The BA-64 was a Soviet four-wheeled armoured scout car. Built on the chassis of a GAZ-64 or GAZ-67 jeep, it incorporated a hull loosely modeled after that of the Sd.Kfz. 221. The BA-64 was developed between July and November 1941 to replace the BA-20 then in service with armoured car units of the Red Army. Cheap and exceptionally reliable, it would later become the most common Soviet wheeled armoured fighting vehicle to enter service during World War II, with over 9,000 being manufactured before production ended.
BA-64B armoured car in Nizhniy Novgorod Kremlin, Russia.
Early BA-64
BA-64 at the UMMC Museum
BA-64B at the Bundeswehr Military History Museum, Dresden.
A scout car is a light wheeled armored military vehicle, purpose-built and used for passive reconnaissance. Scout cars are either unarmed or lightly armed for self-defense, and do not carry large caliber weapons systems. This differentiates them from other reconnaissance vehicles and wheeled armoured fighting vehicles that may fulfill a similar mission but also possess much heavier armament. Scout cars are designed for carrying out observation and remaining undetected, while avoiding contact with the enemy. Armies which adopted the concept were likelier to place an emphasis on reconnaissance by stealth, unlike others which preferred more heavily armoured reconnaissance vehicles, designed to fight to obtain information if necessary.
A Soviet BRDM-2, the most common modern scout car.
Daimler Ferret
BRDM-1
EE-3 Jararacas