Former Soviet Union
BTR-60 PB Unlike the BTR-50P series (previous entry), the BTR-60P series has an 8 x 8 wheeled drive configuration, with the power being derived from two GAZ-49B petrol engines. Entering service during the early 1960s, the original BTR-60P had an open troop compartment while the later (and far more numerous) BTR-60PA (also known as the BTR-60PK) had an armoured roof. On the BTR-60PB a turret, mounting a 14.5 mm heavy MG and a coaxial 7.62 mmMG, was added, reducing the number of troops carried from 16 to 14. In its day the BTR-60 series were widely used as APCs but are now little encountered in this role, Instead the BTR-60P series has become a veritable maid of all work throughout the Eastern Bloc and elsewhere. Variants abound. Just to list them would fill many pages but essentially they include numerous command vehicle types, some having specialised installations for artillery or signals units, while others are equipped for various communication purposes or for electronic warfare (EW) with prominent
antennae arrays. There are also artillery observation vehicles, others are front line mobile workshops, while in several Third-World nations BTR-60P series vehicles are employed for police or para-military duties, At least one type of forward air control post for directing strike aircraft was developed, There have been many user nations over the years and the type can still be encountered in countries such as Cambodia, Cuba, Angola and Turkey (who received a batch of 300 ex-East German vehicles during the early 1990s);
the only Warsaw Pact nations not to use the BTR-60P were the Czechs and the Poles. Some nations, such as Cuba, have added roof-mounted light air defence guns or recoilless anti-armour weapons. At least 34 user nations have been identified and there may well be more. A licence was issued to Romania to produce a BTR-60PB-based model known as the TAB-71, from which a 4 x 4 scout car (the TABC-79) was developed.
BTR-60PB
