Territorial defense forces of Ukraine equip captured armored vehicle with firepower

Ukrainian engineering personnel modernized the armored special vehicle by installing a tower from the BRM-1K on it.

Photos of the modernization were released on social media.

The published photo showed the captured Russian R-149BMR Kushetka-B mobile command post vehicle, which was created on the chassis of the BTR-80 armored personnel carrier.

This vehicle has ballistic protection but is not equipped with any weapons.

Ukrainian specialists installed a turret from the BRM-1К on the vehicle, which is armed with a 2А28 Grom 73mm gun and a PKT 7.62mm machine gun.

The armament and ballistic protection of the BRM-1К combat reconnaissance vehicle turret are generally similar to those installed in the old Soviet BMP-1. It accommodates two crew members – the gunner and the vehicle commander.

It seems that all standard reconnaissance equipment, including a radar and a rangefinder, was dismantled from the turret of the newly created sophisticated-wheeled IFV.

The ammunition of the 73mm gun includes two types of rounds: PG-15V HEAT and OG-15V HE-Frag. The range of the grazing shot of the gun is 750 meters, and the maximum range is 1300 meters.

Currently, according to the original source of the photo, the combat-ready armored vehicle uses one of the separate territorial defense battalions.

Modernization of BRM-1

It is not known for certain where the reconnaissance vehicle turret was borrowed from for such exotic modernization. However, in Ukraine, for some time there has been a trend for the conversion of BRM-1К with the replacement of the original turret with analogues removed from broken IFVs, such as BMD-2 and Nona-S self-propelled guns.

Usable combat compartments were removed from disabled captured IFVs and installed on the BRM due to the similar diameter of the turret ring race.

This solution with the installation of a turret is caused by the relevance of their weapons: a 30-mm automatic gun in the BMD-2 or a 120-mm mortar-gun in the Nona ACS is much more valuable than it was on the original BRM-1.