Armored Cars: SDPR BOV M16 Milosh

One of the brightest sparks in the European arms industry today just made a bet on a new armored car. As surplus MRAPs are spilling out of the Middle East and Africa in torrential volumes, manufacturers are turning to lighter vehicles with diverse capabilities. The Tawazun Group’s Nimr is a good example of this trend.

With Serbia’s arms industry on a rebound state-owned defense exporter Yugoimport SDPR is dipping its toes in the same tactical vehicle whirlpool so many companies are floating in. The Milosh was debuted at IDEX 2017 in Abu Dhabi. This is intentional because the region’s chronic security problems makes the GCC countries eager customers for armored cars.

The Milosh is recognizable for its enormous grille underneath a sloping hood. Its features are best described as an amalgam of ideas about modern warfare. It’s a belief that dictates personnel carriers on wheels are superior in urban environments. That soldiers can and must fight from within vehicles. The same line of thought champions automation and countermeasures as antidotes to hostile environments.

The Milosh, however, is familiar. It appears to share a secret kinship with the Otokar Cobra and the Gaz Tigr; a multirole workhorse for ground forces. But its true nature is not that great a mystery. Utilizing a welded hull and body on an SUV chassis, the Milosh runs on a Cummins ISB 300 diesel engine producing 300 horsepower. Its gearbox is an Allison 3500SP with automatic transmission. It supports an independent suspension system and uses runflat tires from Tyron International. Its independent suspension system and drive line are made by Timoney Technologies.

These details reveal the Milosh is emblematic of its type. A tactical armored car designed for carrying soldiers to their objective and made functional by a variety of proven foreign parts.

The basic variant of the Milosh that was unveiled in IDEX 2017 fits three crew and five passengers. It’s armed with a remote weapon station mounting a 12.7mm machine gun. According to Yugoimport SDPR the Milosh is able to support different weapon systems, including an ATGM module, an SAM module, a tandem machine gun and grenade launcher turret, or non-lethal detection equipment for recon and surveillance tasks.

The Milosh’s ballistic protection is alleged to be STANAG compliant. The cab of the vehicle is armored to STANAG III while its sides are at STANAG II and the hull can resist mine blasts. The kinds of bells and whistles for its interior–thermal imaging cameras, sniper detection sensors, and CBRNe filters–are unspecified although these are available to customers.

As a Serbian product, the Milosh has three great markets awaiting it. These are Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Yet because of its newness only time will tell where it first makes a splash.