BA-I
| BA-I | |
|---|---|
| Type | Armoured car |
| Place of origin |  Soviet Union |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 5 tonnes |
| Length | 4.8 m |
| Width | 2.0 m |
| Height | 2.4 m |
| Crew | 3 |
| Armor | 8 mm |
Main armament | 37mm 7K gun |
Secondary armament | 2x7.62mm DT |
| Engine | GAZ-AA 40 hp (30 kW) |
| Power/weight | 8 hp/ton |
| Suspension | wheeled |
Operational range | 150 km |
| Maximum speed | 63 km/h |
The BA-I armoured car (sometimes BAI) is a Soviet six wheeled armoured car.
Background
The development of armoured cars with 3 axles began in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. The designers relied on the chassis of the American truck Ford-Timken, which began to enter the Soviet Union in 1931. By the end of the year assembly was taking place at the plant "Gudok Oktyabrya" in Kanavin, near Nizhniy Novgorod. In autumn of the same year at the Repair Base of Nº2 in Moscow armour from the armoured car BA-27 was first attached to the chassis. Following the first, they built about 20 more armoured cars, which received the designation BA-27M. Simultaneously with this activity at The Izhorskij plant, (with the same chassis), several dozen armoured cars D-13, were built, developed by N.I.Dyrenkov.
In 1932 engineer P.N.Syachentov, known for his development of the artillery, BAD-2 (armoured car-rail trolley) designed the universal armoured car, capable of moving on the railroad track. A single copy was built. However, the Red Army soldiers were not happy with the designs as indicated in their technical evaluations. They wanted the vehicles be equipped with a larger gun.
Design
In 1932 at The Izhorskij plant under the management of engineer A.D.Kuz'min the armoured car "BA-I" (I-Izhorskij) was developed. (In some publications the name of this machine is written together "BAI"). It used the same triaxial chassis of the Ford-Timken. The hull was welded together - using advanced technology for the time. There were doors in the hull and in the rear for crew evacuation.
In the cylindrical welded tower was a standard 37-mm tank gun ( with 34 rounds) and a machine gun in a ball installation. The second machine gun (DT) was placed in the frontal sheet to the right of the driver. Due to the stepped form of the roof on the hull it was possible to substantially reduce the overall height of combat vehicle.
One additional interesting innovation (an idea that was borrowed from the D-13 armoured car) was secondary wheels (between the nose gear wheels and the rear wheel-axle unit) which helped the vehicle to cross trenches and rugged terrain. Subsequently this was used from one BA to another, up to the BA-10. The BA-I was produced in small numbers in the years 1932-34 for the Red Army.
