A dramatic video has appeared showing a Russian BTR-82 8×8 armored personnel carrier firing its main gun wildly, spitting dozens of shells in one fiery burst, apparently due to a technical malfunction after the vehicle was reportedly struck by a Ukrainian drone. While huge numbers of this particular model of BTR have been lost in Russian hands since the start of the full-scale invasion, this is certainly one of the most bizarre sequences we’ve seen of the vehicle in combat.
The BTR-82 follows the same format as the Cold War-era BTR-80 and typically accommodates up to three crew and seven troops. The standard armored personnel carrier variant weighs 16 tons and has a top speed on improved roads of between 50 and 60 miles per hour, and it has also spawned a wide range of variants and specialized vehicles. The BTR-82 is highly mobile, with an amphibious capability using waterjet propulsion.
The video in question is edited together using footage from at least two drones, one of them providing overwatch and the other apparently a weaponized first-person view (FPV) drone. At the start of the sequence, smoke can be seen coming from the left rear corner of the BTR, which stands stationary in a field. Some of the hatches are already open, suggesting that members of the crew have escaped or are about to.
It’s worth noting that this particular BTR has some visible anti-drone protections, including two ‘cope cages’ that are also festooned with netting. One of these is located over the gun mounting on top of the turret. Slat armor is also fitted around the sides of the hull. Cope cages, which you can read more about here, are a familiar feature on all kinds of vehicles in the Ukraine war, providing a physical barrier against drone impacts and entering the vehicle itself, especially in the more vulnerable areas of the turret and the hull. Slat armor, meanwhile, provides additional protection against projectiles approaching the front, sides, and rear of the vehicle, typically rocket-propelled grenades and similar anti-armor weapons.
The next view, from the FPV drone, shows it approaching the vehicle, although we don’t see it actually enter the hull. It’s not clear if the BTR was already smoking at this point, having been hit by a previous drone or receiving some other kind of fire. It could also be that these two parts of the video are provided out of sequence, with this FPV drone footage having been captured before the vehicle started to smoke.
Regardless, at this point, the BTR-82’s main gun, which is in a raised position, begins to fire. It remains firing, without pause, for a full 20 seconds, leaving the vehicle cloaked in smoke.
The main weapon of the BTR-82 is a 2A72 autocannon in 30mm. This is a light development of the widely used 2A42, which arms the BMP-2 infantry combat vehicle, BMD-2 and BMD-3 airborne combat vehicles, BTR-90 armored personnel carrier, as well as Ka-52 and Mi-28 attack helicopters.
The 2A72 has a rate of fire of 330 rounds per minute, sending its ammunition to an effective range of almost a mile against an armored vehicle. This is a notably faster rate of fire than the already impressive 200 rounds per minute achieved by the rapid-fire Bushmaster chain gun, as used on the M2 Bradley infantry combat vehicle, which is used by Ukraine.
Against soft targets, such as infantry, the effective range of the gun is increased to around 1.2 miles. Ammunition options include armor-piercing-tracer (AP-T), high-explosive fragmentation-incendiary (HEF-I), and high-explosive-tracer (HE-T) ammunition.
The BTR-82 normally carries 300 rounds of 30mm ammunition, so we are not seeing the full load being fired here, although it’s still a significant salvo. It’s also not clear what kind of effect this sustained burst of fire might have had on the gun, its mounting, and ancillary equipment. Although designed for prolonged firing, the gun is air-cooled, meaning that extensive sustained use could cause it to overheat or cause other damage.
Since we don’t know for sure whether any crew members were in the vehicle at the time, this was very likely an entirely unprompted firing sequence, with the 2A72 burning through available ammunition, which is belt-fed, before it finally exhausted it or the gun failed entirely.
The fate of the BTR-82 in the video also remains unclear, but at the very least it would appear to have been severely damaged. Further fires or detonations could have been catastrophic and there’s always the possibility that it could have been targeted by further FPV drone strikes.
According to the Oryx open-source tracking group, which only records losses that it has visual confirmation of, Russia has seen more than a thousand BTR-82 series vehicles, including the more modern BTR-82AT, destroyed, abandoned, or captured since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Losses like these have, in part, prompted Russia to deploy some much older armored personnel carriers in the conflict, including the tracked BTR-50, which first entered Soviet service in 1954. These ancient vehicles began to be noted in the context of the war in Ukraine in early 2023 and now are a more common sight in the fighting.
Ultimately, the BTR-82’s unplanned long burst of cannon fire may have been an unusual anomaly, but the vehicle — provided it was eventually destroyed — can be added to a huge and growing number of the type that has been lost in Ukraine.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com