OT M-60

The OT M-60 was the first armoured personnel carrier of Yugoslav design to enter serial production. The letters OT stand for oklopni transporter, meaning armoured transporter. Development began in 1956, a first prototype followed in June 1958, and production ran from 1962 to 1979, with roughly 790 vehicles built and about 190 of them exported. It debuted in the 1962 Victory Day parade. The vehicle is a tracked, all-welded steel carrier with a crew of three and room for ten troops, who could fire their personal weapons through side ports. Its main armament was a 12.7 mm M2 heavy machine gun on the cupola, also usable against aircraft. The army judged the first version short of its requirements, so the manufacturer FAMOS produced the improved M-60P, introduced in 1970, and an anti-tank variant with two 82 mm recoilless guns followed in 1973. Most examples served in Yugoslav People's Army armoured and mechanized brigades, and some went to the Federal Police. Criticised for weak firepower and armour in the Iran-Iraq War, it suffered serious losses in the Yugoslav Wars, where it mostly hauled ammunition and evacuated wounded. The last 121 M-60P carriers left Serbian and Montenegrin service in 2004.