BTR-50 - Variants - Former USSR

Former USSR

• BTR-50P (Ob'yekt 750) (1952) - The first production version with an open troop compartment. The vehicle had no integral armament but it did have a pintle mount for a 7.62 mm SGMB medium machine gun. Early production BTR-50P models had folding ramps at the rear of the hull to enable either a 57 mm ZiS-2, a 76.2 mm ZiS-3 or a 85 mm D-44 anti-tank gun to be loaded and fired on the engine decks. The weapon could also be fired when the vehicle was afloat, but only when the water-jets were in operation. This system had one great flaw, the muzzle of the gun was usually over the open personnel compartment and as such submitted any occupants to a considerable amount of concussion and fumes. These ramps were absent in later production models.
  • BTR-50P - Converted into an artillery portee vehicle. This version carried its gun in the crew compartment, thus placing the muzzle of the gun outside the vehicle. While seen mostly carrying the 57 mm ZIS-2 anti-tank gun, there were also two other variants of this vehicle that carried anti-aircraft (AA) weapons.
    • ZTPU-2 (zenitnaya samokhodnaya ustanovka) - BTR-50P converted into a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG), armed with twin ZPU-2 14.5 mm heavy machine guns (1,280 rounds). Prototype.
    • ZTPU-4 (zenitnaya samokhodnaya ustanovka) - A BTR-50P converted into a SPAAG armed with quadruple ZPU-4 14.5 mm heavy machine guns (2,560 rounds). Prototype.
  • BTR-50P - Converted into a Forward Air Control vehicle with a second superstructure on top of the first.
  • BTR-50P - Converted into a NBC reconnaissance vehicle with a second superstructure on top of the first.
  • BTR-50P - Has a longer nose section.
  • BTR-50PA (Ob'yekt 750M) (1954) - BTR-50P armed with a 14.5 mm KPV heavy machine gun on a pintle mount at the front of the troop compartment.
    • BTR-50PA with its heavy machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola.
  • BTR-50PK (Ob'yekt 750K) (K stands for krisha - "roof") (1958) - A BTR-50P fitted with an armored roof, the troops mounting and dismounting the vehicle via two rectangular roof hatches that open to either side. There is also another rectangular roof hatch at the front of the roof. A BTR-50PK armed with a pintle-mounted 7.62 mm SGMB medium machine gun. This variant has an NBC protection system. The vehicle had two ventilators, one at the front of the troop compartment on the right and one at the rear, also on the right. It is likely that these vehicles were mostly upgraded from BTR-50Ps. Another production run of the BTR-50PK had a single firing port on each side of the superstructure. They were rarely seen in use as APCs as the majority consisted of specialized variants such as command vehicles before being replaced by another batch with two firing ports on each side of the superstructure.
    • BTR-50PK - Fitted with a locater light in the center of the engine deck. This variant was issued to Soviet marine and assault river crossing units.
    • BTR-50PK - Converted into a training vehicle with four cupolas on top of the roof.
    • BTR-50PK - Has a longer nose section. Used by marine units.
    • UR-67 (ustanovka razminirovaniya) - Mine-clearing vehicle equipped with a UR-67 rocket launcher system which has three launchers firing UZP-67 or UZR-3 tubes filled with explosives. The UZP-67 or UZR-3 are carried in a fabric tube container carried inside the hull. The mine clearing procedure is composed of driving the vehicle to the edge of the minefield and aligning it before the rockets are fired from its elevated launcher at the rear of the vehicle. The rocket tows the line charge, which is secured to the launcher vehicle, across the minefield. The line charge is then positioned by the vehicle crew and detonated to clear any mines in its vicinity. The cleared lane is usually 60 m to 150 m long and 2 m to 5 m wide. The vehicle has a crew of three. Some of the vehicles were based on the BTR-50PK, others were based on the PT-76. They were known in the west as the MTK and MTK-1. Only a small number remain in service, most have been replaced by the UR-77.
    • BTR-50PN (1958) - Early command vehicle with 3 radios (including an R-113) and 3 whip antennas. Only a small number were built.
    • BTR-50PU (mashina upravleniya) (1959) - Unarmed command vehicle. It carries a crew of 10 and has an armored roof with oval hatches and 4 whip antennas. Most of the BTR-50PUs have two projecting bays on the front of the vehicle (the respective NATO codes are: BTR-50PU(1) and BTR-50PU(2)). The two bays are the same shape, unlike in the OT-62 TOPAS which is very similar in appearance. The vehicle has a total of ten seats of which four are for the commander and his staff, four are for the radio operators and two are for the vehicle's commander and driver. The staff compartment has a collapsible table, a second small table for the commander, two hammocks and three ladders. An emergency escape hatch is provided in the floor of the vehicle and the vehicle has thermal insulation. Specialized equipment consists of KN-2 and KP-2 navigation devices; an AB-1-P/30 1 kW generator (located on the rear engine deck); R-105, R-105U and R-113 VHF radios; a R-112 HF transceiver, a R-311 HF receiver; a collapsible 11 m mast antenna for the R-105U; a light 10 m telescopic mast for the R-112; a R-403BM relay-set; R-120 intercom and a P-193A 10-line field telephone switchboard with six TAI-43 field telephones and four cable reels, each with 600 m of two-wire cable. The navigation system includes a gyro course indicator and course plotter (the former indicates the vehicle's course, the latter plots it on a rectangular co-ordinate system). Some vehicles have different numbers of stowage boxes in different arrangements on the rear engine decks. Some vehicles have a second generator.
      • BTR-50PU with a longer nose section.
      • BTR-50PU-2 - An improved version with more modern radio equipment, most probably the R-123 and the R-130M. It is externally similar to the BTR-50PU, but has a portable generator located immediately behind the troop compartment.
      • BTR-50PUM - A modernised variant, it is equipped with a large AMU telescopic antenna mast and R-123 (3x), R-130, R-326, R-405D and T-218 radios. This model has a square antenna stowage box on the right front side of the hull.
      • BTR-50PUM-1 (1972) - latest model with a crew of up to 8 and fitted with the same radios as mounted in the R-145BM (BTR-60): R-111 (2x), R-123MT, R-124 and R-130M.
    • MTP-1 (mashina tekhnicheskoj pomoshchi) - A technical support vehicle with a raised troop compartment and a light crane.
    • Polyesye - A civilian version of the MTP-1.