Russia's AFV nobody talks about: MT-LB (& MT-LBu)

The Russian MT-LB is a vehicle that gets almost no coverage although it is a very important vehicle in the Russo-Ukrainian War. This is reflected by the total number of vehicles, but also by the loss numbers as well. It is the Workhorse of the Russian Army, but also other forces as well.

Disclaimer: I was invited by the Military History Park Pivka, Slovenia in 2017.

Cover Photo by Vitaly V. Kuzmin, permission granted, modification by vonKickass.

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#MTLB,#WorkhorseOfTheRussianArmy,#RussianWorkhorse

00:00 Introduction
00:53 Why the MT-LB is important
03:46 What is the MT-LB?
04:46 MT-LB AA / Flak Variant
05:13 Development History
06:14 Firepower & Protection
07:15 Mobility & Carrying Capacity
07:58 MT-LBu
08:50 Summary

[Redshirt]

My understanding is that the MT-LB has gained popularity in the post-Soviet Russian Army because it has slightly better mobility off-road than the BMP series thanks to having wider tracks, especially in places with softer ground or heavy snow. With a reduction in towed AT guns presumably extra vehicles were available to be used as APCs, and possibly also to allow conversion of some MRR from BTRs to fully tracked formations.

[andrewgagner]

I went thru infantry school in the early 90s, and was trained as an M-47 Dragon gunner, spent a lot of time looking at vehicle ID flash cards and remember thinking how old the LBS looked 30 years ago. Have been amazed to see how many are still being used.

[danielblohm]

I drove a MTLB when I was younger and in the military. It did easily över 80 km/h and we had one in the garage doing over 100km/h after some modifications.

[norbertblackrain]

The MT-LB family is a bit like the M113 family, a kind of tracked Swiss army knife.

[IvanIvanov-zvtx]

Such machines were build in my home town in Bulgaria. My father used to be engineer in the factory. I will never forget riding in them during test runs in the near test field.

[tomppeli.]

I drove a wide-track variant of this in my time during conscription!

It's such a nice off-road vehicle
Don't know how it'd fair in combat though, being a battle taxi and all

[grizwoldphantasia]

You need to do more of these ride-alongs. That grin tells me all I need to know about how much fun it was.

[ogi]

The MT-LB was produced in the "9th of May" plant near Cherven Bryag in Bulgaria, as well as the 2s1 SPH, and BMP-23 IFV's. In the 1980's, around 200 vehicles per month were produced there.

[ashleyphotog]

good way to remember the MT-LB: Mini-Turret Long Body

[Tounushi]

Älli-tälli was a nice enough vehicle to fall asleep in. No joke, during exercises in transit I fell asleep in the back on top of the camo net. On the way back I rode on top with my boot on the hatch edge and holding on to one of the cargo lines.
And that was the basic MT-LBv, not the fancy command models.

[michaelguerin]

Thanks Bernhard from NZ 🇳🇿. Another extremely useful video. Keep up the good work.

[Paveway-chan]

”In this image there are three MT-LB prime mover-cum-armoured personnel carriers, and they cannot be seen. Due to their low sillouette they may be hiding behind the shed, inside the shed, behind the hill or inside any of a dozen shrubberies. However, geopositional data we aquired from the drivers' use of walkie-talkies informed us where they were.”

**bushes and the shed explodes with comical screaming**

[nickysimi]

I feel like the title of this video perfectly sums up the vehicle, I see it all the time, but have never seen anybody talk about it lol

[andreinarangel]

An all-around OUTSTANDING CHASSIS. Just outstanding. As prolific as an M113, and probably more versatile CHASSIS (PT76, ASU57, ZSU-23-4, SAM transporters, towing cannons, civilian vehicles), etc. I would submit that it is probably the BEST CHASSIS in the tracked vehicle family World-wide.

[fratercontenduntocculta]

Every news outlet has been calling these tanks recently lol. Deeply familiar with the MT-LB myself being recently retired US Army. Extremely mobile and agile, it's one of the most useful APC's due to it's design including towing both AT guns and Heavy (120mm and above) mortars. Make great recovery vehicles too. I've been watching the improvement program for these with great interest!

[ulysse]

The high losses of MT-LB can also be attributed to both the 80th and 200th Russian Arctic Brigades that use the MT-LB as their main infantry vehicle as it is more suited to arctic warfare. Both brigades contributed Battalion Combat Teams around Kharkiv and suffured heavy losses.

If you know Vitaly V. Kuzmin personally, please thank him for putting up so many pictures of tanks for the world to use.

I think the MT-LB is an intriguing vehicle. Simple and with many uses. A bit like the M113. It is a case in point that an army is not just flashy tanks and aircraft, but a whole lot of supporting vehicles aswell.

[matthayward]

Thank you for this! As a kid, for some reason my favourite soviet vehicles were always the MT-LB and MT-LBu
Great video!

[castor]

The MT-LBv variant also has wider tracks, it can literally drive through a bog! It was quite a shock to US army when we did that during exercises in Finland

[milosmevzelj]

Thanks for this video with good info about mt-lb.
Greetings from Slovenia; not from Pivka but anyway