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'Punisher' Vehicle Tested for Security Forces

With fuel consumption of 100 liters per 100 kilometers, the Punisher won’t win any awards for fuel efficiency.

A prototype of an armored vehicle called the Punisher, being developed for Russia's security forces, presented at a testing ground outside Moscow, according to a Facebook community of weapons enthusiasts.

The test run of the "menacing" machine for the Federal Security Service took place last week at the Dmitrovsky Testing Ground, a post on facebook.com/toparsenal said.

Developed by ZiL, the vehicle has a four-wheel chassis from a Kamaz-4911 truck, weighs 12 metric tons and can accelerate to  150 kilometers per hour.

"None of the special services in the world has an off-road armored vehicle that is that fast," the Facebook post said.

The plan is to start mass-producing the vehicle next year.

The  runs on a 730-horsepower eight-cylinder engine made by the Yaroslavl Motor Plant, the same one that goes with the Kamaz-4911. The Kamaz truck is a prominent participant in the Dakar rally.

With the armored car's weight, the engine consumes an enormous amount of fuel: 100 liters per 100 kilometers.

The top speed of most modern armored vehicles is about 100 kilometers per hour, and their fuel consumption doesn't normally exceed 20 liters per 100 kilometers.

The Punisher's armor can repel 7.62-millimeter bullets.

It can seat 10 people and can give chase in cross-country terrain and marshlands.

No information about the vehicle or how it might be used was available on the FSB website.

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