Back in the day we used to cover a whole lot of mods here at GTA BOOM, however that tendency declined in recent months. There's no better way, then, to revive this trend than with an absolutely bad-ass part-tank, part-personnel carrier and all-awesome vehicle mod hailing from everyone's favourite Eurasian superpower.

Now, the guys over at ZIL R&D must be massive Mass Effect fans since this thing obviously took cues from the Mako. Named the Punisher, this "MRAP" (Mine Resistant-Ambush Protected) armoured troop transport that was recently unveiled by the Russian military sure looks like it dropped out of some near-future sci-fi action flick. Since the GTA modding scene has been all over experimental military tech in the past, it was only a matter of time before we started driving it around on the streets of Los Santos.

The mod itself is a flawless adaptation of the real-life vehicle. The author, FoxtrotDelta (because of course he has a military-inspired username), put an immense amount of effort into the mod, with a fully styled and detailed interior compartment, including the rear section for the troops, and a fully functional dashboard with speed, brake and RPM meters.

The model is crisp and highly detailed. The mod adds three variants of the vehicle to GTA 5 - a Khaki coloured one, a Black/Red one and a variant of the Black/Red vehicle sans the roof-mounted weapons platform.

As we mentioned before, the ZIL Punisher has a distinct futuristic look and a unique and iconic silhouette. Interestingly enough, large one-part windows are very rare on military vehicles due to being structural weaknesses. Undoubtedly the ones found on the Punisher are stronger than your standard run bulletproof glass, otherwise this would be a pretty ineffective ride. Seeing as most of the specs of the Punisher are classified, we won't exactly know anytime soon how this issue has been solved.

The strong angles, large windows and stylish front-section all contribute to the vibe that this vehicle would be better suited to exploring distant planets rather than performing military operations on our own. If you feel like you want to spice up you GTA 5 experience with a bit of a sci-fi touch, this mod is definitely for you. That said, military enthusiasts are guaranteed to get a kick out of it as well.

Are you impressed by this GTA rendition of the ZIL Punisher?