In the early 1980s, Yugoslavia developed a new family of 4 × 4 wheeled armoured fighting vehicles that shared the same basic 4 × 4 chassis, engine, transmission and suspension. This family is known as the BOV and is used both by the army and police.

The BOV family of vehicles was originally manufactured in Yugoslavia but as a result of the break up of Yugoslavia into a number of separate elements, the production line was eventually located in Slovenia. The manufacturer has confirmed that production of this family has now ceased and that the BOV-VP series of 4 × 4 APCs is no longer being marketed.

In mid-2005 Yugoimport - SDPG (Marketing and Development Division) of Serbia and Montenegro also stated that it was marketing the BOV family of 4 × 4 armoured vehicles including a special reconnaissance vehicle. Details of this range are given later in this entry. As of late 2007 it is understood that production of the BOV had yet to start again.

The basic APC is called the BOV-VP and carries a total of eight fully armed men plus commander and driver.

The hull of the vehicle is of all-welded steel construction that provides complete protection from small arms fire and shell splinters. It is believed that maximum armour thickness of the BOV is 8 mm. The driver sits at the front left with the commander to the right, both with a rear-opening single-piece hatch cover. The driver has a single forward-facing day periscope in the roof, which can be replaced by a passive periscope. To the immediate front and either side of the commander and driver is a bulletproof window covered by a wire mesh screen.

The eight infantry are seated four either side down the centre of the vehicle and enter and leave via a single door in each side that opens towards the front. Over the top of the troop compartment is a cupola with a two-part roof hatch that opens left and right, an externally mounted 7.62 mm M86 machine gun and a searchlight. The 7.62 mm machine gun is manned by one of the eight infantry. In either side of the troop compartment are three firing ports each with an associated vision block and there is an additional firing port to the right of the commander's windscreen. Windows are also provided in the rear of the troop compartment.

The engine compartment is at the rear of the hull with air inlet and outlet louvres on the top and an engine access door at the rear.

The vehicle is powered by a German Deutz F 6L 413 F six-cylinder diesel developing 150 hp at 2,650 rpm. It is coupled to a manual transmission with five forward gears and one reverse and a two-speed transfer case.

Steering is power-assisted on the front wheels to reduce driver fatigue and a central tyre pressure regulation system is fitted as standard, allowing pressure to be adjusted from 0.7 to 0.35 bar to suit the type of ground being crossed. Main brakes are air-hydraulic with a hand-operated parking brake. Suspension front and rear consists of leaf-type springs with telescopic shock-absorbers with 1300 - 18 PR10 cross-country tyres fitted as standard. The differential locks are controlled electropneumatically.

Standard equipment includes a Jugo-Webasto 7.5 kW heater, day and night vision equipment, intercom and radios.

Mounted either side of the hull is a bank of three forward-firing electrically operated smoke grenade dischargers and either side of the forward part of the hull is a wire mesh screen that lies alongside the hull when travelling and when required, for example in a riot situation, is swung out through 90°.

Mounted on the roof of this vehicle is a pod containing six ATGWs based on the Russian-designed Kolomna KBM 9K11 Malyutka (NATO AT-3 'Sagger') but fitted with a semi-automatic guidance system. Additional missiles are carried under armour protection within the hull. Maximum rate of fire is two missiles per minute and maximum range of the missiles is 3,000 m. Between the two pods of missiles is mounted a 7.62 mm machine gun. The BOV-1 ATGW and the two SPAAG chassis are slightly different from the APC described previously as they do not have the raised troop compartment roof.

The official designation for this version is the POLO M-83/BOV-1. In addition to the six missiles in the ready-to-launch position, there are two banks of two electrically operated smoke grenade launchers located below the missile launchers.

This is fitted with a power-operated turret armed with three 20 mm cannon, each of which has a drum-type magazine holding 60 rounds of ammunition with a total of 1,500 rounds of ammunition being carried. Maximum anti-aircraft engagement altitude is quoted as 2,000 m with effective anti-aircraft range being between 1,000 and 1,500 m. The turret is fitted with a J-171 optical sight. BOV-3 is a clear weather system only.

This is the latest SPAAG version and is fitted with a larger enclosed turret armed with twin 30 mm cannon with a cyclic rate of fire of 600 rds/gun/min. There are two three-barrelled smoke grenade dischargers mounted either side of the turret. This model was first seen in 1985. It is not believed that this was manufactured in very large numbers for the former Yugoslav Army.

This has a similar hull to the BOV-SN but has been modified for use in the ambulance role.

The company is marketing the following versions:

This is the same as the BOV-3 SPAAG as previously mentioned but can be fitted with various types of fire-and-forget surface-to-air missiles, such as Igla and Stinger. The three 20 mm cannon could be replaced by a twin Russian ZU-23 gun system.

This is the same as the BOV-1 ATGW carrier covered in Variants but the twin launcher 9K11 Malyutka (NATO AT-3 'Sagger') ATGW system could be replaced by the more recent and longer range Tula 9K113 Konkurs ATGW system (NATO AT-5 'Spandrel'), which uses the 9M113 missile.

This is the same as the BOV-VP APC previously mentioned.

This locally developed vehicle is fitted with a new turret armed with a 20 mm M55 cannon, 7.62 mm PKT machine gun and a twin launcher for the 9K11 Malyutka ATGW. As an option, the twin Malyutka launcher could be replaced by a single Konkurs ATGW system. This turret was originally developed for a full-tracked IFV/APC. As far as it is known, as of late 2007 the above three versions remained at the prototype stage.

Following a competition, in mid-2006 Slovenia selected the Finnish Patria Vehicles Armoured Modular Vehicle (AMV) to meet its future requirements and an order was subsequently placed for 135 units.