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Russian paratroopers to get high-speed buggies based on latest armored vehicles

The need for creating the buggy was demonstrated at the Center-2019 strategic command and staff drills in September 2019, according to Airborne Force Commander Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov

© Press service of Russia’s Military Industrial Company

MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Russia is developing a new high-speed buggy for paratroopers based on the latest family of Strela armored vehicles, Airborne Force Commander Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov said in an interview with the Defense Ministry’s Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper on Friday.

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"Work is underway to create a Strela light buggy. The model’s mobility characteristics are unique. Its maximum possible speed is 155 km/h. By now, a whole family of such vehicles has been developed. They can be used for various missions, including for the purpose of mounting armament," the commander said.

The need for creating the buggy was demonstrated at the Center-2019 strategic command and staff drills in September 2019. There are plans to equip Airborne Force units "of a new light type" with Strela vehicles, he stressed.

The press office of Russia’s Military Industrial Company told TASS on July 13 that the Company’s specialists had developed a family of VPK-Strela new light armored vehicles that could be transported by Mil Mi-8 helicopters on an external sling.

The baseline vehicle weighs 4.7 tonnes and its armor provides the 2nd-degree ballistic protection (it shields against bullets with a heat-strengthened core of 5.45x39mm cartridges of the AK-74 assault rifle, bullets with the heat-strengthened core of 7.62x39mm rounds of the AKM submachine-gun and bullets with the non-heat strengthened core of 7.62x54mm ammunition fired from the Dragunov sniper rifle).

The vehicle’s anti-blast protection shields the crew inside it upon hitting mines or explosives with a yield of up to 2 kilograms in TNT equivalent.

The Strela can develop a speed of up to 155 km/h on the road and carry eight personnel. The vehicle’s design is based on advanced assemblies, units and accessories planned for their use in mass production in the domestic auto industry. The vehicle’s components are 100% produced on the territory of Russia.

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