TASHKENT. Dec 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Bullet protection tests for Russia's Bars humvee have been held in Uzbekistan, a source in the Uzbek Interior Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency Tuesday.
The vehicle was taken from the batch of 16, delivered to the country this year, the source said.
Khikmat Ibragimov, Uzbek deputy interior minister, as well as Russian Interior Ministry and producer representatives were present at the tests, he said.
"The humvee was shot at from a machine-gun and the SVD sniper rifle in the most vulnerable points: windows, hull armor, doorway bullet traps, connections between hull armor and the windows. The Bars suffered no breaches," the source said.
The SBA-14UMO-5 Bars concealed-armor vehicle is a FWD derivative of the Russian-made UAZ-3159. The vehicle has wider axles and more powerful 132-hp ZMZ-409 petrol injector engine. The Barses delivered to Uzbekistan have all-welded armor, attached mounts, and armor glasses, as well as other optional units.
The main producer of the vehicles of the kind is the Zashchita corporation. The Bars is co-produced by the Severstal holding company (armor plates), the Ulyanovsk Automotive Plant (base vehicle), and Magistral (armor glasses).
Having finished the tests, Russian and Uzbek parties have signed a protocol on further cooperation, envisaging another batch of the Barses to be delivered to Uzbekistan in January 2003, the source said.