Russian largest armoured personnel carrier maker, Military-Industrial Company (VPK), is slowly close up to the mass production of its next-generation armored vehicle.
On Friday, multiple news outlets reported that testing of Russia’s latest armored vehicle, Atlet, will begin in the spring of 2021 and continue until late summer.
“By now, Altet has fully completed preliminary trials and is about to enter state trials. They will begin in the spring of 2021 and will continue until late summer of the same year,” VPK CEO Alexander Krasovitsky told on Friday.
Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Army General Oleg Salyukov told the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on December 9 that Atlet state trials will be completed next year.
The next-generation Atlet armored vehicles have been developed by Military Industrial Company on order from Russia’s Defense Ministry as part of the Atlet R&D work. The Atlet armored vehicle was unveiled to the public at the Army-2019 international arms exhibition outside Moscow in June last year.
The Atlet vehicles feature a 4×4 wheeled platform and are designated to carry personnel and military cargoes providing the required level of protection, as well as to tow trailers and mount armament, military and special hardware.
In their standard configuration, the vehicles are equipped with anti-trauma seats for all crewmembers and with the air conditioning system. The armored vehicles’ ballistic protection in its basic configuration corresponds to the 2nd level by general technical standards.
As compared to the Tigr armored vehicle produced by Military Industrial Company, the Atlet features an increased lifting capacity of up to 1,600 kg and anti-mine resistance enhanced threefold, a more powerful YaMZ-5347-24 Russian-made diesel engine with a maximum capacity of 240 hp.