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TL;DR: A rare 2-axle example of the BA-10 built on the GAZ-AA truck instead of the GAZ-AAA truck.
History:
Ever since their successful trial-by-fire in the First World War, armored cars have been a mainstay in any modern military. Their ability to move quickly while still retaining the possibility of carrying heavy armaments solidified them as valuable vehicles for various supporting roles. This led to their explosive development post-WWI, with most major nations dumping tons of time and money into research and development. On the Soviet front, this effort resulted in the BA-I and BA-27 designs, both based on preexisting military truck chassis to allow for easier construction and mass production. A side effect of this design choice was a very basic form of modularity. Since the armored shells were produced separately from the chassis, it was relatively easy to swap out and/or upgrade the chassis to a stronger one without having to make many major modifications to the armored shell, which would complicate production. For example, the BA-27 was accepted into service on a Soviet-built Fiat 15 chassis but exited service built on the Ford Model AA truck. This basic level of modularity would remain a part of Soviet heavy armored car development going forward. The BA-I would go on to be developed into the BA-3, which would enter service on a Ford Model AA modified to include a third axle, called the Ford-Timken, and exit service on a fully Soviet version of the same chassis, called the GAZ-AAA. This chassis would be the standard going forward into the BA-6 and BA-10, the latter of these two would become the most produced pre-1941 Soviet heavy armored car, seeing over 3000 examples produced and extensive service. With the 1941 German invasion came the BA-10s true trial-by-fire. Unfortunately, they would not perform too well in early encounters German armor and personnel, leading to a number of them being lost in combat and/or captured by the Germans. This combined with the increased demand of GAZ-AAA trucks in their standard configuration led to a severe shortage of GAZ-AAA chassis for further BA-10 production and eventually the BA-10’s removal from frontline service. That being said, there were still a few BA-10 armored shells left in plant No. 189 in Leningrad and the desperate situation of the war demanded that they be used since the BA-10 still had its uses away from the front. Although the BA-10 had been standardized on the GAZ-AAA throughout its entire production run, it still retained that very basic modularity of its predecessors. Plant No. 189 was aware of this and would mount at least 6 of their remaining BA-10 shells onto the GAZ-AA truck, the two-axle version of the GAZ-AAA, as well as the ZiS-5 two axle truck, although no images of the latter appear to have exist. This worked but left a noticeable gap in the wheel-well where another axle would be. One of these two-axle BA-10s would be put to use as a mobile checkpoint and photographed on the 1st Byelorussian Front in the fall of 1944.
Place In War Thunder:
The BA-11, while not the best early armored car, is very well liked among those who have it due to it offering an experience not found in the tech tree. Although the BA-11’s very limited production run of only 17 vehicles led to it being a premium event vehicle in War Thunder, there’s a still quite a few early Soviet armored cars that could see a place in the tech tree, with the BA-10 being the most obvious and likely due to its service history and production run. The two-axled BA-10 could act as a perfect premium counterpart to a tech tree BA-10, providing an example of a mass produced family while at the same time not locking the main member behind a paywall. It would also perform slightly different from the main BA-10, having worse overall maneuverability due to its 4-wheeled configuration. It also would not be capable of fitting the optional tracks found on the BA series if the feature was ever implemented. Other than that, it would perform very similarly to the BA-11 and eventual BA-10, acting as a unique backup to either of them. As previously stated, the two-axled BA-10 doesn’t have a place in the tech tree due to its more improvised nature and very limited “production run” and thus should be added in a more limited capacity. How limited is ultimately up to Gaijin, however, it would obviously be most preferable to see as a standard premium vehicle. Maybe even as part of one of Gaijin’s new triple-vehicle-packs. That being said, it would also be perfect as an event vehicle or low-tier battlepass reward if those are brought back.
Specifications:
Armament: 45mm 20-K cannon and 2x 7.62mm MGs
Dimensions: 4.65m, 2.00m, 2.20m (L,W,H)
Weight: 5100~kg
Armor: 6-15mm
Crew: 4
Ammunition: Same as BA-11 in-game.
Speed: 50~kph
Horsepower: 50hp
Pictures:
Front View:Artistic Rendition:Line Drawing:
Sources:
BA-10 - Wikipedia
Первые бронеавтомобили: с чего всё начиналось
Soviet BA-10 armoured car (1939)
https://war-book.ru/ba-10-broneavtomobil-sssr/
WarWheels.Net- BA-6M, BA-10A & BA-10M Heavy Armored Car Index
BA-10 (2 axle) armored carFrontovaya Illustratsiya 4/2005 by M. Kolomiets (Source of artistic rendition)