Russians found the legendary Azovets BMPT

Russians in the occupied territories found the buried remains of the famous prototype of the Azovets tank support fighting vehicle.

Footage of the vehicle was released by Russian propagandists.

Developed back in 2015 by the Azov engineering group, led by the former technical director of the country’s main armored enterprise – the Malyshev Plant, this vehicle was intended for participation in heavy urban battles.

However, the project did not succeed and disappeared from public space for years. Only now invaders found it buried in the occupied territories.

Azovets was in disassembled condition. In the photo, you can see that automatic guns and, probably, a tank engine were removed from it.

Azovets BMPT

Azovets is a heavy combat tracked vehicle built on the chassis of the T-64B tank. It was designed as a specialized vehicle for infantry fire support in urban fighting.

“It is probably more correct to call it” armored fighting vehicle for urban warfare.” It’s weight is 40 tons. A special armor design is able to reliably protect the crew: even if the vehicle hits a sub-caliber projectile into the side, it will not cause much damage. The vehicle can have heavy machine guns, four guns for mortal firing, Stugna ATGM and rapid-fire GSh-23 guns capable of turning concrete fortifications into a pile of garbage with 23mm rounds. The concept of a combat vehicle is based on the safety of its crew,” says designer Mykola Stepanov.

These weapons were to be placed in two independent turrets, which were to be operated by two crew members. The other two, the commander and the driver, were responsible for controlling the vehicle on the battlefield.

The high level of protection of the vehicle should be provided by massive tank armor and the installation of built-in “Knife” reactive armor, which can counteract both HEAT and sub-caliber projectiles.

The layout of the tank chassis with the placement of the engine in the aft part did not change, so the exit from the vehicle was placed in the wheelhouse, and landing was supposed to pass over the engine compartment, as in Soviet IFV.

In the area of ​engine compartment, side panels were also built up so that in the event of evacuation under fire, the crew could safely leave the damaged vehicle.

The special appearance and concept of the vehicle were explained by the influence of the Azov Regiment experience of fighting with invaders, in particular, for Shyrokyne.

“Please note, we decided to abandon triplexes precisely because our fighters told how the enemy snipers are trying to blind our tanks. They hit triplexes and the blind crew is unable to fight. Therefore, instead of triplexes, we intend to install 360-degree television cameras,” the Azovets developers said.

The publicly known part of the history of this combat vehicle ended dramatically: in September 2016, at the request of the SSU, the court arrested all property on the territory of the ATEK plant, including the prototype. However, on October 23-24, unidentified persons removed Azovets from the plant, after which it broke off.