• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

M-80 Infantry Combat Vehicle

Serbian Armed Forces [SAF] mechanized battalions were equipped with M80A infantry combat vehicles manufactured in FAMOS factory in Hrasnica. These tracked vehicles can traverse water obstacles in amphibious surroundings and move easily. The vehicle can deploy basic armamnets in the rotating turret and by deploying boarded crew's personal weapons through eight firing ports. The initial variant of BVP M80 enetred service in 1979 eqipped with an French-produced engine HS 115-2 with 191 kW power. These vehicles were introduced into the Yugoslav armaments system in 1982. A year later M80A trial series with an enhaced OM-403 engine with 235 kW power manufactured in FAMOS factory after German licence.

The M-80 is sometimes described as a Yugoslav copy of the Russian BMP-1 AFV, but this is evidently not the case, as the M-80 has five pairs of road wheels, while the BMP-1 has six pairs of road wheels. In late 1970s and in the begining of the 1980s an idea for effective replacmant of old M-60 armored transporter was born. By that time, the Soviet BMP-1 was in peak of his effectivness, and the French company Hispano-Suiza, was building its new AMX-10P ICV. In Yugoslavia, close consultations with chief engineers of Hispano-Suiza about an engine for M-80 were held. The French team was surprised by the efficiency of the transmission for the new Yugoslavian ICV, and information on this program lasted a bit more than a year before serial production.

The AMX-10P and M-80 are essentially the same construction design, but the Yugoslavian ICV has only five sets of wheels, different from the AMX-10P and BMP-1. The improved version M-80A has a new engine and higher manuverability, and the latest M-80A1 has a new turret armed with new 30mm Hispano cannon instead of the M-55 20mm cannon.

Foreign experts have said of this vehicle: "Todays Yugoslavian vehicle resembles the BMP, but the viewer does not have the impression that this is a copy. It has very functional construction and it is wery well adapated for Yugoslavian battlefield" (Valmer M. MILLITARY TECHNOLOGY No9, 1983.)

Before the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1992, the country managed a fairly healthy military-industrial base and was not entirely reliant on imported Soviet equipment. The local Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) solution eventually became the "BVP-80" in 1980, and while fully developed in Yugoslavia, its design and field capabilities were clearly influenced by Soviet-era BMP series vehicles.

Yugoslav vehicles were produced in the 1980s until the early 1990s, before the country collapsed. Several noteworthy variants arose from this venture, and finally, due to the breakup of the Yugoslav state, ended up with several operators - these are still Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, which emerged from the breakup of Yugoslavia of.

In 1969, Yugoslavia adopted an indigenous approach that required state-of-the-art solutions to meet the IFV requirements witnessed in 1974 and the regular IFV requirements in 1975. Extensive evaluation took place before the design was officially accepted in 1982. Before the "M-80" designation officially identified the vehicle, the original designation was M-980. Subsequent production jobs yielded 835 copies of this type.

The design comes with a standard crew of three: driver, commander and gunner. The driver sits on the left, the vehicle commander is behind him, the turret is in the center, and the rear of the hull can transport up to six combat-ready infantry (sitting back to back on two benches). Sights and firing ports on the rear of the vehicle allow these crews to engage nearby enemy infantry with their personal weapons. A hinged double door arrangement on the rear fuselage wall allows passengers to get on and off quickly and be relatively protected.

The internal layout forced the engine to be mounted on the right front of the fuselage. The car used a very flat glacis plate - a very unique physical feature of the Soviet BMP series.

The primary armament of the base vehicle becomes a 1 x 20mm M-55 (HS 804) automatic cannon, allowing up to 400 projectiles to be fired from onboard storage. The 9M14 "Malyuka" (NATO: AT-3 "Sagger") Anti-Tank Missile (ATGM) provides the vehicle's long-range anti-tank capability and carries a pair of such missiles (the launcher is mounted on the rear .part of the tower) . Secondary armament is a coaxial turret-mounted 7.62mm machine gun carrying 2,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and all personal weapons of the accompanying infantry.

Armor protection is aluminium and titanium, the full NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) suite protects the crew/passengers from airborne potential battlefield hazards, whil

e the integrated fire suppression system helps limit fire damage and limit enemy munitions direct attack. Diesel engines are designed to generate their own smoke, which allows the M-80 to create a smoke screen to protect the vehicle from enemy sight. Power was initially concentrated on French engines, although local licensed production of the West German Daimler-Benz OM-403 model (rated at 320 hp) allowed improved vehicle variants to quickly replace the original engines.

With a traditional chain and wheel arrangement, five wheels are mounted on each side of the hull, with the drive sprocket at the front and the chain idler at the rear. The top speed on the road reaches 65 km/h and the range is up to 500 km. Inherent amphibian qualities (requiring little advance preparation) enable the vehicle to traverse water sources, but at speeds not exceeding 8 km/h (driven through the water by the motion of the track). A torsion bar suspension system provides off-road assistance and allows the vehicle to synchronize with other mechanized forces.

The original production model, referred to simply as "M-80", was equipped with the aforementioned 260 hp French-made engine. However, the vehicles were not well received, and the improved "M-80A" quickly entered service after no more than a year in stock of the original M-80 - the new variant presented a more powerful Daimler. 320 hp Mercedes-Benz engine.

The M-80A KC was developed as a company command vehicle, while the M-80A KB was subsequently developed as a battalion command vehicle - both with additional communications equipment. The M-80A Sn is a dedicated armoured ambulance without the original turret, but can accommodate up to four hospital beds and associated medical staff.

Most of the active inventory of M-80 vehicles remains M-80A brand. Serbia is the largest operator with about 550 operators.