This is the Barys 8, the 8x8 Infantry Combat Vehicle which is the winterized variant of Paramount’s Mbombe 8. It is seen here undergoing winter trials in Kazakhstan’s extreme winter conditions.
The Barys 8 (Snow Leopard in the Kazakh language) represents the pinnacle of land system technologies and was developed to meet the increasing demand for multi-role, high mobility and mine hardened platforms.
The winter trials included day and night firing and the Barys 8x8 vehicle was equipped with a Shipunov 2A42 30 mm automatic cannon and a 7.62mm machine gun jointly manufactured by Kazakhstan’s ‘KAE’, which manufactures electro-optic defence equipment and Turkish defence company, Aselsan. The most severe winter conditions prevailed during testing, similar to conditions found in Siberia. During this period the temperature dropped to -45 Celsius with a chill factor of minus 60 Celsius, resulting in serious challenges to man and machine while conquering up to 750mm of soft snow.
