The russian armed forces operating in the Glushkovo village, Kursk Region, russia, have lost an LSTS-1944 Sarmat-3 armored all-terrain vehicle. This is the first-ever instance this type of unit is destroyed in combat, several photos and a video were published by the lost_warinua channel on Telegram. The original author of the video is a local authority Aleksey Zolotaryov, he said labeled the piece of burnt metal "a Ukrainian armored vehicle."
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Interestingly, about a week before, one of the russian media outlets published a photo of the very same vehicle, a rare confirmation that Sarmat-3s are actually used by the russian invasion forces on the battlefield. As was noted, such units are in service with special and air assault forces.
Sarmat-3 is the latest version of the Sarmat family of lightweight armored military vehicles, developed by the OKB Technika R&D bureau.
The lineage of these vehicles goes back to the 2010s, and the Sarmat-3 program specifically was completed around 2016 or 2017. Then, the russian Ministry of Defense, despite initial positive reviews, demanded that the vehicle be refined, with a particular focus on import substitution of some components. As a result, the first product of the project was finished. The LSTS-1943 Sarmat-2 was presented at the annual Armiya military forum in 2018.
This version passed the tests, but the defense ministry was still not satisfied and declared that the vehicle's performance needed to be improved. This eventually led to the appearance of the LSTS-1944 Sarmat-3. In 2022, a further modification labeled a "full-fledged armored car developed from Sarmat-3" was shown to the public at the same Armiya event in 2022.; the series continued with the introduction of the Sarmat-3ME sanitary variant.
Specifications of the LSTS-1944 Sarmat-3 lightweight armored vehicle (based on open-source data):
- full combat weight: 3.5 tons;
- dimensions (length x width): 3.9 x 2 meters;
- engine power: 153 hp;
- maximum speed: 150 km/h;
- capacity: 8 people or 1,500 kg of cargo.
Also, there is the newest version of Sarmat-3, smaller, less protected, and lighter, it can carry up to 900 kg of load (and 100 kg more in an unprotected rack) or up to 4 soldiers, speeds up to 120 km/h with operational range of 500 km.
Both variants can be armed with a 7.62mm or a 12.7mm machine gun, an AGS-17 grenade launcher, or a Kornet anti-tank guided missile.
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