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Russia’s next-generation armored vehicle to enter state trials in spring

The Atlet is currently completing preliminary tests

© Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. The latest Atlet armored vehicle developed by Military Industrial Company will enter state trials in the spring of 2020, the company’s press office told TASS on Wednesday.

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Russia’s latest Atlet armored vehicle to enter preliminary trials

"The Atlet is completing preliminary tests and the stage of state trials is scheduled to begin for it in the spring of next year. One prototype is currently in disassembly and will probably go for state trials. The second prototype will undergo tests for its resistance to shelling and explosions," the company said.

Company CEO Alexander Krasovitsky told TASS in August that the prototypes of the Atlet armored vehicle would undergo preliminary trials on the testing grounds of the R&D Center of Automotive Equipment (Bronnitsy, the Moscow Region), the R&D Center of Armored Vehicles (Kubinka, the Moscow Region), Russia’s Defense Ministry and the NAMI Automobile Testing Center (the Dmitrov district in the Moscow Region).

The trials will involve the Atlet armored vehicle’s special-designation three-door (ASN) and five-door multipurpose (AMN-2) prototypes. Representatives of the customer, R&D institutes and defense industry enterprises will take part in the trials, the chief executive said.

Atlet family of armored vehicles

The next-generation Atlet armored vehicles have been developed by Military Industrial Company on order from Russia’s Defense Ministry as part of the Atlet R&D work. The Atlet armored vehicle was unveiled for the public at the Army-2019 international arms exhibition outside Moscow in late June.

The Atlet vehicles feature a 4x4 wheeled platform and are designated to carry personnel and military cargoes providing the required level of protection, as well as to tow trailers and mount armament, military and special hardware.

In their standard configuration, the vehicles are equipped with anti-trauma seats for all crewmembers and with the air conditioning system. The armored vehicles’ ballistic protection in its basic configuration corresponds to the 2nd level by general technical standards.

As compared to the Tigr armored vehicle produced by Military Industrial Company, the Atlet features an increased lifting capacity of up to 1,600 kg and anti-mine resistance enhanced threefold, a more powerful YaMZ-5347-24 Russian-made diesel engine with a maximum capacity of 240 hp.

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