In the post-World War II environment, the Soviet sought to provide their infantry with a method to remain mobile on the battlefield. While armoured units received BMPs to keep the armoured infantry mobile with the tanks, motorizing rifle divisions required a cheaper, more numerous transport to house all the infantry. The BTR series of armoured cars would first be modernized with the 8x8 wheeled BTR-60 in the 1960s, with updates into the BTR-70 and BTR-80 in their respective decades. The BTR-80 was distinguished from the preceding two variants with the usage of a diesel engine and turret modifications that allowed it to elevate the main armament to a high degree to engage in mountainous terrain or urban areas. The BTR-80 would receive an update in the 1990s that added the 30 mm 2A72 autocannon as its main armament in a new turret designated BPPU.
The BTR-80A, introduced in Update "La Royale", follows the trend of a light tank with an autocannon armament that can shred apart medium tanks in ambushes. Unlike its contemporaries like the Wiesel 1A4, the BTR-80A is a rather large vehicle, quite similar to the BMPs. Not to mention the wheeled design can interfere with cross-country mobility so that finding a good place to hide outside of urban terrain can be difficult. As such, finding a suitable hiding place to ambush the enemies with the autocannon can be complicated by the BTR-80A's size and wheeled performance. That said, the 30 mm 2A72 autocannon that is found on the BMP-3 packs a much higher punch with its APDS rounds. This allows the BTR-80A the ability to attack more enemies from a farther away distance with the 30 mm and should be exploited by watching common enemy travel routes from a distance to riddle their side armour to shreds.
Belt | Belt filling | Armor penetration (mm) at a distance: | |||||
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10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1000 m | 1500 m | 2000 m | ||
AP-T/HEF-I/AP-T/HEF-I | 65 | 63 | 53 | 44 | 36 | 29 | |
APDS/APDS/APDS/APDS/APDS | 82 | 81 | 79 | 75 | 72 | 69 | |
HEF-I/HEF-I/HEF-I/HEF-I | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | |
AP-T/AP-T/AP-T/AP-T | 65 | 63 | 53 | 44 | 36 | 29 |
Belt | Belt filling | Armor penetration (mm) at a distance: | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1000 m | 1500 m | 2000 m | ||
AP-I/API-T | 13 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Mobility | |
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Protection |
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Firepower | ||
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