Indonesia Trains Marines Corps With Ukrainian BTR-4 APCs

Indonesia has commenced  training its Marines Corps (KORMAR) with amphibious BTR-4 8x8  armored personnel carriers (APCs), acquired recently from Ukraine.

The training will be held from 14 to 24 October at Kormar base in South Jakarta, IHS Janes reported Monday.

The Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD) concluded a contract with Ukraine's defence industry holding group Ukroboronprom in February 2014 to supply five BTR-4 APCs.

The vehicles, which were exported last month, are known as Ukraine's first military export to Indonesia in nearly two decades.

Designed in Ukraine by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau (SOE KMDB) as a private venture, the BTR-4's layout represent a change compared to the older BTR-60/70/80 designed in the Soviet Union.

The vehicle has a conventional layout similar to western designs like the German TPz Fuchs with the driver's and commander's compartment at the front part of the hull, the engine and transmission compartment in the middle, and the troop compartment at the rear.

The troops enter and leave the vehicle either through the rear doors or the roof hatches, and the driver and the commander are provided with doors located on the sides of the hull.