BMK-130M

The BMK-130 and its improved BMK-130M are Soviet military bridging boats. They push and position the pontoons of PMP and PMP-M bridge sets. They are not road vehicles, but each boat has a strut and wheel on either side so it can be rolled into and out of the water behind a truck.

Design

The BMK-130 has a steel hull divided into watertight compartments. To launch it, the bow fitting is hooked to the front bumper of the carrying truck and the boat is pushed into the water stern first. Once afloat it is uncoupled. On the original BMK-130 the wheels folded up against the sides of the hull. The BMK-130M appeared in the mid-1960s with a modified hull. Its wheels swing forward into wells in the hull sides, which reduces drag and keeps them from being damaged. The BMK-130M became the standard boat for the PP-91 pontoon set. The RPR M68, built in the former Yugoslavia, was based on it.

BMK-150

The BMK-150, after which this folder is named, was the most powerful Warsaw Pact bridging boat until the BMK-T appeared. It has an aluminium hull, is much lighter than the BMK-130, and has two engines driving separately controlled propellers. It also has a windscreen and a folding weather cover. The first BMK-150 had wheels that folded up outside the hull, while the BMK-150M has wheel wells like the BMK-130M.