OT-62 TOPAS

The OT-62 TOPAS is a series of amphibious tracked armoured personnel carriers developed jointly by the Polish People's Republic and Czechoslovakia (ČSSR).

TOPAS stands for Transportér Obrněný Pásový – "tracked armoured personnel carrier".

The received documentation was used to develop a new tracked armoured personnel carrier for Czechoslovak army and Ludowe Wojsko Polskie (LWP).

Because the standard TOPAS vehicle used by the LWP (Polish People's Army) was unarmed, the design bureau of Wojskowa Akademia Techniczna (WAT) (Military Technical Academy) designed a variant armed with a new turret placed centrally on top of the superstructure.

Another TOPAS variant was designed by Wojskowy Instytut Techniki Pancernej i Samochodowej (Military Institute of Armour and Car Technology).

It can transport up to sixteen fully equipped infantrymen who sit on benches which run across the full width of the troop compartment.

Their primary way of mounting and dismounting the APC is by climbing over the sides of the hull and going through two rectangular roof hatches.

The driver sits in the center of the front of the hull and has three vision blocks and periscopes located at the top of the sloping glacis plate.

[3] The torsion bar suspension consists of six evenly spaced large rubber-tired road wheels with the drive sprocket at the rear and the idler at the front.

The first and last road wheels have a hydraulic shock absorber and the steel tracks with a single pin have 96 chain links each when new.

[2] OT-62 TOPAS is amphibious thanks to its flat, boat-shaped hull which is watertight and ensures minimal resistance when APC is afloat, It can swim after switching on the two electric bilge pumps, erecting the trim vane which improves the stability and displacement of the vehicle in water and prevents the water from flooding the bow of the APC, and switching the driver's periscope for a swimming periscope that enables the driver to see over the trim vane.

[4] The OT-62 was exported to Bulgaria, and a number of third world countries including Angola, Egypt, India, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, and Sudan.

Czechoslovak OT-62B. Notice the small turret.
Polish TOPAS-2AP of the 7th Lusatian Landing Division.
Polish WPT-TOPAS of the 7th Lusatian Landing Division.
Israeli-modified ex-Syrian or ex-Egyptian OT-62A TOPAS APC in Yad la-Shiryon Museum, Israel, 2005.
Map of OT-62 TOPAS operators in blue with former operators in red