[jester]

And alot of your points are why I have said what they said.

A vehicle like that will only have the organic troops carried inside and would most likely out distance other troops in other vehicles. So, in the end they would have five men to guard the vehicle, or clear buildings or roads or what ever the task maybe, and if the vehicle is dealing with urban terrain 5 men is not enough.

As for the firing ports, as I said in my view they are a good means to keep infantry from getting atop the vehicle or near enough to toss handgrenades either on the vehicle or inside. Another negative aspect of working in urban areas <which the vehicle is allegedly supposed to be made for> or fog, woods and other areas with low visibility.

As for firing from the ports as a rule, for suppressive fire purposes sure it could work, since supressive fire is not intended be on target or accurate, it is just to keep the enemys heads down. And we must remember, the Russians don't have a long history of well aimed accurate fire by their troops, mostly especialy with the adoptation of he Kalashnikov design its been mostly full auto bursts, so, saturation of the target area with volumes of lead and hope the law of probability works.

And yes firing from an open turret can be decently accurate.

Which I will need to seee the pictures again, I do not recall top hatches those vehicles. Which would prove useful in hot open climates, or mine infested areas.