Iran Press/ Iran news: A significant number of these armored vehicles, such as the Soviet-made "BTR" and "BMP" series and the American-made "M113", are still serving in operational units in different countries. Among these vehicles are amphibious armored vehicles that have the feature of operating in water and on land.
After the end of the Cold War, due to a large number of these armored vehicles and the course of the emergence of a new generation of ground threats, many measures were taken to upgrade these armored vehicles, which were mainly in the field of propulsion, protection, and firepower.
Iran has a very large fleet of wheeled and sand-blasted armored vehicles that can be equipped to carry out missions such as fire support by making a series of modifications. For example, BTR 50 and 60 series and BMP 1 and 2 personnel carriers are among these armored vehicles.
unveiling
"BTR 50" amphibious armored vehicle is one of the Soviet-made products that entered service in the mid-1950s and was exported to the country's allies in large quantities at that time. During the second Pahlavi period, Iran started to order a number of Soviet-made weapons and military equipment, of which "BTR 50", which was called "Khashayar" in Iran, was also a part of them.
Due to its amphibious capability and the ability to cross some rivers and water barriers, this armored vehicle is considered a suitable option for transporting troops on the battlefield, and during the imposed war, it provided significant services to the Iranian forces.
Considering the need to improve these armored vehicles due to their long service history, the IRGC took an important step in this field, resulting in the Makran amphibious armored vehicle.
During the visit of Major General Hossein Salami, the Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, to the exhibition of capabilities and achievements of the IRGC Ground Force Self-Sufficiency Research and Jihad Organization on June 27, 2020, the Makran amphibious armored vehicle was unveiled.
Specifications
The Makran amphibious armored vehicle is an upgraded example of the BTR50 amphibious armored personnel carrier, which has been upgraded by the "Shahid Zainuddin Institute" of the Ground Forces of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps.
Various parts of this armored vehicle have been overhauled; specifically, a new armed turret has been developed for this armored vehicle, which can be the key to the development of many old armored vehicles in the country.
Improving the driver's view site, modifying the body, and designing a new turret for this personnel carrier are among the differences and modifications made in this new armored vehicle.
Makran is equipped with a fire control and sighting system, including a daily camera and a thermal sensor with a detection power of up to 4000 meters and a laser range detector with a range of 10 kilometers, and ballistic bullet calculations are also performed in it, and there is also the possibility of locking on moving targets, and it can be used to monitor and target air and ground targets.
Among its other features are the possibility of tracking and shooting with the monitor and quick loading of ammunition. The new turret installed on "Makran" includes a 30 mm cannon and a 7.62 mm machine gun coaxial with the main cannon, and a 500-round ammunition tank has been installed in its upper part and by performing ballistic bullet calculations, it has the ability to lock on moving targets.
Being equipped with this new turret, besides reducing the crew's vulnerability, also facilitates the access of the maintenance crew and the loading of ammunition. Among the characteristics of this turret is that it is fully automatic, and the gunner is placed inside the personnel carrier, thus reducing the crew's vulnerability. Based on the available images, it seems that 2 anti-armor missiles (probably from the Storm series) are also intended for the armored vehicle.
Storm missile is the result of reverse engineering of anti-armor missile TOW, several models of which have been made, and especially in recent years, it has been used in the battlefields of Iraq and Syria against terrorist groups.
This anti-armor missile has a range of about 3.5 km and can be used to deal with the enemy's armored vehicles in the conditions of a long-armored battle. To stay afloat on the surface of the water, it is provided up to "Force 3", which means the ability to move in front of waves up to 1 meter and 25 centimeters high.
New turret feature
It can be said that the most important innovation in the Makran armored vehicle is its new turret.
The main weapon of this new turret is the famous 30mm "2A42" cannon, which was initially used as the standard weapon of the BMP2 armored combat vehicle and is still considered one of the most popular weapons.
A cannon with an almost simple mechanism, high resistance to harsh environmental conditions, and suitable firepower that covers a wide range of targets.
The effective range of this cannon is 2000 meters, and its final range is 4000 meters. According to the surveillance and fire control system along with the ballistic calculation system installed on this turret, the calculations related to the movement of the bullet towards the target are done quickly, and it is easily possible to reach ranges of more than 2,000 the target accurately. One of the important issues that have attracted the attention of many military forces in West Asia today is dealing with suicide vehicles.
The 30mm 2A42 cannon is among the options that can destroy this range of threats while being combined with the fire control system at high ranges. An interesting point about this cannon in the new turret installed on the Makran is the change in the location of the ammunition of this cannon, which is installed behind the turret, and if it is hit from the front, it gives enough time to the crew to leave the armor.
In many older designs, due to the proximity of the ammunition source to the cannon barrel, any collision would quickly lead to an explosion and the loss of armored personnel.
500 30 mm bullets are intended for this turret. Also, a 7.62 mm gun, probably of the PKA type, is also a supplement to the armament of this turret, which will be used to fight with enemy infantry at close range.
2000 7.62 mm bullets are intended for this shotgun.
In this turret, a thermal system with a non-cooling camera with a detection power of up to 4 km, a laser rangefinder with a range of 10 km, a fire control system, and a daily camera system with a 30x zoom camera have been installed.
This set provides the Makran armored vehicle crew with a very high ability to identify and engage targets at different distances. The turret installed on Makran can be installed on a wide range of armored vehicles in Iran and can significantly increase the capabilities of these armored vehicles in the field of identification and accurate firepower against enemy equipment and forces.
According to the announcement of the relevant authorities, this turret can also be installed on "BTR" and "BMP" series armored vehicles. Installing this turret on these armored vehicles will significantly increase their combat power and make the Iranian armed forces a significant amount of armored combat vehicles and personnel carriers with very high firepower.
Author: Seyed Reza Mirtaher
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