Soviet Brdm-1 & Brdm-2 Armoured Cars & Variants

By James Kinnear

When introduced into service in 1959, the BRDM-1 armoured car was a unique purpose-designed 4x4 wheeled reconnaissance vehicle. The BRDM-1 met the typical armoured car requirements of adequate armament and armour for its intended role, but was a particularly versatile technically advanced machine, being fully amphibious, propelled in water by a hydro-jet water propulsion system, and with chain-driven auxiliary wheels to assist egress from rivers and in rough terrain.

The BRDM-1 quickly became the standard Soviet Army reconnaissance vehicle, with the chassis also being used to mount a new generation of anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), providing the relatively lightweight BRDM-1 with the ability to engage and destroy main battle tanks well beyond typical tank gun engagement ranges. Development of these ATGM systems was rapid, such that the BRDM became the mounting for successive generations of anti-tank missile systems.

The original BRDM-1 was in due course replaced by the reconfigured BRDM-2, fitted with a turret mounted 14.5mm KPVT heavy machine gun and with a rear mounted engine. The BRDM-2 was also used as a base chassis for several ATGM tank-destroyers missile systems and an air defence missile vehicle in addition to standard and specialised radiation and chemical reconnaissance vehicle modifications.

In addition to Soviet and Warsaw Pact service, the BRDM-1 and BRDM-2 were widely exported and used in combat by numerous foreign operators, the BRDM-1 and later BRDM-2 being some of the most widely distributed of all Soviet era armoured vehicles.

In the post-Soviet era, the BRDM-2 has been modernised by several countries, including the Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine, prolonging the service life of the latter vehicle to the present day, nearly 70 years after the original BRDM was introduced into Soviet Army service.

This book has been written and illustrated based on Russian and Ukrainian original sources.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1806721279
• ISBN13: 9781806721276
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Helion & Company
• Length: 120 Pages