BTR-80/82A and variants: News

Nona-SVK at work in the SMO zone.

The 2S9 NONA was a very popular vehicle because the 120mm mortar is a very powerful weapon and the tracked BMD chassis gave it good mobility.

I would guess this 2S23 version based on the BTR chassis would also have excellent mobility and excellent fire power near the front line as long as there were decent road networks...

It is always a compromise between shell weight and rate of fire... an 82mm version with the four round clip of the Vasilek mortar replaced by a continuous belt feed would be rather interesting trading bomb weight for rate of fire, while a shift up in calibre to the 160mm mortars they used in the mountains with its 40kg rounds was quite devastating but not as big and awkward as the 240mm mortars with their 130kg bombs.

The 82mm bombs were 4-6kg and the 120mm rounds were about 16kgs.. and with modern electronics and more precise aiming mechanisms would give the accuracy to make the bombs even more effective than they have previously been.

It looks like the transition from the BTR series to the Bumerang as the main IFV fighting unit for the Rus Army is taking longer than expected, or maybe the BTR is in a lighter IFV category compared to the Bumerang (Bumerang is at least 10+ tons heavier), in any case, instead of upgrading the base BTR-80 into BTR-82As etc, perhaps its better to upgrade the BTR-90 instead

I'm not sure if there is much of a difference when it comes to the chassis design between the 80 & 90 but I don't think the plant that manufactures these vehicles will need an extensive retooling when switching production to the BTR-90