1/ Time to review Russian Armor Repair Plants (BTRZs)! Been a long time since the last time we checked them, and they’re crucial to the Russian war machine. 
2/ Before starting, first I recommend watching @CovertCabal's video on BTRZs:
3/ Here you have the numbers we arrived at:
4/ That said, BTRZs are in charge of repairing Russian stored armored vehicles. While earlier in the war most AFVs taken from storage bases were in good enough condition to be sent to the front without refurbishment, that’s not the case anymore.
5/ So BTRZs are needed to repair and/or modernize these AFVs to be able to put them back in service and send them to Ukraine to replenish losses.
6/ As always, I want to stress that not every vehicle refurbished meant there was another one lost in combat. The Russian army expanded massively after November 2022.
7/ Before analyzing BTRZs, I also want to make some clarifications. Since these plants repair vehicles, even those hulls that wouldn’t be counted in storage bases are taken into account here. Only clearly scrapped ones are discarded from the count.
8/ BTRZs not only refurbish stored AFVs, they also repair battle-damaged AFVs. So it’s not 1:1 to storage bases figures regarding demothballed equipment.
https://x.com/WillKnowler/status/1915464026798145776
9/ Which is why lately we're increasingly seen videos of damaged equipment trainloads within Russia, as less well-preserved AFVs remain to be refurbished and brought back to service.
https://x.com/WillKnowler/status/1928432812190798030
10/ While BTRZs are the main refurbishment facilities, there many other smaller facilities, like minor MERSBs and improvised facilities like the one near Novostepove (recently abandoned due to Ukrainian strikes on Crimea):
11/ And there are also other facilities specialized in other types of equipment, like the 75th Arsenal for AA equipment:
https://x.com/Ath3neN0ctu4/status/1796934585000902971
12/ For this series of threads, we’ll also analyze actual manufacturing plants for each specific type of equipment.
https://x.com/Rhaescuporis/status/1830580497153696027
13/ With all that said, for this first thread we’ll take a look at non-BMP and non-MBT AFVs: BTR-50/60/70/80s, BRDM-2s, MT-LBs/us and BMDs.
14/ So first of all, the most interesting one is the 81st BTRZ at Armavir, focused on repairing and modernizing BTR-70/80s (there are also a few BRDM-2s barely touched):
15/ This BTRZ is very busy. You can see how numbers fluctuated over the war (38 in 2021, 56 in 2022, 91 in 2023 and 138 in 2024, pics only from the main area f the 81st):
16/ It’s probably not just stored BTR-70/80s, but also damaged BTRs from Ukraine being repaired here, considering how relatively close it is to the frontline:
17/ But more importantly, recently we discovered that this plant also modernized old BTR-70s to BTR-70Ms and maybe even up to BTR-80/82 standard, which may also explain why some many BTR-70s are gone from storage bases, yet barely any destroyed in Ukraine:
https://x.com/Rhaescuporis/status/1913589678684487732
18/ In light of these new evidence and visual proof of refurbishment rate, I estimate the 81st BTRZ refurbishes up to 200 BTR-70/80/82s per year since 2023.
19/ Then there’s also Armazas, the actual BTR-80/82 manufacturer.
20/ Actual numbers are unclear, but clearly the production rate is pretty high, considering how many are lost in Ukraine and how quickly they’re replenished:
https://x.com/OSINTua/status/1891132502976167972
21/ All the types of AFVs discussed in this thread, unlike MBTs and BMPs, lack hard evidence regarding production figures, but I think Armazas produces +500 BTR-82s per year.
https://x.com/WillKnowler/status/1874519674521813418
22/ In the case of Armazas itself, only this increasing pile of hulls might point to either increasing production rate or that the plant also does repairs to damaged BTRs (besides actual losses in combat obviously):
23/ Next thing we’ll focus on is the 144th BTRZ. This one repairs BMP-2s, but mainly BMD-2s (maybe BTR-Ds as well), being the only BTRZ that refurbishes older BMDs:
24/ As with the 81st, the refurbishment rate must be high and saw a spike not so long ago, during 2023/24 (91 in 2021, 96 in 2022, 273 in 2023 and 128 in 2024):
25/ It times perfectly with the rate at which BMDs were taken from storage bases earlier in the war, and has sincle slowed down notably:
https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1873341700355346569
26/ This explains why for the past year stored BMD-2s barely dropped, while there were many BMD-2 losses (mainly in Kursk):
https://x.com/OSINTua/status/1892619689144033358
27/ Based on recent losses and images from the 144th, it doesn’t look like they’ll spike again unless the remaining stored BMDs are finally taken from their respective storage bases. I estimate they refurbish up to 100-150 BMD-2s/BTR-Ds per year.
28/ Only BMD-4Ms and BTR-MDMs are still being manufactured, and they seem to be produced at high rate in the case of BMD-4Ms (not a surprise, Kurgan seems to be the most efficient Russian armor producer, as with BMP-3s):
https://x.com/Rhaescuporis/status/1920480201147924616
29/ Usually for each monthly batch of 30 BMP-3s, Kurganmashzavod also delivers a batch of 8-10 BMD-4M. So probably 100-120 BMD-4Ms produced per year:
https://x.com/Rhaescuporis/status/1843718948665380901
30/ BTR-MDM are very rarely seen and destroyed in Ukraine, and it seems they're produced in very low numbers (understandably so). Probably 20-30 per year, at most.
https://x.com/Rhaescuporis/status/1852792567898984556
31/ Besides these plants, there’s not a lot more to talk about regarding these mislacenous AFVs at BTRZs. The main BTRZ for MT-LBs is the 560th, were they mostly looked like trash and some are gone (153 in 2021, 120 in 2024):
32/ Muromteplovoz is the main plant that refurbishes MT-LBs/MT-LBus and (if i'm not mistaken) BTR-60s and there barely seems to be any movement there. All the scrapped hulls parked outside for years remain there:
33/ This is most likely due to MT-LB/us being s simple vehicles they can be repaired pretty quickly and cheaply at their own storage bases, which explain why most are gone from storage for a long time by now.
https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1934232830080336241
34/ Therefore, I don't think this plants refurbishes more than 100-150 MT-LB/MT-LBu/BTR-60s per year (particularly vague estimate).
https://x.com/OSINTNic/status/1668824302345437185
35/ Same thing happened to old BTR-60/70s at the 61st BTRZ near Saint Petersburg (61 in 2021, 15 in 2024):
36/ On the other hand, BRDM-2s are mostly untouched anywhere but the 103rd BTRZ, mainly focused on T-62 refurbishment and repair. Considering how few are gone from storage, they probably mostly refurbished them here up to the BRDM-2M uparmored variant.
https://x.com/RALee85/status/1615471647699644417
37/ We mostly see them being used in the rear, and barely any lost in combat. Refurbishment and modernization rate is surely minimal, I put it at 25-50 per year.
38/ And as for BTR-50s, there were barely a few dozens in all sites together. We occasionally saw one or two being refurbished, but that’s all. The rest are unmoved and the BTR-50 is a species on its way to extinction.
https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/1766735074198700461
39/ So, to summarize this thread: this are my estimates regarding production and refurbishment (total numbers of all kinds and conclusions will be published once this series of threads is finished):
40/ As always, kudos to all those who helped, specially to @WillKnowler, @CovertCabal, @T_90AK (most pictures can be found on his account), @Rhaescuporis, @HighMarsed, @waffentraeger, @Ath3neN0ctu4 and many more!
@WillKnowler @CovertCabal @T_90AK @Rhaescuporis @HighMarsed @waffentraeger @Ath3neN0ctu4 41/ See you in the next BTRZ thread!
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