Azovets (armored vehicle)

The development of the armored vehicle began on its own initiative in April 2015, the engineering and construction was carried out by the engineering group of the regiment of the NSU "Azov" (the head of the engineering group, the designer Bogdan Zvarich ^[5] ; the chief designer of the engineering groupS.N. Stepanov ; Chief Consultant - Former Chief Engineer and Chief Designer of the Kharkov Armored Repair Plant N. M. Stepanov , who had experience at the plant. Malysheva ; Counselor Zaur Berianidze) ^[1] , as well as members of the armed forces of Ukraine who took part in hostilities in the east of Ukraine ^[6] .

The project was financed using extrabudgetary funds, donations and sponsorship ^[7] . The construction of an armored vehicle took place on the territory of the training base of the Azov Regiment - in the shops of the Kiev factory ATEK ^[4] , which produced tractors and excavators before the bankruptcy ^[8] .

The bulldozer, previously made from the demilitarized T-64 tank, became the source of the chassis for the armored “Azovets” ^[8] . Guns GSH-23 for installation in the tower modules were brought from the combat zone ^[5] .

On August 18, 2015, Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tsapliyenko published a photograph of an armored vehicle under construction ^[6] .

August 24, 2015, Ukrainian correspondent Stanislav Yasinsky reported that the armored vehicle under construction was given the name "Azovets" ^[5] .

November 25, 2015 it was mentioned that the cost of production of an armored vehicle is 5 million US dollars (of which 100 thousand dollars was the cost of a dynamic protection kit: the price of each of the 500 HOSCH-34 elements was 200 US dollars) ^{[5] [9]} .

On November 27, 2015, during a visit to the training base of the Azov Regiment, Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine A. B. Avakov armored car was presented to journalists. In an interview, A. B. Avakov reported that “Azovets” could be sent for technical field tests with the participation of the state commission “in about a month ” ^[7] , although at that time the armored car had not yet been completed ^[4] .

At the beginning of 2016, “Azovets” was sent for state tests ^{[1] [10]} .

By definition, the developers of the "Azovets" is a "tank for combat in the city" ^[2] , "highly protected heavy universal tracked platform" ^[1] (by definition, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine A. B. Avakov - "city tank" by definition, the commander of the regiment of the NSU "Azov" A. Ye. Biletsky is "an analogue of a tank support combat vehicle") ^[4] .

Tank-garbage truck "Azovets": how the new Kiev armored car turned into a "car of laughter" ^[11]

This combat vehicle is the hull of the T-64 tank (with the turret removed), in place of which two combat modules are installed with a rotation angle of 180 degrees. In each module, a twin-mounted 23-mm automatic aviation gun GS-23 and an installation for shooting 81-mm smoke grenades are installed ^[2] . In addition, on November 25, 2015, a report showed the option of installing two additional 7.62-mm PKT machine guns on the product of the armament ^[9] .

The crew of the armored vehicle consists of four people (commander, driver and two shooter operators) ^[2] .

Body protection strengthened ^[2] . The protective box welded from flat rectangular plates (made of aluminum carbide ) was installed outside the hull of the T-64 tank (while maintaining the 80-mm full-time reservation). In addition, 500 elements of the “Knife” dynamic protection are installed on the sides (in some areas located in two layers) ^[9] .

The old tank engine was saved ^[8] .

According to the developers, there are no triplexes, the review is carried out through the system of video cameras from the intercom ^[2] , there is also a thermal imager ^[9] .

The driver has an orthopedic chair ^[6] . The place of the commander of the machine is equipped with a computer ^[9] .

According to the developers, projects have been developed for several variants of armored vehicles with various weapons:

• a double-strike combat vehicle (with two combat modules — equipped with 23 mm twin GSH-23 cannons, GS-30 rapid-fire cannons or other armament) ^[1]
• one-battle combat vehicle with rocket-gun armament ^[1]
• command and control vehicle
• The presence of optics from the intercom ^[1]

• The absence of a tank gun .
• The lack of a periscope " blinds " the car in case of camera failure.
• A huge number of obsolete components and assemblies, including used ones , as well as Russian-made parts (for example GS-23 ), which are not produced in other countries, which complicates the repair itself.
• Too high price, according to some data reaching 5 million US dollars. For comparison, the cost of the new Armata is about 250 million rubles, which is about $ 3.8 million, and the T-84 is even less.
• Low level of reliability, due to the fact that the design used a lot of plastic parts.
• Multi-turret layout. This increases the number of crew members. Placing 5 people in the old t-64 building is almost impossible. Also, the tanks of this layout are difficult to manage. With this arrangement, the commander is overloaded, which is why they were abandoned at the end of the last 30th century.

Some critics claim that the "Azovets" is just a spoiled T-64.

• Security at the level of MBT .
• The ability to fire at different targets in different directions due to the presence of two towers.
• The ability to easily destroy barriers due to its own weight.