|
OT-90 Tracked Vehicle, Armoured Personnel Carrier
The Czech’s were unique when under Communist control. Each country had some movement on what they were allowed and not allowed to do. The Czechs historically built many military tanks and were excellent at building reliable units, look at Skoda for example. Did you know they make trains, the Germans decided to have a lot of there military units built in Czech such like the famous half track Sdfkz 250 and 251. These were in fact so effective the Czechs put there own tatra engine in a built them right up to 1972.
No other communist controlled state had this kind of antimony on building military equipment. The letters BVP are a Czech abbreviation for the Infantry Fighting Vehicle, similar to the BMP abbreviation in Russian. All variants of the BVP (BVP-1 and 2, OT-90, BVP-DTP, “SVATAVA Fighting Reconassaince Vehicle” and so on…) were manufactured in Czechoslovakia under Russian licence (which they purchased in 1966)under BMP-1. There were two factories in Czechoslovakia both of them located in the Slovakian part of the country. The ZTS Dubnica plant, which exported vehicles to Russia and the PPS Detva factory, which manufactured to support the Czechoslovakian Army and export vehicles anywhere else. There were 17,295 units of the basic version manufactured altogether.
OT-90 is the only Czech redesign not available from anywhere else. As a result of the Treaty of the Conventional Armed Forces (Paris 1990), the maximum number of IFVs with a gun over 20 mm was limited to 2,050 units in Czechoslovakia. The Army declared the number at the time to be 4,900 units. The Czechoslovakian goverment decided to keep all BMP-2s and drastically lower the BMP-1s numbers. In order to quickly purchase enough new vehicles for 250,000 soldiers, the Czechoslovakian government made the decision to continue to use the excellent quality BMP-1 lower body, but remove the 73mm gun and replace it with the now obsolete OT-64 SKOT Armoured Personal Vehicle turret which had a 14.3 mm KPVT machine gun. Hundreds of units were manufactured and all the work was done in Czechoslovakia. This improved new version with 2 front shock absorbers was then named OT-90 M2 and nicknamed "Mr. Havel’s Tigre".The response had been typically Czech; they would modify an existing design and then make their own alterations and improvements.
So the Czechs or Czechoslovakians as they were then, started to carry out a full refurbishment program. Each unit was totally stripped and everything removed. New tanks were made, fitting all new components; new engine, gearbox absolutely everything - right down to the fire extinguisher! The cost was a staggering 250,000 EUR each. The units were manufactured at PPS Detva. The suspension was upgraded and a few minor changes made to the running gear. The weapon was also a problem on the newly named OT-90. The best available was being used and this was the 14.5mm KPVT automatic, whereas the BMP2 had a new 30mm and was a faster acting weapon and had a bigger turret. Since the beginning of the nineties and more quickly after Czechoslovakia split up into the Czech and Slovak Republics, the number of arms carrying soldiers was dramatically reduced to 30-40.000 which is the current level, and thus there was no further demand for the manufacture of these armoured vehicles. Instantly it became uneconomical to continue. Many after refurbishment were moth-balled into long term storage. Nobody knew what to do; a massive amount had been spent.
This is where I come in. I love these units, as its one of those rare occasions where you don’t have to spend £250k to get a new tank. Instead it’s a tiny percentage of that price. What’s a double whammy, they are easy to drive quick and fantastic fun. We took one to ‘War & Peace’, and if you there I only have to mention the ‘M’ word. Mud mud and more mud, in fact it was that muddy the one morning I woke up thinking we were on Morecombe Bay of Stifkey salt marshes. Anyway, whilst tanks were struggling to make up the now muddied out show ring, and so kept in a safe zone. We had more fun. I was approached by Andreas Stottmeister ex-DDR (Deutschland Democratic Republic) soldier who had driven BMP-1’s during the cold war. He had spent much of his military career driving these in the forces. I gave him the green light to show what could be done in the arena. And oh boy was it fun the tank sped through the thickest mud, catapulting the muck high into the air, due to the unique deep pattern of the track. Thanks Andreas you did a great drive, you scared me on a few occasions. I didn’t realise what was possible.
So in a nutshell, technically you are buying a new tank, you starting with a ‘blank canvas’, so to speak. Nobody has been near it, engines are run in but that’s it.
A lot of off-road adventure sites are now buying these, due to their excellent low maintenance and reliability. Yes they still cost more than your average 432, but you are comparing knackered unreliable units that should be weighed in - You can expect to spend three hours repairing to one hour driving. My advice, why settle for tired boring old 432’s when you can exciting OT-90’s with some fancy toys like a smoke disperser, they swim and they have lots of gadgets than you can shake a stick at!
Some More History…
The OT-90 was a conversion from the BMP-1 which improved the technical quality of the vehicle but lowered its fighting value. The BMP in fact is a new category vehicle equipped with its own fixed anti-tank weapon. It is not an APV but IFV. The obsolete OT-810 and BTR-50 were superseded by the OT-64 SKOT APV. The first BMP-1 rolled through Red Square for the first time in 1967. Previous armoured personnel carriers simply transported the infantry to a point near the scene of action, where it dismounted troops to attack the objective on foot. The OT-90 not only has firing ports that allow all of the embarked troops to fire weapons from within the vehicle in relative safety, however they are vulnerable from the rear, as the rear doors are used as fuel tanks.
The layout of the OT-90 is unusual, with the driver at the front left, the commander to his rear and the engine on the right. The turret is in the centre of the hull and the infantry compartments at the rear. The eight infantryman are seated four down each side, back to back, and enter the vehicle via twin doors in the hull rear. Over the top of the troop compartment there are quick release hatches.
Crew: 3 + 8 Combat Soldiers
Engine Type: UTD - 20
Eng Layout: V6 Quad Valve
Eng Starting Primary: Air
Engine min pre-start: Less Than 5 Degrees
Engine BHP: 300 BHP
Engine Displacement: 19,000 cc
Engine Torque: 100 kgm / 981 Nwm
Engine Bore x Stroke: 150 mm x 150 mm
Engine Dimension L: 834 mm
Engine Dimension W: 1,150 mm
Engine Dimension H: 757 mm
Dimensions Length: 7,130 mm
Dimensions Width: 2.940 mm
Dimensions Height: 2,350 mm
Fuel consumption: 787 Ltr / 100 km
Fuel Quantity: 480 Ltr
Fuel type: Diesel
Trench clearance: 2,200 mm
Fording depth: Amphibious
Max Road Speed: 65 kph
Max Off-Road Speed: 45 kph
Max ascent angle: 50 Degrees
Side slope: 33 Degrees
Vertical obstacle: 800 mm
Ground clearance: 420 mm
Ground pressure: 0.6 kg / cm2
Weight Combat: 13,500 kg
Weight Empty: 12,500 kg
Eng Power to Wht Ratio: 178 Gms / Hph
NBC Air filtration: Yes
Brakes Type: Hydraulic
Track: 2,760 mm
Smoke discharge: Yes, Oil
Weapons: De-activated
(글과 사진 출처 :http://www.russianmilitary.co.uk)
|
