22 MT-LB Carrier, Former Soviet Union

SHOT AP

For various reasons, when most Warsaw Pact nations adopted the BTR-60P series of wheeled APCs (qv) in the early 1960s Poland and Czechoslovakia decided to jointly develop their own equivalent.

The result entered service in 1964 and was known as the SKOT, labelled in the West as the OT-64 APC. Using many components from the TATRA 813 series of high mobility trucks, the SKOT was jointly produced, the chassis and main components in Czechoslovakia and the armoured hull and other parts in Poland. In overall layout the SKOT series resembles the BTR-60P series but the two types are very different, the fully amphibious SKOT being bulkier overall and having, for instance, large entry doors in the hull rear while the later models have the turret mounted in the centre of the hull roof. This turret was not installed on early production models which were armed only by a single pintle-mounted 7.62 mm MG.

The turret was added to the SKOT-2, used mainly by Poland,

Czech Republic and Slovakia

mounting a 7.62 or 12.7 mm MG. The SKOT-2A became the main production variant, with the main turret armament being uprated to a 14,5 mm MG capable of high elevation angles.

The SKOT-2AP had a revised turret outlines and some export models also had alternative turret outlines.

Other SKOT variants included command and radio vehicles, a mobile front line workshop, and a Polish combat engineer vehicle.

As well as being used by Czechoslovakia and Poland the SKOT series was also exported in significant numbers to several nations such as Morocco, India, Cambodia, the Sudan and Iraq (among others); Hungary was another Warsaw Pact user. With many of these nations the SKOT series is no longer employed as a front line vehicle but is instead issued to police and other internal security forces.

At one time SKOT APCs were often deployed carrying ATGW but this is new rarely seen.

SKOTAPC

Specification:

Crew: 2

Seating: 18 Weight: (combat) 14,300kg

Length: 7.44 m Width: 2.55m

Height: (hull top) 2.06 m

Ground clearance: 0.46 m

Track: 1.86m Max speed: (road) 94 km/h Fuel capacity: 320 litres Range: 710km Fording: amphibious Vertical obstacle: 0.5m Engine: TATRA 928-14 V-8 diesel Power output: 180 hp Suspension: springs and shock absorbers Armament: 1 x 7.62 mm MG Variants: SKOT, SKOT-2, SKOT-2A, SKOT-2AP - also, see text

The large and bulky SKOT (OT-64) APC, seen here in Czech Army service.