Amphibious vehicle - Vietnam's unique air defense

PTS-M is a special medium-sized tracked vehicle manufactured by the Soviet Union and provided to the Vietnam People's Army. It is designed to carry people, motorbikes, guns, artillery, weapons and goods weighing less than 10 tons across water obstacles such as rivers, streams and large lakes.

Under certain conditions, the PTS-M has relatively good sea-going capabilities, so it is also assigned to some naval engineering units or island protection units.

The PTS-M's transport capacity is up to 70 soldiers with full personal weapons and equipment, or up to 12 stretchers (mounted on the vehicle when performing medical, rescue, and disaster relief missions). The PTS-M's operating crew consists of 2 people: commander and driver.

PTS-M can carry a maximum load of 5 tons when marching on foot or 10 tons when marching on water at a distance of less than 3 km. The buoyancy reserve of PTS-M is very large, up to 60% when carrying a load of 10 tons, the maximum speed on asphalt is 40 km/h or 11 km/h when swimming.

Equipped with a powerful 350 horsepower diesel engine, the PTS-M's off-road capabilities are quite good, able to maneuver on many complex terrains, closely following the troops to ensure river crossing when required, the vehicle's traction on 2 propellers reaches 1,950 kg.

This crawler can operate at water velocity of 2.5 m/s, overcome waves up to level 4, withstand wind up to 18 m/s, cross a 2.5 m wide trench, cross a 0.65 m high vertical obstacle, and the largest angle of going up and down the dock when carrying a maximum load is 10 degrees.

Standard equipment on the PTS-M includes infrared lights for night vision in low light conditions, a compass for sea swimming, communication equipment, a radiometer, and a wave shield. In addition, the vehicle is equipped with a pump system for use in case of water ingress.

It can be seen that with the above equipment, the PTS-M is very weak if attacked by the enemy by helicopter or low-flying aircraft, then this vehicle will become a "shooting target".

To solve the above situation, Vietnam has taken a creative step by mounting a 23mm Zu-23-2 anti-aircraft gun on the PTS-M tracked amphibious chassis, giving the vehicle the ability to fight back against enemy aircraft while maneuvering from sea to shore.

Compared to many other armies that only integrate a PKM 7.62 mm machine gun or a larger NSV 12.7 mm machine gun into the PTS-M to defend against enemy infantry, it is easy to see that Vietnam's approach is unique, giving this tracked troop transport vehicle superior power.