The PTS is a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

tracked amphibious transport. PTS stands for ''Plavayushchij Transportyer - Sryednyj'' or medium amphibious transport vehicle. Its industrial index was Ob'yekt 65. Introduced in 1965, it is large, with a substantial payload of 10 tons, two to four times the capacity of the

BAV 485 The ZIS-485, army designation BAV (Russian, БАВ, большой автомобиль водоплавающий - ''bolshoi avtomobil vodoplavayushchiy'', ''big floating vehicle''), is a Soviet amphibious transport, a copy of the WWII Americ ...

, and better cross-country performance, at the cost of somewhat higher purchase costs because it is tracked. The most common model is the improved PTS-M that is powered by a 350 hp diesel engine.

Description

The PTS has a boxy, open watertight hull, with six road wheels per side, front drive sprocket, rear idler sprocket, and no return rollers. Like the BAV 485, and unlike the DUKW, it has a rear loading ramp. The crew is seated at the front, leaving the rear of the vehicle open for a vehicle, which can be driven (or backed) in, rather than lifted over the side. To aid in facilitating this, the engine is under the floor. Propulsion in water is by means of twin propellers, in tunnels to protect them from damage during land operations. The PTS-M also has a companion vehicle, the PKP, a boat-like amphibious two-wheeled trailer, with fold-out

sponson Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercraft On watercraft, a spon ...

s providing stability on water; the combination allows the PTS-M to accommodate an

artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked. Traction There are two ...

, field gun (up to medium caliber), its crew, and a quantity of ammunition, all in one load.

Specifications

*Top speed: (road) *Range:

Variants

* PTS-2 * PTS-3 * PTS-4 In 2014, the Russian Defense Ministry intends to purchase an undetermined number of PTS-4s, which underwent acceptance trials in 2011. The vehicle will be fitted with a remotely operated

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

and a multi-fuel engine. The PTS-4 weighs 33 tons, with a payload of 12 tons on land (18 tons on water). Projected maximum road speed is , with an expected maximum speed in water of . Unlike its predecessors, it uses

T-80 The T-80 is a main battle tank (MBT) that was designed and manufactured in the former Soviet Union and manufactured in Russia. The T-80 is based on the T-64, while incorporating features from the later T-72. The chief designer of the T-80 was S ...

suspension components. The fully enclosed cab offers protection against small arms fire and splinter. Production began in 2014.

Users

The PTS-M was adopted by the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

and

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

forces, and has been supplied to Egypt, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Uruguay, and other nations. * * - PTS-M (used during operation Badr) * * (

Indonesian Marine Corps '' ("Glorious on the Land and Sea") , colors = , colors_label = Beret color , march = Mars Korps Marinir , mascot = , equipment = ...

) * * - 12 PTSM * * - 15 PTS-2 * Russian separatist forces in Donbass - PTS-2 * - 2 PTS in service *

Former users

* - 4 PTS-2 *

* - 51 PTS-2 * * - 282 PTS-M retired

* - Passed on to successor states: * *

References

Notes

Sources

*Hogg, Ian V., and Weeks, John. ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Military Vehicles'', p. 309, "PTS Tracked Amphibian". London: Hamblyn Publishing Group, 1980. *

External links

Photos of the PTS-M on Prime PortalHungarian PTS-M walkarounds
{{PostWWIISovietAFVS, APC Amphibious military vehicles Military vehicles of the Soviet Union Military bridging equipment Tracked amphibious vehicles Military vehicles introduced in the 1960s