OT-64 SKOT

The SKOT (known in the West as the OT-64) is an eight-wheeled amphibious armoured personnel carrier developed jointly by Poland and Czechoslovakia. It entered service with both armies in 1964. Unlike most Warsaw Pact armour it was not a Soviet design. Its automotive parts come from the Tatra 813 heavy truck.

Design

The SKOT is powered by a Tatra T-928-14 air-cooled V8 diesel of 132 kW (180 hp). It is 7.44 m long, 2.55 m wide and 2.06 m high, with 0.46 m ground clearance, and weighs about 14.3 tonnes empty. Suspension uses coil springs and dampers. It carries a crew of two and 18 troops, reaches 94 km/h on the road and has a range of about 710 km on its 320-litre tank. Two propellers drive it in the water, and a 2003 sales listing gives a water speed of about 9.5 km/h. Armament was a 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine gun. The SKOT-2A version had the same turret as the Soviet BRDM-2 and BTR-60PB, and command versions were also built.

Service

Apart from Poland and Czechoslovakia, the SKOT was exported to Morocco, India, Cambodia, Sudan and Iraq, among others, and some were later used as rescue and police vehicles. Demilitarised examples have reached private collectors. The archive includes a German eBay listing from 2003 for a SKOT-2A command vehicle from a depot, with 5,300 km recorded.