Soldiers from the 13th "Khartiia" Operational Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine shared their thoughts on the features and tactical advantages of the Oncilla wheeled armored vehicle. Having used it for a while now, they say it's head and shoulders above the old Soviet models they used to pilot before, Defense Express reports.
The first thing they note about this Polish APC, produced by Mista, is the mobility and cross-country ability. It "passed through places that shouldn't be passable," they say. If anything went wrong, the powerful winch was there to pull the armored car out from peril.
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Powered by a German low-revving tractor engine from Deutz, Oncilla has a lesser chance to get stuck in soft soil and mud — a common problem during the rainy season in Ukraine. Traditionally for Polish wheeled armor, it is equipped with an automatic transmission.
Particular emphasis the national guardsmen place on the weaponry which not only allows Oncilla to perform the classic function of safely transporting the troops to their positions but also provide fire support during combat missions, if needed.
The turret is fitted with a 12.7mm NSVT machine gun of Soviet standard, adapted to the new platform and controlled remotely from the gunner's seat inside the cabin.
The weapon station has modern sighting systems including a thermal camera mode. It allows the vehicle to provide suppressive fire when the crew disembarks or hops in.
That said, the Khartiia soldiers say they'd like more firepower for their armored carrier. While an attentive reader would immediately recall the Varta-2, a domestic alternative armed with a whole 30mm autocannon, Mista already has them covered with a solution of its own — the Oncilla-Shturm.
Featuring a TAVRIA-14.5/7.62 turret and a number of combat-oriented enhancements, the Shturm version is also well-known to Ukrainians, as it was approved by the country's Ministry of Defense following tests in November 2024.
To cover its retreat, the basic Oncilla has Tucha smoke screen launchers, one to six grenades can be fired at once. It has proven handy quite a few times, the guardsmen note, since they often use the vehicle to bring troops to the forwardmost lines of the war front.
Interestingly, they also mention what they call an "anti-fool protection": the joystick controller won't react to accidental movements, only when the operator properly grabs it with his hand.
Although each crew member has a specific role during a mission, everyone needs to know the job of the others so they can fill all the seats as quickly as possible regardless of designated position. It also helps if one of the crew is injured.
The APC doesn't have anti-drone slat armor but comes with an electronic warfare system. It's vital on Ukrainian battlegrounds, so saturated with various unmanned systems.
The Oncilla driver said he has steered many different armored personnel carriers since 2015, and the Oncilla among them is like an expensive sports car. Since he referred to those others as BTR vehicles, most likely he meant BTR-70 or BTR-80 of Soviet-era design.
Defense Express reminds that Mista Oncilla is a licensed copy of Ukrainian Dozor-B vehicle. Oncillas, assembled in Poland, have been supplied to Ukrainian military units since before the onset of russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
Besides the mentioned variants of Oncilla, the Beryl Design Bureau is developing new ones, like an amphibious version. There were also talks of the production re-starting in Ukraine under localization procedure.
Earlier, we also covered an episode illustrating Oncilla's defensive properties: one survived after getting blown up on an anti-tank landmine, the crew remaining mostly unharmed.
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