent by Lend-Lease and captured German half-tracks of similar form and function.

Solving this challenge after the war led to the development of an infantry mover with good mechanization capabilities comparable to the tanks of the Soviet Army - the BTR-152 of 1950.

The name "BTR" comes from the word "Bronetransporter", which means "armored transporter".

The main armament is a 7.62mm general purpose infantry machine gun. This can be replaced by heavy 12.7mm DShK 1938/46 machine guns for low flying aerial threats and light armoured vehicles, and up to two additional 7.62mm machine guns can be mounted on trainable trunnion mounts for additional Suppressive fire.

The ammunition loaded on the ship depends largely on the weapon installed, but is usually numbered 500 x 12.7 mm or 1,250 x 7.62 mm.

The BTR-152 debuted in March 1950 and was soon shown to Soviet citizens (and Western observers) at the 1951 Moscow military parade. In practice, these vehicles are viable, but not exactly reliable additions to the battlefield. Their armor protection was too light to give the BTR-152 a real presence on the battlefield - it only protected against small arms fire and artillery jets. The openness of the passenger compartment is a glaring weakness, forcing a future hardtop version.

Wheels can be punctured in any normal mode of operation not suited to the dangers of a war zone. The suspension proved to be an impractical off-road solution, mainly due to its ZiS-151 truck origins.

Closable engine shrouds - while it sounds like a concept - actually raise the operating temperature of the engine, causing overheating problems.

As such, the BTR-152 proved to be a very limited machine, of which only about 15,000 were produced. These were used as frontline systems in the 1960s before being superseded by the more efficient fully enclosed 8x8 wheeled BTR-60 model line.

However, many of the remaining BTR-152s managed longer service careers in auxiliary roles such as transporters, equipment transporters, and general non-combat transporters in the Soviet Army.

Despite its shortcomings, the BTR-152 was exported to many Soviet Union states and countries during production - from Afghanistan and Albania to Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe. The Israeli army converted captured Egyptian and Syrian vehicles into transport vehicles or converted weapons delivery vehicles, while other vehicles were taken over by local security services.

The Chinese Army referred to the BTR-152 as the "Type 56", while the East German version was called the "SPW-152". While many BTR-152s have been eliminated from the armed forces today, examples still appear in the inventories of second-tier militaries around the world.

In addition to the 1950 transport model, the Soviet Union adopted a number of BTR-152 variants. The BTR-152A is a self-propelled AA (air defense) platform and the BTR-152B is a communications platform. The 1955 model introduced night vision support and tire pressure control, and the BTR-152I became an artillery command/reconnaissance vehicle.

The BTR-152K was a battlefield ambulance, while the BTR-152U introduced an armored roof above the passenger compartment. The BTR-152V3 has a bow winch system.