BRDM-2
Thankfully he didn’t see them up close and personal
while stationed on the frontline in Germany, but
now Ratty’s got a BRDM-2 parked next to his shop!
B
ack in the 1980s the Cold
War was still in full swing,
and there was a real threat of
Warsaw Pact forces popping
over the border – and not just
for a shopping trip to Germany! As a young
trooper serving with a tank regiment based
not too far from the East German border,
besides keeping the vehicles maintained
and battle ready we spent many hours in
the classroom doing armoured fighting
vehicle (AFV) recognition. We weren’t just
studying their stuff either, but ours too. Not
much point going to battle if you can’t
differentiate between friendly forces
and the enemy!
We were shown various ‘spy’
shot photographs, models and
video footage of Soviet kit, as well
as books with photos and profiles
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February 2012
of all their wheeled and tracked equipment.
Occasionally, the American Red Ball Express
would arrive with captured Soviet armour and
we were allowed to crawl over it, examining
the weak points. The world changed when
the Berlin Wall came down a few years later;
conflicts such as Operation Desert Storm,
Bosnia and so on meant that not only was
there more contact with former Soviet kit,
but we were now allied and working with
former USSR nations such as Poland. This
meant we could play with their stuff as well!
Obviously, serving on main battle tanks I
already had a massive interest in tanks and
armoured vehicles in general. Nowadays
there is plenty of former Soviet armour on
the open market, so when a good friend
bought a BRDM-2 and asked if we
could store it I was more than happy
to oblige.
History
After World War II, and with the
implementation of the Iron Curtain,
the Soviet Military Machine went into
overdrive. A huge array of new vehicles
was developed for various tasks on
the battlefield. The BRDM-1 (Boyevaya
Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina,
which means Combat Reconnaissance/
Patrol Vehicle) had only been in service
since 1957 but its limitations and
drawbacks had quickly become apparent
and a replacement had to be found. The
design team set to work…
The BRDM-2 had to remain a lightly
armoured, wheeled, amphibious
reconnaissance vehicle. But the few years
since the BRDM-1 had entered service
had changed things and the design now
needed to incorporate an NBC protection
system, night vision equipment for the
crew members as well as some form of
armament for protection.
The finished design was known under
the designations BTR-40PB, BTR-40P-2
and GAZ 41-08. This vehicle, like many
other Soviet designs, has been exported
widely and is still in service with nearly
50 countries. It entered service with the
Soviet Army in 1962 but was not publicly
seen until 1966. Because the BRDM-2 in
all its variants was so popular, production
carried on until 1989 with over 7,200 made.