Ukrainian Ministry of Defense codifies Khorunzhyi APC

The Ministry of Defense has codified and authorized the deep modernization of the BTR-60 Khorunzhyi armored personnel carrier.

The news was published on the Ministry’s website.

The vehicle has been codified by the Main Directorate for Life Cycle Support of Armaments and Military Equipment.

This will allow armored personnel carriers of this type to be purchased at the expense of the state budget and used by units of the Armed Forces. However, nothing is known about possible purchases of these armored vehicles.

The Khorunzhyi is a deep modernization of the Soviet BTR-60 armored personnel carrier developed by the Ukrainian company Research and Production Association PRACTIKA. The vehicle was first presented to the public in 2021.

As part of the modernization, a new armored hull is installed on the BTR-60 chassis, which improves the layout and ballistic protection without increasing the weight to the PSZA-4 level. The vehicle is protected around the perimeter from 7.62 mm caliber bullets with a steel core, and the frontal armor can withstand shots from a large-caliber machine gun from a distance of 10 meters.

The design of the hull bottom and special mine-resistant seats protects the troops from the consequences of an explosive device equivalent to 6 kg of TNT.

The armored personnel carrier has a modern compartment layout with an engine compartment in the front right side, a driver’s compartment in the front left side and a more spacious landing compartment in the rear of the hull.

The new APC is equipped with modern electronics, video surveillance cameras, an air conditioning system and an autonomous generator that allows the armored vehicle to operate when the engine is off.

The Khorunzhyi is much more powerful than the BTR-60, as instead of two 90-horsepower gasoline engines, a 330-horsepower diesel engine is installed in the front of the new Ukrainian APC. It accelerates the combat vehicle to a speed of more than 80 km/h, and the capacity of the fuel tanks provides a range of more than five hundred kilometers.

The Khorunzhyi can be produced in different variations: an armored personnel carrier, a casevac vehicle, an armored recovery vehicle, a mobile command post vehicle, and a self-propelled mortar vehicle.

Already during the full-scale Russian invasion in 2023, the prototype was spotted moving on the territory of Ukraine at a military training ground. However, the vehicle was not used by the troops.

A month earlier, the Ministry of Defense also approved another development of the company, the Dzhura light tactical armored vehicle.