Russia tests new wheeled combat vehicles

Zarvan · Apr 5, 2023

Russian state media claims Tuesday that a new Bumerang armored personnel carrier will enter service at the end of the year.

According to RIA Novosti, the acceptance tests of new wheeled combat vehicles based on the “Boomerang” platform have started.

“It is about K-16 armored personnel carriers and K-17 infantry fighting vehicles,” a military official said in a media report.

The completion of acceptance tests is scheduled for the end of this year. Based on their results, the combat vehicles will receive permission for serial production.

This new Russian armored vehicle has a crew of 3, including a commander, gunner, and driver. It can carry 9 soldiers.
The vehicle has a welded hull and turret. Its armor is modular, so protection level can be tailored to suit mission requirements. So far, its protection level is classified.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry television station TV Zvezda, its armor can withstand a tank blast and is armed with machine guns and anti-air weapons.

The Boomerang platform has had a long and somewhat tortured development, the vehicle has design flaws, including the need to replace equipment and components due to restrictions on their supply to Russia.

It is worth noting that a similar announcement was made already in 2015 when the Russian media announced that a new generation of armored vehicles would be mass-produced to replace the iconic Soviet-era BTR-80. But according to the old Russian tradition, nothing has gone beyond propagandistic headlines, just like with the Armata platform and Kurganets.

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Colton Jones
Colton Jones is the deputy editor of Defence Blog. He is a US-based journalist, writer and publisher who specializes in the defense industry in North America and Europe. He has written about emerging technology in military magazines and elsewhere. He is a former Air Force soldier and served at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.