The BTR-T Iskatel is a tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicle used by both CSAT forces and the SFIA in ArmA 3. It was added with the release of the Western Sahara Creator DLC.
Overview[]
- Roles:
- Troop transport
- Fire support
| « | The new BTR-T Iskatel on the other hand has been added simply to provide a visual alternative to Arma 3’s strong focus on RCWS turrets. However, to spice things up a little bit, it's also decked out with an additional batch of Vorona wire-guided missiles, thus sparking fear in every tank operator who is forced to face it in a hot combat situation. Vehicle Description
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Design[]
The BTR-T Iskatel is a modified configuration of the BTR-K Kamysh Infantry Fighting Vehicle that has been retrofitted with an armoured multifunctional turret.
Armament
Its primary armament consists of a 30 mm autocannon that can load either high-explosive (HE) or armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS-T) type shells. Its loadout consists of 340 HE and 160 APFSDS shells, with no access to spares to reload from.
Other weapon systems include up to 12 wire-guided 9M135 Vorona anti-tank missiles stored in 4-round missile "magazines", of which are split into a mix of 8 fitted with high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and 4 high-explosive (HE) warheads. Lastly, a coaxial 7.62 mm medium machine gun is also available and is fed from a single 2,000-round linked belt that has no spare reloads.
Features
As a derivative of the BTR-K, the BTR-T shares the exact same chassis and hull design.
The main difference with the BTR-T is that its weapon systems are housed within an armoured (remotely-operated) turret that replaces the exposed one on the BTR-K, as well as its usage of wire-guided 9M135 ATGMs as opposed to the former's heatseeking Titans. The benefits of this change is that the BTR-T faces a reduced risk of suffering from mission kills since it is no longer as easy to knock out its turret from a well-placed RPG round or an autocannon's armour-piercing shell.
Compared to the BTR-K, the BTR-T's armament is also quite different in several respects. For one, its 30 mm autocannon has different rates of fire when loaded with either HE or AP-type munitions; when it is specifically armed with HE shells, the autocannon's fire rate is 50% faster than the BTR-K's 30 mm CTWS. Furthermore, unlike the BTR-K's Titan missiles which are exclusively intended to be used for anti-vehicle purposes, the BTR-T's 9M135 ATGMs are available with two types of warheads: HE and HEAT.
Lastly, because the BTR-T's 30 mm autocannon does not need to reload and has all 500 rounds of its HE/APFSDS shells loaded at once (in contrast to the BTR-K's 400 that are split across multiple 140-/60-round "magazines"), it can provide a constant stream of suppressive fire without needing to pause and rearm in the middle of a fight.
Drawbacks
Just like the BTR-K, the BTR-T is too heavy to be airlifted by Mi-290 helicopters. In addition, the loss of its Titan missiles in lieu of the 9M135 means that the BTR-T's crew are no longer able to reliably engage enemy targets on the move.
Even though the turret is stabilised, the BTR-T's crew will need to remain still or at the very least, drive at slow speeds in order to give the gunner a chance to guide a missile towards its target. This is in stark contrast to the BTR-K, where the gunner need only lock-on, fire off a Titan missile, and then have the driver make a dash for cover.
Crew Capacity
Including the crew, the BTR-T has a seating capacity of eleven for the driver, a gunner, the commander, and up to eight passengers.
Camouflage[]
- Green Hex: Tropical Hexacam pattern camouflage. This is used in heavily forested and tropic environments. Attached camo netting will use a two-tone woodland camouflage pattern.
- Hex: Arid Hexacam camouflage pattern. Useful for forested, grass plains, and desert environments. Changes any applied camo nets to use a two-tone desert camouflage pattern.
- Grey: Flat dark grey colour scheme. Attached camo nets will use a three-tone jungle-style camouflage pattern when this is applied.
- SFIA: Semi-arid camouflage pattern scheme. Attached camo nets will use a three-tone desert camouflage pattern when this is applied.
Protection[]
The BTR-T has a base armour value of 500. It uses Composite Armour plating and can optionally be fitted with addon Slat cages. When fitted, a total of eight individual slat cages will surround all sides of the hull.
It is not possible to outfit the BTR-T with Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) blocks or panels.
The following highlighted positions serve as weak points on the BTR-T:
LEGEND
Green = Hull
Orange = Engine
Violet = Fuel tanks
Light blue = Treads
Maroon = Turret
Gold = Autocannon barrel
Note that in order to inflict actual damage, a munition must first penetrate through the surrounding armour plates and directly hit the component's weak point. Any strikes on non-highlighted parts will cause little (if any) noticeable damage.
Hull[]
The BTR-T's hull can withstand up to 500 points of damage. Full depletion of the hull's integrity will result in a catastrophic kill.
| Munition type | Damage reduction (%) | Velocity reduction (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Armour Piercing | None | 20 |
| High-Explosive | 80 | 50 |
| High-Explosive Anti-Tank | 80* | 20 |
| Tandem High-Explosive Anti-Tank | 80* | 10 |
(*) Reductions only apply to the explosive component of the munition i.e. Tandem HEAT explosive charge
If the hull has been compromised, no reductions will be applied to the velocity/raw damage of incoming projectiles.
Hull Slat[]
Slat cages surround the entire hull, including the rear passenger compartment door. Each of these cages are capable of surviving up to 200 points of damage.
They take 200% additional damage from high-explosive (HE) type munitions, though none of this damage will be shared with the BTR-T's main "health" pool. If the cages are destroyed, they must be reinstalled with the help of a logistics vehicle or be manually fixed with a toolkit.
Engine[]
The engine is able to survive up to 400 points of damage. At least 20% of damage upon the engine will be shared with the BTR-T's main "health" pool. It takes 80% less damage from HE-type munitions.
Destruction of the engine cannot result in a catastrophic kill unless the BTR-T is already at critical status.
If damaged: Reduces power output, acceleration is decreased and it may become impossible to climb uphill.
If destroyed: Mobility kill; instantly immobilises the BTR-T.
Fuel tanks[]
The BTR-T's fuel tanks can only resist 250 points of damage before they rupture. Only 10% of incoming damage will be shared with the vehicle's "health" pool. It reduces up to 40% of damage from hits by HE-type munitions.
A destroyed fuel tank will not cause a catastrophic kill unless the BTR-T is at critical "health" status.
If damaged: Gradually leak fuel over time.
If destroyed: Causes it to rapidly lose its entire fuel capacity in just a few seconds.
Treads[]
Both of the BTR-T's treads can resist 400 points worth of damage. They each reduce up to 20% of incoming damage from hits by HE-type munitions. However, no amount of damage inflicted onto either will be shared with the BTR-T's "health" pool.
Destroying either one of the treads will hamper the BTR-T's handling but does not prevent it from moving altogether. Destroying both will severely degrade the BTR-T's handling to the point of preventing it from moving at all on rough terrain.
Turret[]
The BTR-T's turret is able to survive up to 400 points worth of damage. None of this damage will be shared with the BTR-T's "health" pool, however.
| Munition type | Damage reduction (%) | Velocity reduction (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Armour Piercing | None | 10 |
| High-Explosive | 80* | 50 |
| High-Explosive Anti-Tank | 80* | 80 |
| Tandem High-Explosive Anti-Tank | 80* | 10 |
(*) Reductions only apply to the explosive component of the munition i.e. Tandem HEAT explosive charge
If the turret's integrity fails, no reductions will be applied to the velocity/raw damage of incoming projectiles.
Autocannon barrel[]
The autocannon barrel can incur 300 points of damage before failing. No amount of damage suffered will be shared with the BTR-T's main "health" pool.
Destroying this component will lock the barrel and prevent the gunner from being able to adjust its elevation/depression. It should also be noted that unlike the turret, the barrel is only capable of reducing up to 60% of damage from hits by HE-type munitions.
Components[]
NOTE: Cosmetic-only component modules with no gameplay effects are deliberately excluded from this section.
- Slat Cage (Hull): Attaches slat cages around the entire hull; excluding the turret but including the rear passenger compartment hatch. Slat cages will protect the BTR-T from non-AP munitions but can be destroyed after multiple hits.
- Camo Net (Hull): Not including the turret, drapes the entire hull with camouflage netting. Partially conceals covered sections from thermal sensors.
Armament[]
The BTR-T's gunner controls all three of the turret's weapons: the Cannon 30 mm, Coaxial MG 7.62 mm, and the 9M135 Vorona launchers. Regardless of the selected weapon, the gunner's optics feature three fields of view and can toggle a day, night or black-hot/white-hot thermal vision modes:
Cannon 30 mm[]
| Shell type | Base damage value | Aerodynamic friction | Initial velocity (m/s) | Penetration depth (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HE | 30 | -0.00036 | 1,070 | 17.976 |
| APFSDS | 120 | -0.0001 | 1,430 | 128.7 |
General-purpose 30 mm autocannon. Can load AP and HE-type shells.
It has an effective firing range of 1,500 metres. The Cannon 30 mm has a variable rate of fire and accuracy values that depend on the type of ammunition loaded:
- High-Explosive (HE): 300 rounds per minute, dispersion of 0.0018 rad, blast radius of 3 metres
- Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilised Discarding Sabot (APFSDS-T): 200 rounds per minute, dispersion of 0.00108 rad, spill radius of 0.2 metres
There is no delay for switching between the different rounds, but it takes at least 20 seconds to fully rearm from either a logistics truck or supply crate upon depletion.
The Fire Control System can automatically adjust zeroing on targets moving at speeds of up to ~ 110 km/h. There is a fixed delay of 1 second before the FCS can finish adjusting the zeroing. The gunner can also opt to manually zero, though it is only available in increments of 100 m that go up to a maximum of 3000 m.
9M135 Vorona[]
| Warhead | Damage type | Base damage value | Penetration depth (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| HE | High-Explosive | 220 | N/A |
| HEAT (Primary) | Tandem High-Explosive Anti-Tank | 150 | 2.4 |
| HEAT (Secondary) | Tandem High-Explosive Anti-Tank | 720 | 900 |
Anti-personnel/anti-tank guided missiles. Exclusively relies on SACLOS for guidance.
The 9M135 launcher can load two types of missiles fitted with warheads that are intended for either anti-personnel or anti-vehicle uses:
- High-Explosive (HE): Anti-personnel warhead. Has a blast radius of 8 metres.
- High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT): Anti-vehicle tandem warhead. Primary explosive charge has a blast radius of 3.5 metres. Secondary submunition can pierce up to 900 millimetres of armour plating.
The launcher has a delay of 1 second before another missile can be fired. Fired missiles are exclusively wire-guided and can only be controlled up to a maximum distance of 2,000 metres. They have an initial launch velocity of 150 m/s and can reach speeds of up to 200 m/s in mid-flight.
It should be noted that regardless of whether the BTR-T has run out of missiles or the gunner is only swapping between the warhead types, it will take at least 60 seconds of downtime before the launcher pods can become ready to fire again.
Coaxial MG 7.62 mm[]
| Base damage value | Aerodynamic friction | Initial velocity (m/s) | Penetration depth (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.6 | -0.001 | 860 | 20.64 |
Coaxial 7.62 mm medium machine gun.
It has an effective firing range of 300 metres up to a maximum of 1,200 metres. It has a fire rate of 800 RPM and always has a fixed dispersion of 0.0016 rad regardless of range. The BTR-T's Coaxial MG is functionally identical to those employed on Main Battle Tanks. The main difference is that it takes up to 20 seconds for it to fully rearm the belt (either from a truck or an ammo crate).
The Coaxial MG's FCS can only zero against targets moving at speeds of up to ~ 110 km/h. It has an imposed delay of 1 second before it can finish calculations.
FFV[]
The commander and gunner seats are the only positions that allow for their crews to unbutton hatches and utilise FFV.
Trivia[]
- The Iskatel was not originally featured as part of the DLC's launch assets and was only added after the release of Update 1.1.[1][2]
- Its turret is seemingly inspired by the real-world Russian-made "Epoch" RCWS turret (alternately known as the "Epocha").
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Nillers et al. 2021, Western Sahara - Changelog, Bohemia Interactive Forums, viewed 21 April 2022, <https://forums.bohemia.net/forums/topic/236830-western-sahara-changelog/?tab=comments#comment-3466561>.
- ↑ Rotators Collective 2023, OPREP - WESTERN SAHARA UPDATE 1.1, Arma 3, viewed 23 November 2023, <https://dev.arma3.com/post/oprep-western-sahara-update-11>.
External links[]
See also[]
Variants[]
Vehicles of comparable role and configuration[]
- AMV-7 Marshall (Wheeled NATO counterpart)
- FV-720 Mora (Tracked AAF/LDF counterpart)
- AFV-4 Gorgon (Alternate wheeled AAF counterpart)
| Vehicles of Western Sahara | |
|---|---|
| Wheeled | AMV-7 Marshall (ATGM, CV, Mortar) • Offroad UP • MSE-3 Marid • Zamak ZU-23-2 |
| Tracked | BTR-T Iskatel |
| Rotor-wing | AP-5 Bustard • IED UAV • PO-30 Orca UP |
| (Parenthesis) denote variants. | |
 Sefrawi Freedom and Independence Army - Vehicles (Western Sahara)
| |
|---|---|
| Wheeled | Offroad • Zamak (ZU-23-2, MRL) |
| Tracked | BTR-T Iskatel • BTR-K Kamysh • T-100 Varsuk • ZSU-39 Tigris |
| Rotor-wing | Mi-48 Kajman |
| (Parenthesis) denote variants. Tanks DLC | |