GAZ-46

The GAZ-46, designated MAV in service, is a Soviet amphibious light car produced from 1953. Its layout follows the wartime Ford GPA closely — the Soviet Union received GPAs under Lend-Lease and studied them thoroughly — but the mechanical package is domestic, drawing on the GAZ-69 light truck and the GAZ-M20 Pobeda engine.

Design

A welded steel hull carries a folding trim vane at the bow and a single propeller at the stern, driven from the transfer case. Four-wheel drive and a bilge pump are standard. It was intended for river reconnaissance: finding and marking crossings ahead of larger units rather than carrying loads.

Context

Where the Ford GPA had been judged a disappointment by the US Army — too heavy to be a good car, too small to be a good boat — the GAZ-46 arrived with clearer expectations and a narrower brief, and was rated a success in it. Production ended in 1958, the role passing to larger vehicles as Soviet doctrine came to favour fully amphibious armoured carriers.