Kharkiv Morozov starts manufacturing BTR-4 IFV hulls.

Kharkiv Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau, which is a part of Ukroboronprom State Concern, started its own serial production of the BTR-4 infantry fighting vehicle hull for the Ukrainian army,” Ukroboronprom press-service announced. “Consequently, this bottleneck of the BTR-4’s production, which previously depended on the capacity of the only armor body private manufacturer, was successfully eliminated,” the concern reports, echoed by Natalia Ivanova in the Kharkiv Observer.

BTR-4 IFV (Picture source: Ukroboronprom)

In 2018, the Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau financed the renovation of a workshop for body manufacturing purposes. The enterprise also purchased and installed a modern assembly line. In 2019, the first BTR-4 with a body that was produced by the Bureau successfully passed comprehensive tests, which made it possible to switch to mass manufacturing of the BTR-4’s next batch using in-house bodies.

In addition, the Bureau has proposed the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine to allow the newest brands of the armored steel produced by NATO members to be used in the BTR-4 production. This armored steel is used in combat vehicles of the Alliance and meet the requirements of NATO standards. Currently, these samples of NATO’s armor are already being tested in Ukraine.

“At the same time, the overall profitability of the armored vehicle’s production increased by 4.5 %. As a result, two enterprises - Kharkiv Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau and Malyshev Plant, which are included in the Ukroboronprom armored group - launched production of BTR-4 hulls. This enables a significant expansion in the manufacturing of these modern combat vehicles for the Ukrainian army,” the concern notes. Until recently, BTR-4’s bodies were manufactured only by the UPEC-owned Lozova Forging-Mechanical Plant, situated in Lozova, the Kharkiv Region.

BTR-4 IFV hull in production (Picture source: Ukroboronprom)