Ukrainian Company Morozov Design Bureau of Engineering (part of the Ukroboronprom group) has delivered to the Ukrainian Army another batch of five BTR-4E 8×8 armored personnel carriers. The Morozov plant has already fulfilled 60% of the state contract armored personnel carriers out of 45 provided for by the 2019 state defense order had been manufactured and handed over to the military. The BTR-4E is the export version of the BTR-4 “Bucephalus” (Bronetransporter 4), an 8×8 armoured vehicle personnel carrier (APC) designed by the Ukrainian Company Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau (SOE KMDB).
The layout of the BTR-4 represent a change compared to the older BTR-60/70/80 designed in the Soviet Union. The vehicle has a conventional layout similar to western designs like the German TPz Fuchs with the driver’s and commander’s compartment at the front part of the hull, the engine and transmission compartment in the middle, and the troop compartment at the rear. The BTR-4 is a more flexible design than the older BTR-60/70/80s as the changed layout makes it easier to adapt the vehicle to specialized roles. The troops enter and leave the vehicle either through the rear doors or the roof hatches, and the driver and the commander are provided with doors located on the sides of the hull.
The BTR-4E can be armed according to customer requirements. The prototype is armed with the locally designed New Armament Module which is armed with one 30mm automatic cannon, 7.62mm coaxial machine-gun, up to four 9P135M Konkurs or Baryer anti-tank missiles (two on each side of the turret), and one 30mm automatic grenade launcher (fitted in place of the AT missiles on one left-hand side of the turret). It can also be fitted with different turret weapons modules: the GROM module, SHKVAL module, and the BAU 23×2 module. The BTR-4 has a maximum speed of 110 km/h and can cross water obstacles at a speed of 10 km/h. The vehicle is powered by a 3TD diesel engine with 500 hp.
The main feature of BTR-4E is a layout diagram, which fundamentally differ from basic one of Soviet wheeled armored personnel carriers. There is a control compartment in the fore-part, motor transmission compartment in the middle part, and combat and troops’ compartment in the rear part of the vehicle. Such layout diagram enhances driver’s observation, keeping protection characteristics, and ensures more safety exit of the troops out the vehicle while being under the enemy’s fire. On 4 June 2014, company officials revealed that the BTR-4E was being used in military operations in the Sloviansk area. Its armor had withstood hits from large-caliber machine guns and armored glass sustained direct hits from sniper rifles.
