The press service of Russia’s Central military district announced Wednesday that a super-light battalion with UAZ “Patriot” combat vehicles was deployed as a part of the newly formed motorized infantry brigade in the Samara region.
The battalion was created as result of analysis of the combat expirience gained by the Russian military in Syria.
90 units of UAZ “Patriot” combat vehicles equipped with machine guns are set to be delivered to the batalion until the end of 2017.
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The article below originally appeared at SouthFront in October 2016 after the first reports about creation of “superlight” army brigades by Russia:
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu is organizing some “superlight” army brigades, the Russian Izvestia daily reported. The newly formed “superlight” brigades will use UAZ Patriot technical vehicles.
Izvestia said that the UAZ Patriot is supposed to carry up to seven soldiers, their weapons and gear and additional supplies including fuel and ammo. The vehicle will be armed with a 12.7-mm Kord machine gun and a 30-mm AGS-30 automatic grenade launcher or Kornet anti-tank guided missile launcher or Konkurs anti-tank guided missile launcher. There will also be a variant armed with the 82-mm 2B14 Podnos mortar.
UAZ with mortar supplied to the Syrian army
The formation of the “superlight” brigades has begun and they will appear “soon” in the Southern and Central military districts, Izvestia’s military source revealed.
The “superlight” brigades will have less personnel and equipment than a common motorized rifle battalion. Mobility and maneuverability will be their advantage.
The decision to form such brigades is allegedy based on the Syrian combat experience. The aim of these “superlight” motorized rifle brigades is to slip around or through heavier forces to conduct raids in to the enemy’s rear.
smart
Still think they should had based it about vehicles like the Tigr, those trucks look way to expossed even against light fire arms (sure not gonna make a difference against anything larger, but still).
Looks OK, but it will be hammered, so the frame must be rock solid, and dont be afraid of using long suspension range on the wheel symmetries, the longer the better, since speed is the essence, armory isnt, but the weapons choice is good, max, firepower with minimum gear, and you dont stop until you are dead certain you will wack an tank, be shure, I wouldn’t, you need speed.
And anything that moves is much harder to hit, by the way, and use the terrain.
Otherwise, i have been inside lunatics driving the Swedish brilliant belt wagon, and the difference is, do you have the balls to keep the pedal to the metal when you fly uphill, and keep the focus on how big is the trees that pops up right infront of you, but never leave the pedal from been bottomed. Thats hehe, invigorating. I cant remember whom was screaming, but I think we all did, but its effective, and must be learned, speed driving is like an art, and train allot.
And they have rom anof for food and storage for weeks, where water is the key.
peace
None existent protection, a machine gun team can engage it from 1km away without knowing what hit it. How many places in the world do you find a battlefield, you find in Syria? On a strategic level it could have air cover and real time intelligence where the enemy is deployed, what happens when you run into an unexpected group you are not aware of. ISIS uses Toyota vehicles for similar purposes, are these battalions going to be deployed in Syria? I can see lightly armed units like this being used in a combined arms scenario, where they can expoit small openings in the front line, and have covering fire in case they are facing a heavier opponent.
I think the idea with these vehicles is that they are expendable. they are as well defended as a truck or lorry, but nippier, and able to get through traffic etc when required. Reminds me a bit of the Long Range Desert Patrols in North Africa WW2.Like, special operations, outflanking and picking out supply units and communications vehicles etc etc. Maybe they just dont want the rebels to get all the kudus for their technicals. Probably cheap as well. Easily replaced, even in the field.
It is disappointing to see the people who were smart enough to mechanise their airborne fall for this foolish fad. Mobility on the battlefield is primarily a function of protection, not speed.