Ukrspecexport, Ukraine’s military import/export agency, has signed a joint venture agreement with Myanmar for the construction of an armoured vehicle assembly plant.

According to the current information, the Ukrainian side has already begun delivery equipment, special machines and started to build a factory.

Ukraine’s partner delivery to Myanmar includes a production line to assemble the BTR-4U wheeled 8×8 armored personnel carrier, 2S1U self-propelled howitzer based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, according to people familiar with the talks.

The new plant is due to start production in the two half of 2020.

Ukrainian and Myanmar officials declined to comment on that deal, but the “Great Export Import” company, that provides access to a searchable database of import-export trade of 50 countries across five continents, confirmed delivery of fist part of future assembly plant.

For reference, the BTR-4 is an 8×8 wheeled armoured personnel carrier (APC) designed in Ukraine by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau (SOE KMDB) for Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The BTR-4 is a more flexible design than the older BTR-70/80s or Chinese WZ-551 as the changed layout makes it easier to adapt the vehicle to specialized roles. The vehicle can be armed according to customer requirements. The basis APC is armed with the turret which is armed with one 30mm automatic cannon, 7.62mm coaxial machine-gun, up to four Baryer anti-tank missiles (two on each side of the turret), and one 30mm automatic grenade launcher (fitted in place of the AT missiles on one left-hand side of the turret).

As to 2S1, this is 122 mm self-propelled howitzer began. The 2S1 Gvosdika is fitted with a D-32 122 mm rifled howitzer. It is a modified variant of the D-30 towed howitzer. It is fitted with a load assisting system. Maximum rate of fire is 4-5 rounds per minute.