TAB (armoured personnel carrier)

Summary

TAB (Romanian: Transportor Amfibiu Blindat, translated Amphibious Armoured Personnel Carrier) is the Romanian military designation of armoured personnel carriers. The TAB APCs were based on the Russian BTR series until the early 1990s, with several improvements, including better diesel engines. After 1990, new TAB designs have been developed, such as the RN-94 and the Saur series, but none of these designs entered mass production.

Models edit

 
A Soviet BTR-60PB APC (left) and a Romanian TAB-71 APC (right) on display at "King Ferdinand" National Military Museum in Bucharest.
  • TAB-63 - prototype, predecessor of TAB-71
  • TAB-71 - based on BTR-60.[1] 1872 copies manufactured. In 2010, Romania owned 846 TAB-71 transporters, 375 being in use. Some transferred to Moldova. The TAB-71 vehicles will be decommissioned, scrapped and gradually replaced by the future TBT 8×8 (Saur 3) armoured personnel carrier, the development of which was started on March 17, 2011.
  • TAB-77 - based on BTR-70[2]
  • TABC-79 - 4×4 version of TAB-77[1]
  • B-33 Zimbru - based on BTR-80
  • RN-94 - a joint Romanian-Turkish design, small numbers of the MEDEVAC version were delivered to Bangladesh[3] (6×6 version)
  • Zimbru 2000 - proposed upgrade of B-33 Zimbru (prototype)
  • Saur 1 - prototype, 8×8
  • Saur 2 - prototype, 8×8
  • Saur 3 - proposed design, 8×8
  • Saur 4 - proposed design, 4×4

Gallery edit

Notes and references edit

Notes
  1. ^ a b O'Malley, T. J., Hutchins, Ray, pag. 48
  2. ^ O'Malley, T. J., Hutchins, Ray, pag. 50
  3. ^ Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
References
  • Foss, Christopher F. (2005). Jane's Armour and Artillery 2005-2006. Jane's Information Group. ISBN 978-0-7106-2686-8.
  • Bishop, Chris (2006). The Encyclopedia of Tanks and Armored fighting vehicles: From World War I to The Present Day. Grange Book. ISBN 978-1-59223-626-8.
  • O'Malley, T. J., Hutchins, Ray (1996). Fighting Vehicles: Armoured Personnel Carriers & Infantry Fighting Vehicles. Greenhill Books. ISBN 1-85367-211-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links edit

  • Automecanica Moreni website
  • ROMARM official website
  • TAB Specifications (in Romanian)