Wheeled armored personnel carrier Ryś and Irbis

Abstract

The article presents the characteristics of the Ryś and Irbis wheeled armored personnel carriers (Polish abbrev. KTO) designed in Poland. They constituted a deep modernization of the Czechoslovakian SKOT medium wheeled armored transporter. The paper presents the genesis of works on these vehicles and their main contractor, Military Automotive Works No. 5 in Poznań, which has dealt with repairs and modernization of combat vehicles since the 1950s. In the following part, the tactical and technical data of the basic version of the Ryś wheeled armored personnel carriers and special-purpose vehicles based on it are discussed, with particular attention paid to the versions that are of interest to the Ministry of National Defense. Next, the Irbis wheeled armored vehicle, and the special-purpose versions built on its chassis are characterized and presented to the International Defense Industry Exhibition in Kielce.