Russia's Military Vehicles Manufacturer Develops New Lightweight Armoured Car Strela

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia has developed a cutting-edge Strela armoured cross-country vehicle that is twice as light as the Tigr-type vehicles and has a higher speed, as well as better mine protection, Alexander Krasovitsky, the director general of Military Industrial Company (VPK), an armoured military vehicles manufacturer, said on Monday.

"Being proactive, we have developed and manufactured an experimental prototype of the new VPK-Strela type armoured car that weighs 4.7 tons, which is almost two times less than the Tigr-type vehicles [about 8 tonnes]. The car is equipped with second-tier ballistic protection per GTE 9.1.12.1 [the General Technical Requirements for armour protection of cars, the second tier means it can withstand shots from AK-74, AKM assault rifles, and SVD sniper rifle], the maximum speed on the highway is up to 155 kilometres per hour [96 miles per hour]", Krasovitsky said.

He added that to date, Russia's military simply does not have such cars in service.

He added that the car's mine protection was capable of saving the crew's lives in an explosion equivalent to 4.4 pounds of TNT, compared to the Tigr's protection against 1.3 pounds.

Strela is designed to transport cargo and personnel, while also capable of being deployed as a command vehicle or a service vehicle by various agencies. The vehicle can be equipped with various weapons systems and special equipment, and is said to be made of only Russia-manufactured parts.