- Category
- Latest news
The Strange Journey of Ukraine’s BAU-23×2 Weapon System, From 1990s Prototype to Rwanda’s Army
- Authors
![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
The appearance of Ukrainian-made BAU-23×2 combat modules on Rwandan Ratel armored personnel carriers points to little-known projects and underreported arms export deals from Ukraine’s defense industry in the 2000s, Defense Express has noted in a September 2 analysis.
According to photographs and video circulating online, Rwandan forces have been using Ratels fitted with BAU-23×2 turrets for years.
Some footage dates back as far as 2008, while the most recent clips were recorded in August 2025, Defense Express reported.
Pictures showing modified south african made Ratel infantry fighting vehicles with ukrainian made BAU-23x2 remote controlled weapon stations of the Rwandan 🇷🇼 military in northern Mozambique. pic.twitter.com/AEOgmEklci
— Hammer Of War (@HammerOfWar5) August 30, 2025
The BAU-23×2 was originally developed in the 1990s by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine-Building Design Bureau (KMDB). It mounted twin 2A7M cannons—an improved variant of the anti-aircraft guns used on the Soviet ZSU-23-4 Shilka—with an effective range of 2,000 meters and a rate of fire of up to 850 rounds per minute.
Defense Express recalled that the BAU-23×2 was produced only in limited numbers, specifically for an export contract supplying 50 BTR-94s to Jordan.
According to Defense Express, after the fall of Saddam Hussein, many of those vehicles were transferred to Iraq, where the turrets were later seen on HMMWVs used by local police forces.
One explanation, the outlet suggested, is that Rwanda might have acquired the turrets from Iraq and mounted them on its Ratels, which it had received from South Africa in 2007. But Defense Express stressed the situation is more complicated.
KMDB itself lists the Ratel as one of the tested platforms for the BAU-23×2, and archived web pages from as early as 2005 show photos of a South African Ratel with the Ukrainian turret.
This suggests that test integration may have taken place years before Rwanda obtained the vehicles—raising the possibility that some Ratels were equipped with BAU-23×2 modules before being delivered to Rwanda.
While no definitive evidence has surfaced, Defense Express argued that the timeline makes this scenario plausible, offering a rare glimpse into an obscure chapter of Ukraine’s defense exports.
Outside of these isolated cases, the BAU-23×2 never achieved major commercial success. It was marketed for use on platforms such as the BRDM-2 and BTR-4, but faced drawbacks, including limited visibility for the gunner.
Pictures of a modified south african made Ratel infantry fighting vehicle with a ukrainian made BAU-23x2 remote controlled weapon station of the Rwandan 🇷🇼 military contingent in northern Mozambique. pic.twitter.com/sV75QqlkH5
— Hammer Of War (@HammerOfWar5) November 3, 2021
Still, Defense Express emphasized that this was not the end of the story. Ukraine’s defense industry went on to develop more advanced combat modules such as the BM-7 “Parus” and BM-3M “Shturm”, which remain in service on modernized and new armored vehicles today.
Earlier, Ukrainian forces began testing the Mbombe 6, a six-wheeled armored fighting vehicle developed by South Africa’s Paramount Group.
-6c7b568bf1f65853b7afd9dc1c3ca1fe.jpeg)
