The RKhM Kashalot is a Soviet chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear reconnaissance vehicle built on the MT-LB light armored tracked chassis. It carried a small crew, a 7.62 mm PKT machine gun, and reconnaissance equipment for radiation, chemical, and nonspecific biological hazards rather than a troop-carrier or direct-fire role. Ukrainian RKhM Kashalot vehicles appear in the Russia-Ukraine War through visually documented loss records, Ukrainian Support Forces training imagery from 2022, and 3rd Tank Brigade imagery reported in 2023.
Defense Express reported 3rd Tank Brigade imagery showing at least two Ukrainian RKhM Kashalot vehicles with RCBZ units during the full-scale invasion, while Oryx lists Ukrainian RKhM Kashalot vehicles among visually documented destroyed, damaged, captured, and damaged-captured losses.
Role detailsRKhM is a transliteration of the Russian chemical reconnaissance vehicle designation, so unnumbered and numbered references do not always mean the same platform. The unnumbered RKhM Kashalot is the MT-LB-based Soviet vehicle covered here. Later RKhM-4 and RKhM-6 vehicles moved the CBRN reconnaissance mission to BTR-80-derived 8x8 chassis, while RKhM-5 served the airborne branch.
MT-LB-based RKhM Kashalot, documented in Ukrainian service and Oryx loss records.
Radiation, chemical, and nonspecific biological reconnaissance with instruments and observation equipment rather than troop transport.
RKhM-4, RKhM-5, RKhM-6, RKhM-8, and RKhM-9 are related designation-family vehicles but use different chassis and source trails.
Bare RKhM/RKHM references can be confused with later numbered RKhM vehicles. This record covers the MT-LB-based RKhM Kashalot; BTR-80-based RKhM-4 and RKhM-6 vehicles are later CBRN reconnaissance branches and are treated here only as designation context.
| Variant | Configuration | Designation notes |
|---|---|---|
| RKhM-K | Command-oriented Kashalot branch | Russian-language reference material lists RKhM-K as a related command variant of the RKhM Kashalot family. Sources: Vooryuzheniye RKhM Kashalot |
Kashalot is one specific branch inside the broader RKhM chemical and CBRN reconnaissance designation family.
| Compatible item | Item type | Compatibility evidence |
|---|---|---|
 | CBRN reconnaissance designation family | The RKhM family page separates the broad designation from the MT-LB-based Kashalot vehicle and later numbered RKhM branches that use different chassis. Sources: Army Guide RKhM Kashalot, Vooryuzheniye RKhM Kashalot |
RKhM Kashalot is a mission conversion of an existing light armored tracked chassis rather than a clean-sheet vehicle body.
| Compatible item | Item type | Compatibility evidence |
|---|---|---|
 | Light armored tracked chassis | Russian reference material describes RKhM Kashalot as created on the MT-LB multipurpose light armored tractor base. Sources: Vooryuzheniye RKhM Kashalot |
Oryx's Ukrainian full-scale invasion loss list later records seven RKhM Kashalot vehicles as destroyed, damaged, captured, or damaged and captured.
Sources: Oryx Ukrainian Equipment Losses
Ukrainian Support Forces released imagery of training with an RKhM Kashalot vehicle, later mirrored on Wikimedia Commons under a CC BY 4.0 license.
Sources: Commons UA Support Forces RKhM 02, Commons UA Support Forces RKhM 01
Defense Express reported that Ukrainian 3rd Tank Brigade imagery of RCBZ units during the first 1.5 years of the full-scale invasion showed at least two MT-LB-based RKhM Kashalot vehicles.
Sources: Defense Express RKhM Kashalot 3rd Tank Brigade
