The Vodnik is an Infantry Mobility Vehicle used exclusively by the Russian Armed Forces in ArmA 2.
Overview[]
- Roles:
- Troop transport
- Fire support
- Medical support
« | GAZ-3937 "Vodnik" is a Russian high-mobility multipurpose amphibious vehicle. It can carry up to 10 people and drive at speeds up to 112 km/h (or 5 km when floating). Armoury Description
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Design[]
The Vodnik is a mobile multi-functional vehicle that puts a new spin on the light army truck concept.
Unlike other vehicles in its class, the Vodnik is designed with modularity in mind, and can be utilised as a personnel transport, convoy escort, and reconnaissance/off-road patrol vehicle.
Features
It is available in three variants:
- A baseline troop transport model fitted with two 7.62 mm medium machine guns
- A heavy weapons carrier/gun truck armed with a 30 mm autocannon and coaxial 7.62 mm MG
- An unarmed mobile ambulance variant that can heal wounded troops

BPPU Vodniks providing fire support.
A multi-purpose armoured car, the Vodnik can essentially function as a quasi-armoured personnel carrier depending on its configuration. The baseline 2xPK-armed model can transport more passengers at a time compared to HMMWVs and UAZ-469s, whilst the BPPU sub-variant packs a 30 mm autocannon that allows the crew to engage enemy light armour.
Mobility
Vodniks are amphibious-capable and are just as fast as the BRDM-2. However, the Vodnik has considerably poorer acceleration and handling in comparison and is prone to flipping at high speeds or sharp turns.
Drawbacks
Although it can technically be considered as the Russian counterpart to the HMMWV, the Vodnik doesn't truly have a proper equivalent to it. It is better protected than the likes of the HMMWV, UAZ and Jackal combined. However, all variants of the Vodnik lack the survivability of better protected AFVs since Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) and anti-vehicle weapons can easily destroy it in a single hit.
Overall, the Vodnik occupies a small niche role-wise between lighter vehicles and APCs. Rather than replace dedicated utility cars like the UAZ, it is best utilised as a light fire support vehicle, or as a scout car that doesn't require protection from enemy vehicles.
Crew Capacity
The Vodnik always has enough seats for two that consists of the driver and a single passenger who sits alongside them in the front-right seat. Additional passenger seating and positions for crew members (if applicable) varies depending on the model.
Variants[]
Baseline variant. This variant can transport up to ten passengers at once.
It is armed with two 7.62 mm PKT machine guns, with one facing forward and another facing towards the rear. Both PKTs are pre-loaded with a single 100-round belt box and have access to a further 5 boxes in reserve. Each gunner has access to a total of 600 rounds (for a combined amount of 1,200 rounds between the two gunners).
Fire support vehicle.
It is mostly identical to the MMG armed variant but has a BPPU turret fixed to the roof of the vehicle instead that is armed with a 30 mm autocannon and coaxial 7.62 mm PKT MMG.
The turret is operated remotely from within the vehicle by a dedicated gunner. The 2A42 autocannon can fire either armour-piercing (AP) or high-explosive (HE) shells and has a combined total of 300 rounds (150 of each type). On the other hand, the coaxial PKT feeds from a single 1,500-round belt and has no spare belts to reload from.
For defensive purposes, the BPPU variant is specifically capable of deploying smoke grenades to conceal itself. It can only transport two passengers at a time, and has a crew that consists of the driver and gunner (for a total of four seats combined).
Protection[]
All variants of the Vodnik have base armour values of 100.
Successful strikes to any of the following highlighted sections will inflict full damage to the component:
Note that with the exception of the turret, component hitzones remain identical on the Vodnik (2xPK) and Vodnik (Ambulance) variants.
Body[]
Vodnik hulls can survive up to 100 points of damage.
Engine[]
Their engines are able to withstand 40 points of damage. 20% of damage is always shared with the vehicle's main "health" pool.
A damaged engine will prevent the vehicle from being able to attain their top speeds.
Fuel tank[]
The fuel tanks on every Vodnik variant can incur only 30 points of damage before rupturing. At least 50% of damage is always shared with the vehicle's main "health" pool.
A damaged tank will cause the vehicle to gradually lose fuel over time.
Wheels[]
All tyres can only take 15 points of damage before bursting. At least 30% of damage is shared with the vehicle's main "health" pool.
Turret[]
The BPPU variant's turret can resist up to 80 before failing. At least 50% of incoming damage will be transferred to the Vodnik's "health" pool.
Armament[]
NOTE: For specifics on the 2A42's munitions, see its related section listed here.
The gunner position controls all weapon systems on the BPPU variant. In the case of the 2xPK variant, two gunners each man the twin PKT machine guns.
For optics, only the gunner on the BPPU variant has access to optics with magnified/enhanced vision modes. The gunner can switch between a day or night vision mode (thermal is not available):
2A42[]

NOTE: Only available on the Vodnik (BPPU) variant.
General-purpose 30 mm autocannon. It can switch between either HE or AP-type munitions. There is no delay when swapping between the two munitions types.
It can attain a variable fire rate depending on two modes:
- 200 rpm: 200 rounds per minute
- 550 rpm: ~ 550 rounds per minute
Both modes have identical dispersion values of 0.0005 rad regardless of distance. It can be manually zeroed starting from a minimum of 100 m up to a maximum of 1800 m. Adjustments are made with increments/decrements of 100 m.
PKT[]

Base damage value | Aerodynamic friction | Initial velocity (m/s) |
---|---|---|
12 | -0.00096 | 855 |
7.62 mm medium machine gun(s), available either as a coaxial weapon on the BPPU variant or as standalone MMGs on the 2xPK variant.
It can attain a fire rate of up to 800 RPM with a muzzle velocity of 855 m/s. Accuracy-wise, dispersion is always fixed at 0.00125 rad regardless of range. It takes 5 seconds to finish reloading whether it is a new linked belt or belt box.
Manual zeroing limits slightly differ between the two types of mounts. Both have a minimum zeroing limit of 100 m but PKTs on the 2xPK variant can only be zeroed up to a maximum of 1500 m. BPPU coaxial PKTs on the other hand, have a higher limit of 1800 m instead. However, regardless of variant, zeroing adjustments are made with increments/decrements of 100 m on both types of PKTs.
Trivia[]
- A bug would potentially cause the AI to keep firing at the gunner positions on the 2xPK variant even if both crew members were deceased. This was eventually fixed after Patch 1.09's release.[1]
- On ArmA 2's release, the BPPU variant was not actually capable of deploying smoke despite the presence of smoke launchers being modelled onto the turret.
- This was finally addressed following the release of the Community Configuration Project updates, which provided the BPPU variant's gunner with the ability to deploy smoke.[2]
- The latest Steam version patches (as part of CorePatch's changes) also granted the BPPU gunner access to magnified/night vision optics as well as a laser rangefinder.[3]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ .kju et al. 2009, Arma 2: Version History, Bohemia Interactive Community Wiki, viewed 14 February 2024, <https://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma_2:_Version_History#Version_1.09>.
- ↑ Foltyn, D, Španěl, M et al. 2013, Roadmap - Arma 2: Community Configuration Project, DevHeaven, viewed 7 January 2024, <http://web.archive.org/web/20130627131748/https://dev-heaven.net/projects/arma-2-ccp/roadmap>. (archived link)
- ↑ Mazzon, M et al. 2019, CorePatch, GitHub, viewed 7 January 2024, <https://github.com/Goliath86/CorePatch/blob/master/Changelog.txt>.
External links[]
See also[]
Vehicles of comparable role and configuration[]
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Wheeled | BTR-90 • BM-21 Grad • Kamaz • Vodnik • UAZ-469 |
Tracked | 2S6M Tunguska • BMP-3 • T-72 • T-90 |
Rotor-wing | Ka-52 • Mi-8MTV-3 (Mi-8MT) • Mi-24P (V) |
Fixed-wing | Pchela-1T • Su-39 • Su-34 |
Aquatic | PBX |
(Parenthesis) denote variants. |