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BMP-2
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The BMP-2 — Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty (?????? ?????? ??????, infantry combat vehicle) — is a second-generation, amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s, following the BMP-1 of the 1960s.
et Union decided to produce an updated and improved version of the BMP.
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The BMP-2 — Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty (?????? ?????? ??????, infantry combat vehicle) — is a second-generation, amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s, following the BMP-1 of the 1960s.
Production history
Development
Soviet Union decided to produce an updated and improved version of the BMP. In 1972 work got underway to develop an improved version of the BMP-1. An experimental prototype, the Ob'yekt 680 was produced, based on observations of the new German Marder vehicle. Ob'yekt 680 had a new two-man turret armed with a Shipunov 2A42 30 mm autocannon and a secondary 7.62 mm mounted in a barbette similar to the Marder.
However the BMP-1 was to be tested in combat in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War. Egypt received its first batch of 80 BMP-1s between July and August 1973. A second batch of 150 vehicles between August and September. Syria had received between 150 and 170 by the start of the war, of which about 100 were committed to the front line. Israeli forces captured or destroyed 40 to 60 Egyptian BMPs and 50 to 60 Syrian BMPs, mechanical problems accounting for a large number of the Syrian losses.
The BMP proved vulnerable to .50 calibre machine gun fire in the sides and rear, and to infantry-based 106 mm recoilless rifles. The need to keep some of the roof hatches open to prevent the vehicle from overheating meant that the vehicle could be disabled by machinegun fire from infantry on higher ground shooting into open hatches. The 73 mm gun proved inaccurate beyond 500 meters, and the AT-3 Sagger missile could not be guided effectively from the confines of the turret. The BMP-1's low profile means that it is difficult for the BMP to fire over the heads of the advancing infantry it was supporting, since the barrel is less than six feet off the ground.
On the positive side, the vehicle was praised for being fast and agile. Its low ground pressure enabled it to navigate the northern Kantara salt marshes where other vehicles would have bogged down. Its ability to swim proved useful: it was used in the first wave of canal crossings by the Egyptians.
Several Soviet technical teams were sent to Syria in the wake of the war to gather information. These lessons combined with observations of western AFV developments resulting in a replacement program for the original BMP in 1974. The first product of this program was the BMP-1P upgrade intended as a stopgap to address the most serious problems with the existing design. Smoke grenade launchers were added to the rear of the turret and the manually guided AT-3 Sagger missile system was replaced with the semi-automatically guided AT-4 Spigot and AT-5 Spandrel system. The new missiles were somewhat difficult to use since the gunner had to actually stand out on the roof to use the weapons, exposing himself to hostile fire. The BMP-1P was in production by the late 1970s and existing BMP-1s were gradually upgraded to the standard during the 1980s.
A development program to completely address the short comings of the BMP was started at the same time resulting in four prototypes, all of which had two man turrets.
- Ob'yekt 675 from Kurgan - BMP-1 hull, armed with a 2A42 30 mm autocannon. This eventually became the BMP-2.
- Ob'yekt 681 from Kurgan - BMP-1 hull, armed with a lengthened 73 mm gun.
- Ob'yekt 768 from Chelyabinsk - Lengthened hull with 7 road wheels and armed with a lengthened 73 mm gun.
- Ob'yekt 769 from Chelyabinsk - Lengthened hull with 7 road wheels and armed with a 2A42 30 mm autocannon.
The commander was moved inside the turret on all of the prototypes because of the dead zone created by the infra-red searchlight when he was seated in the hull, additionally the commanders view to the rear was blocked by the turret. The new two man turret took up much more space in the hull than the original one man turret resulting in a smaller crew area. A lengthen versioned of the original 73 mm gun was considered, but after some debate the 30 mm gun was selected for the following reasons:
- It offered higher maximum elevation - a critical factor in Afganistan, where the limited elevation of the 73 mm gun caused problems.
- A high velocity gun had better maximum range (2000 - 4000 meters) that would allow the BMPs to support the tanks spearheading any assault.
- It also offered a useful anti-helicopter capability.
- The 73 mm gun had been mounted on the older BMP-1 to retain anti-tank capability as a basic doctrine design specification. With the introduction of Chobham armour on NATO tanks, the 73 mm gun became ineffectual and obsolete, and given a lack of a suitable gun design as a replacement in this role at the time, a 30 mm gun was introduced as a replacement, notably with an anti-helicopter role as a new threat emergent since the Vietnam War. (Perrett 1987:77) The anti-tank capability was however retained in the BMP-2 with the continued use of anti-tank guided missiles. The new vehicles now allowed the gunner to fire 9K111 Fagot (AT-4) and 9M113 Konkurs (AT-5) missiles from within the protection of the turret.
Eventually the Ob'yekt 675 was selected to become the BMP-2, probably because the a new hull design would have required extensive retooling at BMP production plants.
Description
The BMP-2 is broadly similar to the BMP-1. The most significant changes are:
- Main armament changed to 30 mm 2A42 autocannon and AT-5 Spandrel missile.
- The commander now sits with the gunner in an enlarged turret.
- Seven troops are carried instead of eight.
- Two rear infantry roof hatches instead of four.
- Slightly improved armour.
The BMP-1 and BMP-2 share the same chassis and have almost identical road performance. (The BMP-2 is heavier but also has a more powerful engine to compensate)
The driver sits in the front left of the vehicle, with the engine in a separate compartment to his right. The driver has his own entry hatch above him, with three day periscopes. The centre TNPO-170A periscope can be replaced with either a TNPO-350B extended periscope for amphibious operation or a TVNE-1PA night vision scope. An infantry man sits immediately behind the driver, and has a firing port and vision block. TNPO-170A periscopes are used throughout the vehicle and are electrically heated.
In the centre of the vehicle is the welded steel turret which seats the commander and gunner, both of whom have hatches. The commander sits to the right and has three day vision periscopes, a 1PZ-3 day-sight designed for anti-aircraft use with 1x, 2x and 4x magnification, an OU-3GA2 infra-red searchlight, a TNP-165A designator and a TKN-3B binocular sight with x4.75 day magnification and x4 night-sight magnification.
The gunner sits to the commanders left and has a smaller rectangular hatch with a rearward facing day periscope, additionally there are three other day periscopes facing forward and left. The gunners has a BPK-1-42 binocular sight with a moon/starlight vision range of 650 meters or 350 meters using the infra-red searchlight, and a TNPT-1 designator. A FG-126 infra-red searchlight is mounted coaxially to the 30 mm cannon.
The main armament is a stabilized 30 mm 2A42 autocannon with dual ammunition feeds which provide a choice of 3UBR6 AP-T and 3UOR6 HE-T / 3UOF8 HE-I ammunition. The gun has a selectable rate of fire, either slow at 200 to 300 rounds per minute or fast at 550 rounds per minute. The stabilisation provides reasonable accuracy up to a speed of about 35 kilometres per hour.
The AP-T ammunition can penetrate 15 millimetres of armour at sixty degrees at 1,500 meters, while a new APDS-T tungsten round can penetrate 25 millimetres at the same distance. A typical ammunition load is 160 rounds of AP ammunition and 340 rounds of HE ammunition. The ammunition sits in two trays located on the turret floor rear. The gun can be fired from either the commander or the gunners station.
The commander's 1PZ-3 sight is specifically designed for anti-aircraft operation and combined with the high maximum elevation of 74 degrees, it allows the 30 mm cannon to be used effectively against helicopters and slow flying aircraft. The turret traverse and elevation are powered and it can traverse 360 degrees in 10.28 seconds and elevate through 74 degrees in 12.33 seconds.
Reloading the BMP-2's 30 mm cannon can be somewhat problematic, and can take up to two hours, even if the ammunition is prepared. Additionally the cannon is normally only used on the slow rate of fire, otherwise fumes from the weapon would build up in the turret faster than the extractor fan can remove them.
The effective range of the 30 mm cannon is up to 1500 metres against armor, 2500 metres against ground targets, and 3,000 metres against air targets.
A coaxial 7.62 mm PKT machine gun is mounted to the left of the 30 mm cannon, and 2,000 rounds of ammunition are carried for it. On the roof of the turret is an ATGM launcher, on Russian vehicles this fires AT-5 Spandrel missiles, but on export models it normally fires AT-4 Spigot missiles. A ground mount for the missile is also carried, allowing it to be used away from the vehicle. The missiles are a substantial improvement on the AT-3 Sagger missiles used on the BMP-1, in both range and accuracy.
Behind the turret is the troop compartment which holds six troops, the seventh sits just behind the driver. The troops sit back to back, along the centre of the vehicle. Down each side of the compartment are three firing ports with periscopes. Access to the compartment is by the two rear doors, which also hold fuel tanks, both doors have integral periscopes and the left door has a firing port.
In addition to the main weapons it can carry a man portable surface to air missile launcher and two missiles, and an RPG launcher and five rounds. The vehicle is fitted with a PAZ overpressure NBC system and fire suppression system, and carries a GPK-59 gyrocompass.
The BMP-2's armour is broadly similar to the original BMP-1. Its frontal and side armour is no longer effective against the most recent .50-calibre SLAP [Sabotted light anti-armour projectile] and the 25 mm cannon of the US M2 Bradley MICV or the British GKN Warrior IFV 30 RARDEN. Like the BMP-1, the rear doors of the BMP-2 are filled with diesel fuel offering some risk from incendiary rounds. These additional fuel tanks are shut off from the fuel system when in combat.
The BMP-2 is amphibious with little preparation, using hydrodynamic fairings to convert track momentum into water jets. Peacetime regulations require that any BMPs entering water must have a working radio set, since its bearings are not airtight and it can be carried away by currents in case of loss of engine power (the vehicle lacks an anchor).
Protection issues
The original BMP-1 had a significant shortcoming in its protection scheme, which only became obvious during the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. The one-man-turret fighting vehicle seated its driver and commander in tandem layout, in the front-left side of the hull alongside the diesel engine. When a BMP-1 hit the obsolete kind of "tilt-rod" antitank landmine, its steeply sloped lower front glacis armour plate allowed the mine's arming rod to tilt with little resistance until the maximum deflection was reached with the mine already well under the chassis. When it subsequently detonated, the blast usually killed both the driver and the vehicle commander, causing a significant loss of specialist personnel in the Soviet Red Army.
This shortcoming was addressed in the BMP-2 design, where the tank commander shares the well-armoured two-man turret with the gunner. The driver's station has been enlarged and he is provided with an armoured driver's seat, in addition to extra belly-armour in the lower front.
The problem most often cited by western analysts is the design of the main fuel tanks. Due to the low profile of the vehicle the designers had to place the fuel tanks between the two rows of outward-facing passenger seats, in other words, the infantry passengers actually sit on the bulk of the vehicle fuel storage, with extra fuel carried in the hollow rear doors. As the rear doors are weakly armoured, a hit with any kind of incendiary round will send burning fuel into the crew compartment, resulting in horrendous injuries and painful death to the occupants trapped inside the burning vehicle and a possible explosion. However the rear door tanks are not always filled as they are meant to increase road travel range of the vehicle, and are almost always empty when the BMP goes into combat. In intense war areas where the BMP sees action relatively often and relatively near to its base of operation, it is a practice not to fill them at all as a rule, and to add fuel to the internal tanks from other sources if the need arises. That however also means that an attack conducted behind enemy lines in a relatively safe area would have much more effect. Nonetheless, the inner fuel tanks (which are used) are more vulnerable than those of many modern IFVs - the weak armor means powerful shots (like RPGs in Chechnya and Afghanistan) can pierce both the outside vehicle armor and the inner tank armor.
Another inherent flaw of the BMP-1 was in its troop seating scheme. In order to allow the infantrymen use their assault rifles while on the move, firing ports were installed in the hull and soldiers were seated on two back-to-back benches, mounted along the centreline of the fighting compartment. In case the BMP rolled over a more advanced type of magnetic anti-tank mine, the resulting explosion could kill the entire complement of infantrymen. (In many other troop carriers, soldiers are seated on separate benches against the hull sides. Although this layout prohibits the use of infantry weapons from inside the fighting compartment, in most cases of mine explosion the loss of life is significantly reduced, although loss of lower limbs is still frequent).
This shortcoming was not addressed by the later BMP designs, since Soviet military thinkers considered the auxiliary firepower of the troops' assault rifles a significant factor in the BMP's combat value. In practice, most conscript soldiers did not receive much training in firing from the vehicle while on the move. Even in case of professional soldiers, the cramped interior of the BMP-1 and 2, and the poor optical quality of its unstabilized firing port periscopes made it difficult to conduct aimed fire while on the move.
The basic hull armour on the BMP-2 can be easily penetrated by any shaped-charge missile, from the 66 mm LAW on up. Due to this limitation, Russian troops in combat zones customarily ride outside the BMP, sitting on top. This limits the chance that a single RPG round could kill or wound everyone inside the vehicle, but has obvious downside on the likelihood of passenger survivability in a war-zone. One important modification carried out as the result of operational experience in Afghanistan was the fitting of a second layer of stand-off armour, usually a high resistant ballistic rubber-like material, to act as spaced armour around the top of the hull sides and around the turret.
These issues, alongside the higher cost of maintenance (when compared with the wheeled Bronetransportyor troop carriers) led many former Eastern Bloc satellite states to abandon the use of BMP fighting vehicles after the Warsaw Pact was dissolved.
Deployment
In the Soviet Army, BMPs were typically issued to the motor rifle battalions of tank regiments. In a typical motor-rifle division, one motor-rifle regiment had BMPs, the other two had wheeled BTRs.
Proliferation varied greatly among the rest of the Warsaw Pact nations. For example, at least some East German motor-rifle divisions were recorded to have all three motor-rifle regiments with BMPs, ranging down to the Romanian and Bulgarian Armies, some of whose divisions had no BMPs at all.
Combat history
Variants
former Czechoslovakia
- BVP-2 (bojové vozidlo pechoty) - Czechoslovak produced version of BMP-2.
- BVP-2V or VR 1p (vozidlo velitele roty) - Command vehicle with tent, telescopic mast and radiosets RF 1325 (x 2), IPRS 32, RF 1301 and NS 2480D.
- VPV (VPV stands for Vyproštovací Pásové Vozidlo) - BVP-2 convention into an ARV developed at the ZTS Martin Research and Development Institute and production commenced at the ZTS Martin plant (which is now in Slovakia) in 1984. It is equipped with a powered crane with 5 tonnes capacity, heavy winch, wider troop compartment etc. Hatches on top of the turret and the troop compartment were removed. The vehicle is divided into four compartments: engine, commander's, driver's and repair/cargo. The crew consists of a Commander/crane operator, Driver/welder/slinger and a logistician/mechanic. The vehicle is armed with a pintle mounted 7.62 mm PKT light machine gun. A small number of those vehicles was also based on BVP-1.
former Soviet Union
- BMP-2 obr. 1980 - Initial production model.
- BMP-2 obr. 1984 - Improved version with "kovriki" armour on turret front.
- BMP-2 obr. 1986 - Late-production model with new sight BPK-2-42 instead of the BPK-1-42.
- BMP-2D - Fitted with additional spaced type steel appliqué armour on the hull sides, under the driver's and commander's stations, and 6 mm thick appliqué armour on the turret which prevent amphibious use. It also has provision for mounting mine clearing system under the nose of the vehicle. In service since 1982, it saw service during Soviet war in Afghanistan. During that conflict western observers saw the vehicle for the first time and gave it a designation BMP-2E.
- BMP-2K (komandnyj) - Command version with whip antennas mounted on the hull rear, one behind the turret, and one on the right side of the rear of the vehicle. It also has one IFF antenna (pin stick) on the left side of the rear of the vehicle. In front of it there's a support for a telescopic mast. The firing port equipped with the periscope was removed from either side of the vehicle. The antennae on the turret has been removed. The radio equipment consist of the R-123M and R-130M, or more modern R-173, R-126 and R-10. The crew consists of six soldiers.
- BMP-2M - General designator for upgraded versions. The version BMP-2M "Berezhok" from KBP has an additional AG-30 grenade launcher, 2+2 launchers for ATGM "Kornet" and new day/night sights as found on the BMD-4. This upgrade was selected by Algeria. The Russian armed forces ordered the upgrade package from KMZ with UTD-23 engine of 360hp, new sights BPK-3-42 and TKN-AI, additional passive armour and an air conditioning unit.
- BMO-1 (boyevaya mashina ognemyotchikov) - Transport vehicle for a flamethrower squad, armed with 30x93 mm RPO "Shmel" napalm rocket launchers. It is equipped with storage racks and a dummy turret. The crew consists of seven soldiers. It entered service in 2001.
India
- BMP-II "Sarath" ("Chariot of Victory") - Indian licence version of BMP-2, built by the Ordnance Factory Medak. The first vehicle, assembled from components supplied by KBP, was ready in 1987. By 1999, about 90% of the complete vehicle and its associated systems was being built in India. It was estimated in 2002 that 1,200 vehicles were built.
- Armoured Ambulance - Retains the turret but without the gun or smoke grenade launchers. The troop compartment has been modified to carry four stretchers.
- Armoured Vehicle Tracked Light Repair - Repair vehicle, fitted with a light hydraulic crane.
- Armoured Amhibious Dozer - Turret-less combat engineer vehicle, fitted with a folding dozer blade at the rear, mine ploughs, a main winch with a capacity of 8,000 kg and a rocket-propelled earth anchor for self-recovery.
- Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle - This version has no gun and is fitted with lots of specialised equipment, including an echo-sounder, a water current meter, a laser range finder and GPS. On the left rear of the hull, a marking system with 40 rods is fitted.
- NBC Reconnaissance Vehicle - Externally very similar to the basic vehicle but fitted with all kinds of sampling, testing and marking systems. The NBCRV was developed by DRDO and VRDE and has been ordered by the Indian army.
- Namica (Nag Missile Carrier) - Tank destroyer without turret and with a higher roofline. The "Nag" (cobra) missile is launched from a retractable armoured launcher that contains four launch tubes and the guidance package. "Nag" is a fire-and-forget top-attack ATGM with a tandem-HEAT warhead and a range of at least 4,000 m.
- Akash - Air-defence missile system that is based on a modified "Sarath" chassis with 7 road wheels. On top of the hull there's a launcher for three SAM's with a range of 27 km and semi-active homing guidance.
- Rajendra - This is a multifunctional 3-D phased radar (MUFAR), associated with the Akash system. It is also based on the stretched chassis.
- Carrier Mortar Tracked Vehicle - This turret-less version has a 81 mm mortar mounted in the modified troop compartment. The mortar is fired through an opening in the hull roof that has two hinged doors. It has a max. range of 5,000 m and a normal rate of fire of 6-8 rds/min. There is also a longe-range version of the mortar. The vehicle carries 108 mortar rounds and is also fitted with a 7.62 mm machine gun with 2,350 rounds. Crew: 2+4. The first prototype was complete in 1997.
Poland
- BWP-2 - Polish designation for BMP-2 and BMP-2D.
Operators
- - 550 (Mostly left by the Soviet Union at the time of the withdrawal)
- - 13+ (Acquired from East German stock in 1995)
- - 225
- - 250 BMP-1 and BMP-2
- - 78
- - 96
- - 1,164
- - 174 in service as of 1 January 2008. Before that there was 186 BVP-2 IFVs.
- - 110
- - 80 (small numbers of the vehicle were destroyed or captured by the Russian Army during the South Ossetia War)
- - 1,500 (License produces the BMP-2 & variants (like the Nag Missile Carrier) under license)
- - 400 as of 2005 (400 in 2002, 140 in 2000, 100 in 1995) (Manufacture their own Boragh variant)
- - 40 Czech BVP-2 in service
- - 35
- - 300
- - 46
- - 101
- - 10
- - 3,250
- - 12
- - 93
- - 521
- - 6
- - 100
- - 25
- - 20
- - 930 BMP-1 and BMP-2
- - 19
- - 1,434
- - 172
- - 334
Former operators
- - all vehicles passed on to its successor states Czech Republic and Slovakia.
- - 23, passed on to the unified German state.
- Iraq - Iraqi Regular Army operated 700 BMP-1 and 800 BMP-2. (All destroyed or scrapped).
- - Poland planned to replace it's BWP-1 with BWP-2 but because of financial problems was able to buy only 62 vehicles before 1989. Since obtaining sufficient number of BWP-2 after political changes of 1989 became impossible Poland was forced to abandon this plan. 62 BWP-2 that Poland bought were later sold in 1995 to Angola.
- - passed on to successor states.
- / - 23, taken from East Germany's army, all sold to other countries or given to the museums.
See also
Further reading
- Grau, Lester W. — the article originally appeared in Red Thrust Star January 1997 (source not verified)
External links
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