The MLI-84 is a tracked

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

currently in service with the

Romanian Land Forces The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Force ...

. It was derived from the

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

of the Soviet

BMP-1 The BMP-1 is a Soviet Union, Soviet Amphibious vehicle, amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle that has been in service from 1966 to the present. BMP stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty 1'' (), meaning "infantry fighting vehicle, 1st ...

but possessing a lengthened hull, a 12.7×108mm

DShK The DShK M1938 (Cyrillic: ДШК, for ) is a Soviet heavy machine gun. The weapon may be vehicle mounted or used on a tripod or wheeled carriage as a heavy infantry machine gun. The DShK's name is derived from its original designer, Vasily Degtya ...

1938/46

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require mounting onto a weapons platform to be operably stable or ...

mounted on the roof of the troop compartment and MLI-84M having

Oerlikon KBA The Oerlikon KBA is a 25 mm caliber, 25 mm (25×137mm) autocannon which was developed as a close range multipurpose weapon for the mechanised battlefield. It was originally made by Oerlikon (now Rheinmetall Air Defence, Rheinmetall AG), and is cur ...

autocannon and new ATGMs.

Development history

In 1982 Romania purchased a license to produce 178 BMP-1 IFVs from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. At the same time, it received permission to modify the construction in order to adapt it to its industry. The decision of improving the old Soviet IFVs came in 1995. As a result of a Romanian-Israeli cooperation project, the new modernized MLI-84M variant was created. Since then, the Romanian Ministry of Defense spent around

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

155 million to upgrade 99 vehicles for equipping three battalions.

Description

The most important improvement in the MLI-84 was the replacement of the Soviet UTD-20 (a 4-stroke airless-injection water-cooled multifuel 15.8-litre diesel

V6 engine A V6 engine is a six- cylinder piston engine where the cylinders and cylinder blocks share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V6 engines were designed and produced independently by Marmon Motor Car Company, ...

) with the domestically-produced 8V-1240-DT-S 4-stroke liquid-cooled diesel

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight- cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Origins The first known V8 was the Antoinette, designed by Léon Levavasseur, a ...

. The new engine develops a more powerful 355 horsepower (265 kW), but is larger and heavier and thus required modification of the engine compartment to accommodate it. The fuel capacity was increased to 600 liters. Because of these modifications the length of the hull of the vehicle was increased by 60 centimeters to 7.335 meters, which in turn resulted in wider gaps between the roadwheels. The vehicle is also wider (3.15 m) and higher (2.11 m). The ground clearance has increased from 370 mm to 400 mm. The new engine has increased vehicle's maximal road speed to 70 km/h. The armament wasn't modified but a 12.7 mm

1938/46

was placed on a rotatable mount fitted on the left rear troop compartment roof hatch. It is operated by the trooper sitting next to the left rear door of the troop compartment which makes operating it while the infantry is dismounting impossible. Because of the mentioned modifications and additions, the weight of the vehicle increased to 16.6 tonnes and although the vehicle can still travel across water with little preparation, the amphibious ability was weakened.

Production history

MLI-84 production began in 1985 and 178 vehicles were produced until 1991.

Variants

* MLI-84 – Basic version, as described. * MLI-84M1 Jderul ("the

marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...

") – MLI-84 modernization fitted with a new Israeli OWS-25R overhead mount turret armed with 25x137mm

autocannon An autocannon, automatic cannon or machine cannon is a automatic firearm, fully automatic gun that is capable of rapid-firing large-caliber ( or more) armour-piercing, explosive or incendiary ammunition, incendiary shell (projectile), shells, ...

and two 9S415 ATGM launchers. It is also equipped with two banks of four 81 mm DLG 81 heat and

smoke grenade A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone marking device, or as a screening device for unit movements. Smoke grenades are generally more complex and emit a far larger amount of smoke than sm ...

launchers. Grenades leave a thermal curtain of fire around the vehicle for about five minutes, to confuse enemy missiles. MLI-84M1 vehicle also has a system that can disperse dense smoke over a radius of 360 degrees around the vehicle and at a distance between . Because mounting of the new turret increased the weight of the vehicle to 17.6 tonnes, a new more powerful engine had to be fitted. The new engine is the

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

C9 engine developing 396 hp (295 kW) which is the same engine as the one found in MOWAG Piranha III IFVs recently acquired by the Romanian Land Forces. However the vehicle lost its ability to travel across water with little preparation and has to be specially prepared before entering water. The vehicle also became even wider (3.3 m) and higher (2.942 m) than its predecessor. Although the engine is more powerful, the weight of the new equipment has in fact decreased the vehicle's maximum road speed to ."JED The Military Equipment Directory"
/ref> The 9S415 ATGM launcher capable of firing 9M14 "Malyutka" (NATO: AT-3A Sagger A), 9M14M "Malyutka-M" (NATO: AT-3B Sagger B) and 9M14P "Malyutka-P" (NATO: AT-3C Sagger C) ATGMs also has been replaced and there are two different variants, each with a different ATGM launcher replacing it: ** MLI-84M1 armed with ATGM launcher capable of firing Yugoslavian 9M14-2T Maljutka-2T antitank guided missiles instead of the

9M14 Malyutka The 9M14 Malyutka (; "Little one", NATO reporting name: AT-3 Sagger) is a manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) wire-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided mi ...

. ** MLI-84M1 armed with ATGM launcher capable of firing Israeli Spike antitank guided missiles instead of the

. ** MLI-84M1 version with the ATGM launcher horizontally and a remotely operated sight placed at hull. * – MLI-84M1 converted into a battalion command vehicle with a large superstructure instead of the turret. * – MLI-84M1 converted into an ARV with its turret replaced by a large three-section hydraulic crane controlled from outside the vehicle, winching frame mounted on the rear of the top of the hull, stowage box on the left hand side of the rear of the top of the hull and two stowage boxes on the right hand side of the top of the hull. * – MLI-84M1 converted into an armoured ambulance and fitted with a higher

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

as found on the PCB command vehicle. * OAPR model 89 – ''Obuzierul autopropulsat românesc, model 89'', self-propelled howitzer using the MLI-84's hull and the 2S1 Gvozdika's turret and gun. Probably designed around 1978 and produced since 1987.

Operators

* –

operate around 142 MLI-84 IFVs of which 101 are upgraded to the MLI-84M standard. The first modernized vehicles entered service with the 282nd Mechanized Brigade in 2005. Initially, the modernization program aimed at upgrading a total of 180 vehicles.

Gallery

File:Romanian IFV - MLI-84M1 Jder - 01.jpg, MLI-84M1 at National Day Parade, 2009 File:Romanian IFV - MLI-84M1 Jder - 03.jpg, MLI-84M1 at National Day Parade, 2010 File:Romanian IFV - MLI-84M1 Jder - 02.jpg, MLI-84M1, Turret File:MLI-84M1 Expomil5.jpg, MLI-84M1, Turret, 23 April 2007 File:MLI-84M1 Expomil4.jpg, MLI-84M1, Tracks, 23 April 2007

References

External links

MLI-84's description on the Romanian Ministry of Defense official website

MLI-84's at MilitaryImages.Net
{{Authority control Infantry fighting vehicles Armoured fighting vehicles of Romania Tracked infantry fighting vehicles Romania–Soviet Union relations Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s