Pbv-501
The Pbv-501 1s is an amphibious tracked infantry battle vehicle, which was redesigned from the original BMP-1 vehicles and whose production, based on a Soviet licence, took place in Czechoslovakia. After the start of the special operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the German authorities approved the transfer of the Pbv-501 to Kiev by the Czech side – it was about 58 units that had not yet been sold by Prague to foreign customers. The vehicles of the type PbV-501 are armed with canons and machine guns. According to the International Code of Conduct on Arms Transfers if a country aims to pass on purchased weapons for export to the third party they need to apply for approval from the seller first.
The Swedish IFV has been upgraded to meet NATO standards, including a new outdoor lighting system and camouflage system. The interior design has also been changed with holders for Swedish weapons, including machine guns, machine guns, and ammunition.
This is not the first time the Czech Republic has been involved in a “Swedish deal”. In the 1990s, Stockholm paid Prague $ 25 million to repair and upgrade 350 former East German army infantry fighting vehicles BMP-1 for the Swedish army. BulgarianMilitary.com reminds that at the beginning of the 21st century the Swedish army received Pbv 501, and then the reason was the mechanization of the infantry brigades of the Swedish army. Germany approved the supply of dozens of infantry fighting vehicles (BMPs) to Ukraine, which originally belonged to the army of the former communist GDR, citing criticism that Berlin is not sending enough military aid to Kyiv. Berlin has approved the Czech company’s supply of 56 PbV-501 armored personnel carriers to Kyiv, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on 01 Aoril 2022. Companies and states that want to export originally German weapons to third countries must always ask Berlin for consent.
"The federal government on Wednesday agreed to re-export 56 armored vehicles," a spokeswoman for the German Ministry of Defense told CTK. The name of the Czech company was not mentioned and the portal Die Welt did not specify it. The delivery will not be carried out immediately, before being sent to Ukraine, the equipment will be repaired, which will take several weeks.
Note that the Czechs already tried to supply these infantry fighting vehicles to the Ukrainians back in 2019, but then Germany imposed a ban on their supply, since the Merkel government, unlike Scholz, refused to supply at all weapon to Ukraine. Merkel's government did not even want to supply any weapons to Ukraine indirectly so as not to jeopardize the dialogue with Russia. Olaf Scholz's new cabinet did not change this policy until this year. According to Die Welt, this is the first delivery of such military equipment to Ukraine approved by the German government.
It weighs 13 tons and is powered by a UTD-20, 6-cylinder 4-stroke V-shaped airless-injection water-cooled multifuel 15.8-liter diesel engine. Reaches 300 hp (224 kW) at 2,600 rpm. The suspension is an individual torsion bar with hydraulic shock absorbers on the 1st and 6th road wheels. The fuel tank holds 462 liters and one full tank can cover 500 or 600 km depending on the road.
Pbv 501 uses the same weapons as the original Soviet BMP-1, which includes a 73 mm smoothbore weapon model 2A28, low-pressure gun, and short recoil, weighing 115 kg. The secondary armament consists of a 7.62 mm paired machine gun mounted on the right side of the main armament. The Soviet antecedent was first built in the early 1960s. In 1968, following technical modifications, mass production began in the Czechoslovak Socialistic Republic. The timeless construction, firing power, mobility and armouring surpassed all the nato competitors at the time. The successfulness of this construction is proved by the production volume, which reached up to 17,000 units (only those produced before 1989 in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and only the basic version) and by the enormous quantity of different versions based on the same chassis. The production took place in the CSR at PPS group a.s. Detva and was designed for the CSR and export, and in the ZTS Dubnica nad Váhom for the USSR.
Thanks to a 73-mm gun, a co-axial Pkt machine gun and the option of anti-tank rockets, the vehicle was ranked among the heavily armed tanks (light tanks). The crew consists of 3 men - a driver, a commander, a gunner + 8 landing crew members. Excellent off-road capability, excellent manoeuvring capabilities, sufficient protection for the crew and destructive firing power – that is the BMP-1.
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