History
During exploitation of the BTR-40 armoured personnel carrier by the Soviet Army it became apparent that the inability to cross water obstacles was a substantial problem on the modern battlefield. As a result in late 1954 work, led by designer V. K. Rubtsov, began at the A. Dedkov OKB design bureau on a new amphibious version of the vehicle. Intended simply to be an amphibious variant of the BTR-40 wheeled APC, it received the designation BTR-40P.
The design reused many components from the BTR-40, but as work progressed the design concept changed. The vehicle ended up being an amphibious armoured scout car. Consequently the vehicle was renamed to BRDM which was an acronym for Boyevaya Razvedyvatelnaya Dozornaya Mashina. The first prototype vehicle was completed in February 1956. Detailed trials were conducted in the Black Sea area, and it was accepted in service in 1957 with production beginning that year.
Read more about this topic: BRDM-1
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If you look at the 150 years of modern China’s history since the Opium Wars, then you can’t avoid the conclusion that the last 15 years are the best 15 years in China’s modern history.”
—J. Stapleton Roy (b. 1935)
“Yet poetry, though the last and finest result, is a natural fruit. As naturally as the oak bears an acorn, and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done. It is the chief and most memorable success, for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)