The basic concept of mobile ballistic missiles is to make the weapons hard for the enemy to track and shield them from pre-emptive strikes. Of course, this doesn’t mean they’re not vulnerable to various kinds of attacks, including from small groups of special operations forces, terrorists, and saboteurs. So, to help guard its RS-24 Yars road-mobile, nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Russians developed a unique “counter-sabotage vehicle.” In 2013, Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces received the first prototype of this specially configured 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle, officially known as the 15Ts56M BPDM, or Typhoon-M – not to be confused in any way with the 6x6 Typhoon-K and Typhoon-U mine-resistant trucks or the submarine known in the West as as the Typhoon. Another 14 production vehicles, with what appeared to be far less extensive modifications arrived in 2016, some of which made it into the 2017 Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9, 2017.

The Typhoon-M “vehicle is designed for radio, optical and infrared surveillance and reconnaissance,” according to a January 2017 news story from the Russian state-owned news agency TASS. The BPDM is “unique owing to its surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, including its unmanned aerial vehicle, enabling it to spot the enemy 5 [kilometers] out.” The BPDM is based on the chassis and hull of the BTR-82, an improved version of the Soviet-era BTR-80. The standard armored personnel carrier variant weights 16 tons and has a top speed on improved roads of between 50 and 60 miles per hour.

Vitaly Kuzmin One of the BPDM Typhoon-Ms as seen during the 2017 Victory Day parade preparations.