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Ukraine’s Military Ordered a Quantity of Armored Recovery and Repair Vehicles ‘Lev’ for Delivery in 2021

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 ‘Lev’ armored recovery and repair vehicle (ARRV) upgrade offered by Lviv Armored Vehicle Factory
‘Lev’ armored recovery and repair vehicle (ARRV) upgrade offered by Lviv Armored Vehicle Factory

In parallel with the ARRV ‘Lev’ (Ukrainian for ‘Lion), Lviv AVF has made an upgrade on the armored vehicle ‘Bison”, particularly by adding a KT-7.62 machinegun produced by Mayak Factory of Kyiv.

CEO of Lviv AVF, a company incorporated with the Ukroboronprom state-controlled defense industries group, has briefed ArmyInfo on how his company is proceeding with the orders it had received under the Government Defense Procurement Contract 2021.

“Last year, our company in partnership with the Armed Forces’ Central Directorate for Armored Hardware upgraded this armored truck vehicle to BREM-1/Lev capability,” Viktor Androshchuk told ArmyInfo.

Read more: Kharkiv Morozov Design Bureau (KMDB) Purchasing Components to Build another Batch of BTR-4E APCs
Lviv Armored Vehicle Factory, Lev ARRV, BTS-4 ARRV
‘Lev’ ARRV was first showcased to public at the 2018 Arms and Security Expo

“We have mounted it with a telescope crane manipulator, a front bulldozing blade, and an auxiliary winch and added an electric welder. We will have to deliver around a dozen of these truck vehicles to the Ministry of Defense within this year’s timeframe,” he said.

Beside this, the company continued with its upgrading of the BTS-4 armored truck vehicle (which was derived from the T-54 MBT) to ‘Bison’ ARRV capability. The upgrade features a more powerful engine and an additional turret for the commander, armed with Mayak Factory’s KT-7.62 machinegun.

Lviv Armored Vehicle Factory, Lev ARRV, BTS-4 ARRV
Lviv AVF’s BTS-4/Bison ARRV upgrade was first displayed in 2020

Lviv AVF has over UAH 300M worth of MoD contracts for repair, overhaul and upgrading of armored hardware for 2021, the company CEO has said.

DE note: Lviv AVF delivered one ‘Bison’ ARRV to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in November 2020. In the previous year, the company completed deliveries of some 15 these vehicles to an undisclosed international customer.

Lviv AVF, Lev ARRV, BTS-4ARRV
BTS-4 armored truck vehicle, overhauled and upgraded by Lviv AVF, being loaded for shipment to Ukraine’s military / Photo Courtesy of Ukroboronprom

Built on the T-72 MBT chassis, the ‘Lev’ ARRV was unveiled at the 2018 Arms and Security Expo, but there have been no reports since about it being delivered to military users in Ukraine.

Read more: Third Shipment of Novator APCs Delivered to Ukraine’s National Guard