While in its traveling position, it serves as additional lower frontal armor. Production models Production history BTR-60s were produced by Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (GAZ). The BTR-60P was produced between 1960 and 1963. The BTR-60PA entered production in 1963, followed by the BTR-60PA-1 in 1965. Both the BTR-60PA and BTR-60PA-1 were produced until 1966. The BTR-60PAI also entered production in 1965, but was quickly replaced in 1966 by the BTR-60PB, which had a better sighting system for the machine guns. The BTR-60PB remained in production until 1976, when it was superseded by the BTR-70. According to Western estimates, around 25,000 BTR-60s were produced by GAZ. During BTR-80 production, and therefore after BTR-60 production had ended, there was a special production run of 100 BTR-60PBs, some of which have been exported to Iraq. Service history Soviet Union An order to enter the BTR-60P into Soviet Army service was issued on 13 December 1959. However, production did not start until 1960. The first BTR-60Ps were delivered in 1960. It first entered service with the Soviet Army and later the Marine Corps. The BTR-60 entered service with the Soviet military at the time when the USSR was arming on a mass scale. In the early 1960s, it replaced the BTR-152 in the role of the basic APC. The BTR-60P was first seen by the West in 1961. The BTR-60PA entered service with the Soviet Army in 1963, the BTR-60PA-1 and BTR-60PAI entered service in 1965, the BTR-60PB in 1966, the BTR-60PZ in 1972 and the BTR-60PBK in 1975. As newer models of the BTR-60 appeared, the older ones were gradually withdrawn from front-line service. A number of old BTR-60Ps were converted into repair vehicles. The first use of Soviet BTR-60s in an armed conflict happened during the Warsaw Pact 1968 Invasion of Czechoslovakia. However, actual combat was scarce. In the 1980s, most of the BTR-60s in the Soviet army had been replaced by the BTR-70 and BTR-80; however, a large number was still operated by second-line and border troops. According to the data provided by the USSR during the signing of the CFE Treaty in 1990, there were 4,191 BTR-60s in service with the units stationed in the European part of the Soviet Union. Sino-Soviet border conflict The first real combat use of the BTR-60 took place during the Sino-Soviet border conflict on Zhenbao Island (Damansky Island at the time) in March 1969. The