Russian Army Special Forces will soon be equipped with Tiger-M armored vehicles with Arbalet-DM combat modules capable of fighting drones, reports Russia’s Izvestia news service.
“The armored vehicles have been successfully tested in the army special forces in southern Russia. Now a decision has been made in principle to arm “Tigers” with combat modules Arbalet-DM and other units of special purpose and intelligence, sources in the Ministry of Defense told Izvestia. This year they will enter the Central and Western military districts. In 2020, the military department reported on the use by a special forces group in the Krasnodar Territory of such armored vehicles against drones from a distance of up to 1.5 km. The exercise was held in July during a large-scale surprise inspection of the troops of the Southern Military District. After the completion of the strategic exercises Kavkaz-2020, the head of the Main Armored Directorate, Major General Sergei Bibik, said that in 2021 it is planned to supply the Armed Forces with additional multipurpose vehicles “Tiger-M” with remotely controlled combat modules “Arbalet-DM”.
The new agency reports that the special forces of the Southern Military District were the first to receive in 2017 a new version of the AMN 233114 “Tiger-M” armored vehicles with the Arbalet-DM remote-controlled combat module.
According to the Army Guide website (http://www.army-guide.com/eng/product5291.html) “The Arbalet-DM (Arbalet – Crossbow) – remote controlled weapon station (RCWS), armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun….was developed by a private firm Oruzhejnye Masterskie in conjunction with the Kovrov electromechanical plant. It was shown at the RAE-2015 exhibition. (The) Arbalet-DM gross weight is about 250 kg. The main armament – a 6P49 12.7-mm machine gun, which has a rate of fire up to 600 rounds per minute. Sighting range at ground targets and objectives reached – 2,000 m in the daytime and 1,500 m in the night. Ammunition – up to 450 shots. Additionally, to enhance the security of the vehicle…the Arbalet-DM RCWS can be mounted four smoke grenade launchers. The fire control system includes a gunner sighting system PC-SU IPTSYU.201219.026 with low-level TV camera that provides a range of detection and identification of the target sample with a narrow field of vision – not less than 2500 m. The laser rangefinder has a range of measuring ranges: 100-3000 m.
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(Image: Izvestia / Mikhail Tereshchenko)
