While doing time with NATO’s Kosovo peace enforcing operation (KFOR), some Ukrainian troops decided to bring a little friend to some crowd/riot control training on Camp Marechal de Lattre De Tassigny.

The training took place on 16DEC2020, and include the Iowa Army National Guard (Troop B, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment).

It is called BAT-2 путепрокладчик, it is a heavy tracked engineer vehicle equipped with a crane, a ground/road ‘ripper’, a 25 metric tons winch, and a multi-angle dozer blade. The Ukrainian/Russian word путепрокладчик translates to ‘tracklayer’ in English, even though it has nothing to do with laying track (perhaps something lost in translation as the English word ‘track’ has multiple meanings).

Bash! The old Cold War era engineer vehicle bashes not one but two small SUVs, that were being used as an impromptu road block during the riot control training.

BAT-2 was designed and built in the Soviet Union, specifically for creating and removing obstacles, entering service in 1988.  Apparently the word BAT (Бат) is a reference to engineering vehicles. The full Russian word is Батмастер, which translates to English, probably incorrectly, to BAT-master. Another name for BAT-2 (Бат-2) is Батмастер-Истра (BAT-master[?] Istra).

This isn’t the first time a Ukrainian BAT was doing time in Kosovo, in September 2013 the Ukrainian BAT-2 was used to clear a landslide on a road outside Zubin Potok.

See more Ukrainian BAT-2s, including a video, in UKRAINIAN ARMOR 2020.