Azerbaijan gives the venerable BRDM-2 a new breath:
ZKDM
BRDM-2 "Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina" when introduced in 1962, became the prime armored reconnaissance vehicle of Soviets and their allies namely the Warsaw Pact. It was also largely exported to more than 45 countries world wide.
BRDM-2 is a 7 ton 4x4 vehicle of welded steel contruction. The vehicle has a crew of 4 and a V8 gasoline engine located in the rear.
The crew enters and exits the vehicle thru the hatches above the driver and commander seats in the front of the vehicle.
The vehicle has 4 small chain driven wheels along the middle of the hull sides that can be raised and lowered to allow better traction and to lower the ground pressure on soft terrain.
A one man turret composes the fire power of the BRDM2. The turret is armed with 14.5mm KPVT heavy machinegun and a coaxial 7.62mm PKT machinegun.
Azerbaijan's ZKDM Upgrade
Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense led the effort for a local variant of BRDM-2 that is named ZKDM.
The layout of the vehicle was completely modified compared to the old BRDM-2, the small windows are removed and the front of the hull is fitted with new armour. The driver is seated at the front of the hull on the left with the vehicle commander to his right. The top of the hull is fitted with two roof hatches immediately behind the commander and driver.
One single door is available on each side of the hull. provided by the removal of the small tires on the sides of the vehicle. The single water-jet at the rear of the hull is removed.
The gasoline engine of the BRDM2 is replaced with a new diesel engine D-245.30E2 developing 150 hp to increase the maximum road speed of the vehicle to 100 km/h.
The ZKDM uses technology of V-hull to increase vehicle and crew survivability by deflecting an upward directed blast from a landmine (or Improvised Explosive Device) away from the vehicle.
The body of the ZKDM provides protection level B-32 against armor-piercing incendiary full metal jacket round with a hardened steel core.
The ZKDM has a total weight of 7,300 kg with a crew of three, including commander, driver and gunner.
The ZKDM is fitted with a new turret armed with a double-barrel, 23 mm GSh-23 cannon, one 7.62 mm PKT machine gun, one 30 mm AGS-17 grenade launchers, four 57 or 80 mm rocket launchers and two smoke grenade launchers mounted on each side of the vehicle.
Copyright: armyrecognition.com/
The turret is remotely controlled by the gunner and fitted with fire control system. The weapons have an elevation of +15º, a depression of -30º and the turret can be traversed through a full 360º.
Standard equipment of the ZKDM includes BPK-2-42 day/night sight, a TV vision system with a maximum range of 1,000 m, and GPS navigation system GLONASS.
