MINSK, 23 June (BelTA) – An armored personnel carrier (APC) made by Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant (MZKT) was presented at the 10th international defense technology expo MILEX. The expo opened in Minsk on 23 June and will last through 26 June, BelTA has learned.
Prime Minister of Belarus Roman Golovchenko said: “An armored personnel carrier is one of the means of mobility for ground troops. Until today we've been either upgrading the armored personnel carriers BTR-70 that we'd inherited from the Soviet Union or buying BTRs of Russian make. But certainly it would be strange not to make an armored wheeled personnel carrier of our own considering the country's well-developed mechanical engineering industry. This is why such a task was outlined and Belarusian mechanical engineers, in particular, MZKT, accomplished it.”
In his words, the external parameters and technical parameters of the Belarusian BTR match those of modern vehicles. “It is now necessary to polish all the quirks. Trials will begin right after the expo. The army is going to test the vehicle's operation within and beyond designed parameters. We are intent on making this vehicle the main means of mobility for the Belarusian Armed Forces,” Roman Golovchenko noted.
From the point of view of the scope, the composition and the level of participants, the infrastructure, MILEX is viewed as one of the largest defense technology expos in Eastern Europe. Since 2001 this large-scale weaponry show has been traditionally attracting attention of leading Belarusian and world manufacturers of military products. The expo's key goals are to broadly present Belarusian defense industry products, offer a closer look at the latest high-tech products, and demonstrate capabilities of the enterprises that upgrade and repair military hardware and provide various services to the army.
MILEX 2021 features over 300 samples of cutting-edge weapons, military hardware, and special hardware of Belarusian make alone. As many as 177 of them are showcased for the first time. Eighty-eight products are upgraded ones.
