ChalkLine's Desiderata

[ChalkLine]

The BTZ-3 Armoured Fuel Tanker

During the little Afghan fiasco the Soviets discovered that getting fuel up to the troops had become somewhat problematic, what with all the bullets flying around. So, in the spirit of "lessons learned" they created the BTZ-3 Armoured Fuel Tanker.

From the outside it looks exactly like a BMP-1 without a turret, all the hatches, firing ports and so on remain the same. Instead of a turret the deck is sealed by a circular plate with an access hatch.

Inside they stripped the hull out, leaving the front two crew positions and installing two 1,500 litre fuel tanks, a single 100 litre oil tank and various pumping gear. Opening the rear hatches allowed access to hoses and the roof "troop compartment" hatches allowed access to machinery.

Of course in the scheme of things 3,000 litres is too little, 5,000 litres is considered minimum - but if a tanker truck can't get up forward its possible one of these might. If nothing else they present a very low target, not something to be ignored.