KUBINKA, Moscow Region. Sept 28 (Interfax-AVN) - The new BTR-90 Rostok armored personnel carrier will be fielded next year, Colonel Valery Klimenko, Deputy Chairman of the Armor Scientific and Technical Committee, told reporters during the periodical training of Armed Forces engineers and technicians underway in Kubinka.
"The tests of the APC finished with flying colors this year, and we will start fielding it next year," he said.
He added that the new APC differs from those in service with a new layout and more formidable weapons.
BTR-90 has a set of guided weapons and an upgraded weapons control system earlier introduced in the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle. The new carrier will have a weapons suite of the 30-mm 2A42 cannon with 500 rounds of ammo load, the 7.62-mm PKT machinegun with 2,000 rounds, the 30-mm AGS-17 grenade launcher with 400 grenades, and the Konkurs ATGM system with four semi-automatic wire-guided missiles. These weapons will allow the vehicle to counter enemy tanks, helicopters and personnel. The management system installed in the new BTR-90 ensures automated control of the engine and transmission, as well as monitoring and diagnostics of vehicle's major systems.
The new APC can ford water without snorkeling equipment, which is very important in present day battlefield. The 10 motorized riflemen in the vehicle are protected safely from bullets and fragments.
The BTR-90 was developed under the Rostok program in Nizhny Novgorod in the early 1990s. The prototype of the vehicle was assembled at the Arzamas Machine-Building Plant in 1994. The new vehicle is much more superior to the BTR-60PB, BTR-70 and BTR-80, as well as up-to-date foreign armored personnel carriers.