The Russians turned the "Niva" into an armored vehicle "Ulan": what is the idea of ​​​​the solution (photo)

One of the key requirements of the modern battlefield was the presence of mass, cheap and maneuverable vehicles capable of operating in the so-called kill zone - a strip up to 10-15 kilometers deep, which is fired by artillery and drones. Such equipment is necessary to perform various tasks, in particular, to overturn infantry and evacuate the wounded. And they often have to be performed where traditional armored vehicles become vulnerable.

At the same time, volunteer deliveries of civilian pickups and self-made "buggies" based on the Zhiguli base cannot close the problem - neither in terms of volume nor resource. In order to partially solve the problem of the lack of such equipment, at the turn of 2023-2024, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation purchased about 2,000 Chinese Aodes Desertcross 1000-3 all-terrain vehicles.

These are civilian three-seater cars, outwardly similar to a hybrid of a golf cart and a light "buggy". These all-terrain vehicles quickly filled the niche of operational delivery of cargo and wounded, but soon the question of import substitution arose. This is how the idea to create similar equipment on a domestic basis appeared. As a result, in the summer of 2024, at the "Army-2024" forum, the Ulan all-terrain vehicle, assembled mainly from Russian-made components, was shown for the first time.

"Ulan" is built on Niva units, including front and rear axles, engine and transmission. For comparison, the Chinese Desertcross has a smaller engine (1 liter), but has the same power — 87 hp. at 5500 rpm, with a torque of 101 Nm and a transmission with a variator. But the main weak point of the Russian "clone" is the ground clearance of 180 mm, which is much worse than that of the Desertcross (310 mm). This is critical for a machine designed for movement in broken positions and ravines.

Another feature is that the car can transport up to two wounded on a stretcher, although for this you have to fix the rear board in the folded position, otherwise the stretcher will not fit. There are also mounts for two Pecheneg machine guns and even a power outlet for a low-power EW station. The first Uhlan were spotted at the front already in August 2025. And as of mid-October, according to the Oryx visual database, at least 13 destroyed machines of this type have been recorded.

In October, there were reports of a new version - "Ulan-2", created on the basis of the all-wheel drive "Sable" chassis. The machine is conceptually similar to the first model, but larger and designed, probably, to carry more cargo or fighters. So far, there is no information about the equipment, but the first loss of "Ulan-2" on the southern part of the front has already been confirmed.