Polish BRDM-2 M96 and M97
Polish BRDM-2 upgrades.
A while back I did a post on the Russian/Soviet BRDM-2M and I mentioned the Polish variants but never detailed them. Here's some data on them but as these come in after the fall of the Polish People's Republic there's some NATO-specific mods I'll change to Warsaw Pact. They're fairly obvious and people wanting a NATO BRDM-2 only need swap weapons, radios and optics.
The Poles love their BRDM-2s and they still soldier on to this day in the Polish Land Forces. Polish experience with the vehicle noted several deficiencies notably too small a crew, deck hatches only and that the belly wheels had little practical use even on rough ground. Oddly enough the Poles never bothered with the painfully thin armour, the vehicle was designed at a time when rifle calibre rounds and shell fragments were considered the primary threats.
M96
With this in mind the Poles went to work and stripped out the belly wheels of the BRDM-2 and put in a new hull floor. With this large extra space they installed a side hatch on each side and put in two passenger seats low in the hull. This is the basic Polish BRDM-2 in Twilight 2000. A new Tatra engine and transmission gave the vehicle more power and a spare tyre rack on the rear of the hull relaces the previous Polish practice of placing a spare on top of the turret. Finally the turret is replaced with an elongated oval version for extra room. Inside is a carrying space for an RPG-7V for use by the dismounts.
Not to sit on their laurels, as the storm clouds of war approach the Poles start to modernise their equipment. A large amount of BRDM-2s are brought up to Zbik standard:
M97 Zbik
Featuring a new square turret the Zbik (Wildcat) gains a roof hatch for the commander and a hatch for storing a 9K111 Fagot (AT-4 "Spigot") post that mounts in front of the hatch. Six 81mm "Tucha" smoke grenade launchers, three on each side of the front of the turret, are mounted. The vehicle mounts better radios, a laser range finder and a 60 mm LM-60K mortar (12 rounds). The new turret allows a -4.2º to + 32.5º vertical traverse.
