GT-SM

The GT-SM, sold to civilians as the GAZ-71, is a Soviet tracked amphibious all-terrain transporter for carrying people and cargo over snow, swamp and roadless country. The design office of the Gorky Automobile Plant developed it from the earlier GT-S (GAZ-47) under lead designer Vladimir Rogozhin, moving the engine from the front to the middle of the vehicle, between the cab and the load compartment. A V8 ZMZ-53 petrol engine replaced the weak GAZ-51 unit, the engine, clutch and gearbox were shared with the GAZ-66 truck, and the sealed welded hull let it swim by turning its tracks. It was built from 1968 at the Zavolzhye Tracked Tractor Plant, which became a division of GAZ, and served in the Arctic, Siberia, geological survey, oil work, the army and the border troops. An armoured version, the GT-MU (GAZ-73), followed, and the line continued as the modernised GAZ-3403 from 1985 and later the diesel GAZ-34039.