The development of the Taifun program began in 2009 and aimed to achieve a homogenous family of 4×4, 6×6 and 8×8 armoured vehicles mainly built by Kamaz and Ural companies. The first Taifun.K were seen publicly during the 2014 Victory Day’s parade.The Taifun.K is built on a Kamaz 6396 armoured chassis in which an armoured cabin has been mounted on the front followed by a rear armoured compartment in which up to 16 equipped soldiers can be carried. It has NBC protection through a FVUA-100A filtering system and also has air conditioning systems in the cab as well as in the troop compartment.The vehicle offers good protection to the occupants thanks to its composite body armour composed by steel and ceramic plates. The cab’s bulletproof glasses are enormously resistant, they have been developed by the firm Magistral Ltd. and have a thickness of almost 13cm, enough to hold 7.62mm armour-piercing rounds.Taifun.K can develop many missions such as troop transport, ambulance, command post, reconnaissance, fire support or NBC reconnaissance among others. There are specific mission modules for each one, which gives an excellent multirole capability.Troops can enter and exit the vehicle normally through a back door but also have 6 evacuation roof hatches to do it in case of need. The troop carrier model has two bullet-proof windows on the sides although it does not have firing ports.The engine compartment is located behind the cab and houses a 450hp turbocharged diesel engine, which gives excellent mobility at the vehicle, with a service weight of 24 tonnes. It could reach more than 100km/h on roads and a maximum range of more than 1,000km.The tires are bulletproof and have special diffusers that deflect the blast of a mine explosion. The Taifun.K has a central tyre inflation system to regulate the pressure depending the terrain and the ground clearance can be adjusted by means of its adjustable hydropneumatic suspension.Although the troop carrier version usually does not carry weapons, a remote-controlled light machine gun or a 30mm automatic grenade launcher can be installed. The vehicle has the GALS-D1M system that allows to know the vehicle’s general condition in addition to several cameras to check the external status and the troops compartment.
