Newly produced Russian Vistrel-M MRAPs with RCWS 30mm gun join war
An interesting photo was taken by a Russian user on the Telegram social channel. The photo captured a railroad train set with new armored and transport equipment. However, a closer look shows that Moscow is sending to the front equipment that can be said to have just been manufactured.
It is a KAMAZ BPM-97 4×4 wheeled mine-resistant, ambush-protected [MRAP] vehicle. But not the outdated MRAP version of the 1990s, but the KAMAZ-43269 Vystrel-M. The most curious is the fact that serial production of Vystrel-M began only in May of this year. I.e. after already five months, the first units were loaded on a train somewhere in central Russia and left for the front in Ukraine.
The Vystrel-M is equipped with a 30mm model 2А42 gun, which is the main one. There is also secondary armament, and this is a PKT machine gun, as well as an AG-30 automatic grenade launcher. Vystrel-M is the last known modification of KAMAZ BPM-97. At first glance, they may not have a significant difference, but actually, the Vystrel-M has an armored windshield, an advanced air purification system inside the body, as well as a new fire control system.
The deployment to Ukraine and participation in the composition of the Russian armed forces will be the combat debut of Vystrel-M. A Twitter account claims that at least one such vehicle has already been spotted on the streets of Kherson. The more sophisticated version KAMAZ BPM-97, in addition to Russia, is in service in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Syria.
