The Russian military all-terrain vehicle "Plastun-SN" confidently holds first place in the ranking of Russian combat vehicles by cross-country ability. This was stated by auto expert Vadim Kryuchkov.
He recalled that the "Plastun-SN," weighing only 3.8 tons, exerts ground pressure of 0.17 kg/cm² thanks to its rubber tracks. At the same time, the all-terrain vehicle can accommodate eight people and accelerates to 40 km/h.
He placed the MT-LB multipurpose tracked transporter-tug in second place, with a track width of 360 mm. In the basic configuration, the combat weight of the vehicle is 12.2 tons, and the specific ground pressure is 0.45 kg/cm².
The top three is rounded out by the BMD-4M, weighing 13.5 tons and with specific ground pressure starting from 0.45 kg/cm². Fourth place was shared by the BMP-2M and BMP-3M, weighing about 14.5 tons and with pressure of 0.64–0.66 kg/cm².
Kryuchkov placed the T-72B3M main battle tank, weighing 45.5 tons, at the rear of the ranking. Its specific ground pressure is relatively high (0.87–0.9 kg/cm²), but this does not prevent the domestic tank from remaining a combat vehicle with high cross-country ability, since its foreign competitors weigh much more.
Tank platoon commander Lieutenant Mikhail Karpov noted that the gas-turbine T-80BVM tanks lag behind in cross-country ability compared with their diesel-powered counterparts, the T-72B3M.