BTR-60

You see, comrade, armor can be on wheels too (not really, that thing can be penetrated with 0.50 cal)

The "Bronetransportyor-60 or "BTR-60" for short is an 8-wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier used by the Warsaw Pact. Introduced in 1959, this APC is operated by two crewmen and can transport up to 12 soldiers. Additionally, despite it looking particularly bulky, it still had amphibious capabilities and was pretty fast for a transport.

As it was only designed to transport troops, armament is limited: the main weapon is turret-mounted 14.5mm heavy machine gun (typically a KPVT with 500 rounds) that is supplemented by a co-axial 7.62mm medium machine gun. The soldiers inside provide the rest of the firepower. That being said, when the BTR's heavy MG is loaded with armor-piercing rounds it has a chance of penetrating the 30mm front aluminum armor of early M2s at 500m or less (this was one of the reasons that the Bradley Fighting Vehicle was upgraded to the M2A2 version). However, directly opposing another combat vehicle on the battlefield is generally a death sentence for a BTR unless its infantry can take the target out.

With only 7mm of armor, the BTR doesn't do a very good job of protecting its infantry from the horrors of the battlefield. .50 caliber rounds will penetrate the BTR anywhere except perhaps on certain angled shots from the front. It can even be penetrated with armor-piercing rounds from 7.62mm machine guns at close distances from the side. HEAT rounds from 40mm grenade launchers are also more than capable of penetrating and causing significant damage. Any kind of purpose-designed antiarmor weapon--like, say, a Panzerfaust, or a M72 LAAW, or an RPG--is pretty much guaranteed to turn it into a rolling crematorium on the first hit. Not that BMP-1s or BMDs are much better protected, mind you.

In Team Yankee

Da Stats Comrade

In-game as in real life, the BTR-60 is a rather useless vehicle outside of its designated role. With only a single point of armor on the front and a single KPVT machine gun with AT5, it has a specific job: battle taxi. Unlike other vehicles such as the BMP and M113 which are a bit more multi-purpose in function, the FIRST and ONLY job of the BTR-60 is to ferry troops to the battlefield. It fulfils this role handsomely.

While its stats might be mediocre, the BTR comes in droves. Much like their untermensch passengers, your BTRs can comfortably outnumber the enemy 2-1 at the very least. Employed as suicide units, BTRs can be used as meatshields. Rushing forward and threatening your opponent’s vulnerable artillery pieces or support units, it forces the enemy to spend a whole turn wasting their anti-armour firepower on these things. If ignored, massed AT5 fire is capable of causing surprising damage to M109s or anything lighter. Even FV432s and M113s need to take note, as they are vulnerable to mass bails from side shots. The BTR may have the armour of a scarf but the gun works almost like an autocannon.

Situationally, players may use the BTRs as roadblocks. After death, they provide bulletproof cover and concealment.

But cost-wise, the BTR is effectively free! BTR companies are taken for the infantry, with the APCs essentially coming free. This means that if the BTRs can actually kill units of value such as infantry, anti-air or artillery you are getting additional value on top.

As always, Soviet stat lines and unit sizes make them rather reliable (if incapable of understanding your orders).

Variants

East German, Polish and Czech infantry may bring the BTR-60 as a transport that play almost identically to the Soviet equivalent, apart from their 4+ skill.

The Iraqis use these for their motorized infantry companies and may bring BTR-60s as spotters for the artillery. The Iranians also can equip formations with the BTR-60 as a transport vehicle, as they captured some Iraqi vehicles during the war and ended up purchasing many of their own as well.

IRL

It looks like a little mysh no? ("uh whats a mysh?" "Mouse you silly American Ay' Blyn")

The BTR-60 has long since retired from active service with the Russian military and almost all Soviet successors, but its rugged design has kept it in service with many poorer nations around the world. It is currently used for border patrols in Russia. By the 1980s the Red Army was replacing its BTR-60s with the BTR-70; the BTR-80 only entered production in 1986.

While the BTR-70 and BTR-80 have some improvements in mechanical reliability, better engines and transmissions, and so on over the BTR60, in terms of either stats or outward appearance there are only small details here and there to distinguish them from the BTR-60. The BTR-80A has the same 30mm autocannon as a BMP-2 shoehorned into its turret to replace the 14.5mm HMG, while the BTR90 simply has a BMP-2's entire turret stuck on top, complete with autocannon and laser-guided ATGM launcher. It is not certain whether either of these variants exist in significant numbers in the present day, IRL.

Currently the Russian-Ukrainian war is showing us how APCs fare on a modern day battlefield filled with ATGMs- which is to say, not every well. Unlike conflicts in the Middle East where the opposition had little to no air support and only access to unguided RPGs, the conflict in Ukraine is a conflict between two nations with access to state of the art munitions. This is exactly the scenario which Team Yankee simulates. In short the BTRs have proved to be frighteningly vulnerable. More than a few Russian commanders got to discover this while themselves being turned into borscht, which certainly calls into question the wisdom of using these vehicles as command and control vehicles. On the flipside of things, the Ukrainians have developed a homegrown BTR variant that they call the BTR-4, which is armed with redesigned turret featuring a 30mm cannon and a modern fire control system; video online appears to show one such vehicle effectively engaging infantry while mercilessly trolling a couple of Russian T-72s.

Thanks to the Russians not bothering to learn from their own military history, the sheer number of these vehicles being abandoned due to being stuck, broken down, or simply because the crew ran away is staggering.

East German Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T55AM2 - T-72M - T-72B
Transports:	BTR-60 - BMP-1 - BMP-2
Troops:	Mot-Schützen Kompanie - Hind Assault Landing Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - BM-21 Hail - RM-70 - 2S3 Acacia
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel
Recon:	BMP-1 OP - BRDM-2
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - SU-22 Fitter
Soviet Support:	SU-25 Frogfoot

Iraqi Forces in Team Yankee
Tanks:	T-55 - T-62 - T-72M
Transports:	BTR-60 - OT-64 - AMX-10P - BMP-1
Troops:	Motor Rifle Company
Artillery:	2S1 Carnation - 2S3 Acacia - AMX Auf1 - BM-21 Hail
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU 23-4 Shilka - SA-13 Gopher - SA9 Gaskin - SA-8 Gecko - Roland AA
Tank Hunters:	Spandrel - VCR/TH
Recon:	BRDM-2 - BTR-60 OP
Aircraft:	MI-24 Hind - Gazelle HOT
US Support:	A-10 Warthog - AV-8 Harrier