Information AboutMt-lb |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MT-LB | |
| armoured personnel carriers of the soviet union | |
| cold war armoured personnel carriers | |
| amphibious vehicles | |
The MT-LB ('''м'''ногоцелевой '''т'''ягач '''л'''егко '''б'''ронированный, mnogotselevoy tyagach lekhko bronirovannyi / multi-purpose light-armoured towing vehicle) is a Soviet multi-purpose fully- Amphibious Armoured Personnel Carrier which was first introduced in the 1970s . Initially the vehicle was known as '''M 1970''' in the west. DEVELOPMENT In the 1970s the Soviet Central Auto and Tractor Directorate embarked on a development program to replace the AT-P series of artillery tractors (that where based on the ASU-57 ) with a new generation of vehicles. The MT-L was developed to meet this requirement based on the PT-76 chassis. The MT-LB is the armoured variant of the vehicle. Entering production in the early 1970's, it was cheap to build, being based on many existing components including the engine which is actually a truck engine. It was built at the Kharkov tractor plant in the USSR as well as Poland and Bulgaria . DESCRIPTION The crew, a driver and a commander/gunner sit in a compartment at the front of the vehicle, with the engine behind them. A compartment at the rear enables up to 11 infantry to be carried or a cargo of up to 2,000 kg. A load of 6,500 kg can be towed. The vehicle is fully amphibious, being propelled by its tracks in the water. A small turret at the front of the vehicle fits a 7.62 mm PKT machine gun with 360 degree manual traverse and an elevation of -5 to +30 degrees. The vehicle is lightly armoured against small arms and shell splinters with a thickness of 3 to 10 mm of steel. The infantry compartment has two hatches over the top, which open forwards. There are 3 firing ports - one in the left side of the hull, the other two in the rear twin doors of the infantry compartment. The driver is provided with a TVN-2 infra-red periscope, which in combination with the OU-3GK infra-red/white light search light provides a range of about 40 m. All vehicles include a NBC system. VARIANTS
Polish Variants Polish HSW (Huta Stalowa Wola) has a licence to produce MT-LB.
USERS
Former Operators
NEWS In January 2006 Bob Woodruff was injured when an explosive device damaged the MT-LB he was riding in. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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