Soviet MT-LB vehicle armored troop-carrier 1/35 SKIF 214

Soviet MT-LB personnel carrier vehicle armored troop-carrier

1/35 scale plastic model kit

SKIF 214

Package include:

Photo Etched set

Decals

Gum tracks

Plastic parts

Assembly guide

Manufacturer: SKIF (Ukraine)

Scale: 1/35

Material: Plastic

Unpainted, Unassembled, Kit do not contain paints and glue.

Condition: New in Box

The MT-LB (многоцелевой тягач легко бронированный, 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.

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 were 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 1970s, 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 4 firing ports - two in the both sides 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 an NBC system.

MT-LB

Type

Armored personnel carrier

Place of origin

Soviet Union

Specifications

Weight

11,900 kg

Length

6.45 m

Width

2.86 m

Height

1.865 m

Crew

2 (+ 11 passengers)

Armor

14mm max.

Primary

armament

7.62mm PKT machine-gun

2,500 rounds

Engine

YaMZ 238, V-8 diesel

240 hp at 2,100 rpm

Power/weight

20 hp/tonne

Suspension

Torsion bar

Operational

range

500 km (road range)

Speed

61 km/h (road)

30 km/h (off-road)

5 to 6 km/h (in the water)

Users

Armenia - 75

Azerbaijan - 196

Bangladesh - 80+ (Captured during Op. Desert Storm & are ex-Iraqi and after that many were bought))

Belarus - 66

Bulgaria - 812

Czech Republic - Only Strela-10

Finland - 98 MT-LBV

Georgia - 80

Iraq (The new Iraqi Army , Kurdish Peshmerga) - 61

Kazakhstan - 200

Lithuania - 10

Macedonia - 10

Moldova - 62

Niger - 67

Poland - 352

Russia - 4,800

Serbia - Only MT-LBu variants and 13 9K35 "Strela-10".

Sweden - 460 (Called Pbv 401, former East German, bought 1993)

Ukraine - 2,090

United States - unknown

Former Operators

East Germany - 721 Bulgarian-made MT-LB's, 32 SNAR-10 and 36 Strela-10M. Passed on to the successor state.

Soviet Union - Passed on to successor states.

West Germany/ Germany - taken from GDR's army, all scrapped or sold to other countries.

Yugoslavia - SNAR-10 and Strela-10. Passed on to successor states.