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28 ARMS Defence Technologies Review

n July 2000, at the 2nd

Urals arms show held in

Nizhniy Tagil, the first-

shown BMPT tank sup-

port combat vehicle,

caused a great interest among for-

eign military experts. The Ural Design

Office of Transport Mechanical

Engineering started its development

in 1998 and eight years later, in April

2006, the BMPT successfully passed

state testing.

During six years that have passed

from its first demonstration till the

end of state tests, considerable

changes were made almost every-

where, from the weapons and fire

control system to its layout. So, what

does the tank support combat vehi-

cle look like today?

TANK SUPPORT COMBAT

VEHICLE: PROSPECTS

G.F.Tyutyugin, Deputy Chief Designer,

Ural Design Office of Transport

Mechanical Engineering

V.B.Domnin, General Director –

Chief Designer, Ural Design Office of

Transport Mechanical Engineering

I

LAND FORCES

1(48).2009 29

The BMPT uses the chassis of the

T-72 tank. At present, the Ural Design

Office of Transport Mechanical

Engineering, however, has design

documentation allowing its series

production on the T-90’s basis, too.

This significantly increases both the

capabilities of the manufacturer and

client’s options as the vehicle can be

produced on the chassis of both new

tanks and old T-72 ones, thus, allow-

ing considerable cost reduction.

The BMPT weighs 48 t and its crew

is 5 members. The commander and

aimer of main and minor armament

are placed in the turret and the driver

and aimers of front grenade launch-

ers – in the hull.

The main weapons fire control

system employing the multi-channel

(daylight optical and IR) sight and

panoramic low-level TV sight allows

the layer and commander to detect

and recognize small-size targets at

long ranges day and night, at any

weather and engage them by two

30-mm 2A42 automatic cannons

using HE-FRAG and armour-piercing

projectiles. The ammunition load is

850 projectiles in two cases. Also, the

main armament includes two launch-

ers with four supersonic Ataka-T laser-

guided missiles. Missiles with shaped-

charge and thermobaric warheads

can be used, too. The shaped-charge

tandem warhead can engage all

types of existing and future armoured

vehicles at ranges of up to 5,500 m

and the thermobaric one – soft-skin

combat vehicles and antitank troops

in fortified structures. Additional

armament consisting of two 30-mm

AG-17D automatic grenade launchers

is located in armoured compartments

on the sides of the vehicle. The ammo

load of 300 grenades for each AG-17D

is placed there, too. Front grenade

launchers can suppress enemy man-

power in the sector of ±27° at a range

of up to 1,700 m in daytime and

up to 800 m at night. The coaxial

7.62-mm PKTM machine gun is used

as a minor armament, too. Thus, three

weapons operators allow the BMPT

to engage three different targets at

different directions at the same time.

The armament allows this vehicle to

fight with all types of targets on the

battlefield including tanks and low-

speed aerial targets.

The vehicle commander uses day-

light sights and the day/night pan-

oramic wide-angle sight seeks targets

and distributes them among weap-

ons operators. If needed, the com-

mander can engage the target from

the main armament in the Double

mode employing the panoramic sight

or the layer’s IR sight.

The BMPT’s main armament is

placed in the module including the

turret, external armament with drives,

ammunition chain and operator posi-

tions allow mounting it on various

types of tank chassis. Changing the

LAND FORCES

30 ARMS Defence Technologies Review

protection level and weight of the

module allows its mounting on light

chassis (like an IFV) or small ships

and boats. Thus, the BMPT’s arma-

ment module can be used by vari-

ous armed services as well as by the

Interior Ministry.

The module’s armament can also

be rapidly changed depending on the

combat mission. For example, its anti-

aircraft capability can be enhanced

by the short-range air defense missile

system with two Igla missiles, which

can replace the Ataka-T antitank mis-

sile launchers. The armament block

can be also upgraded for light arma-

ment (automatic grenade launch-

ers, large-caliber machine guns, etc.)

instead of 30-mm cannons.

A special attention was paid to

protecting the crew from antitank

weapons. The armoured hull of the

T-72 base tank is strengthened by

the replaceable block of 3rd-gen-

eration built-in dynamic protection

placed on the hull’s upper front

plate. The sides are fully closed with

reactive armour and lattice screens,

which provide a reliable protection

of the crew from LAWs. The hull rear

has additional lattice screen protec-

tion from LAWs, too. Placing the

outer main armament on the turret

roof allowed making the hull front

without unprotected spots employ-

ing reactive armour blocks. In order

to enhance the fire and explosion

safety, the fuel is placed in armoured

tanks inside and outside the vehi-

cle. The heater that was previously

located in the hull is also put into

the armoured compartment on the

right side of the vehicle. The maga-

Automatic

guns

Machine gun

Guided missiles

Comander's sight

Gunner's sight

LAND FORCES

1(48).2009 31

zine with rounds for 2A42 cannons

is located in the hull below the turret

in the least vulnerable zone behind

the armoured fuel tanks. In addition,

there is a 5.5-kW Diesel generator in

the armoured compartment on the

right-hand side to allow operation of

board electrical equipment when the

main engine is shut down.

To ensure the power similar to

that of the T-90A tank, the BMPT was

equipped with the 1,000-hp (736 kW)

V-92S2 Diesel engine and chassis uni-

fied with the engine and chassis of

this tank.

During state testing, two pilot

BMPTs went over 10,000 km and

amassed some 1,000 engine hours as

well as made several thousand shots

from the cannons, grenade launchers

and machine gun and carried out

several dozens missile launches. To

prove protection requirements, one

of the vehicles was subject to shots

from the tank gun and LAW as well as

the mine explosion and overpressure

of the burst wave. The protection

passed all the tests.

The results of state testing proved

the characteristics specified in the

operational requirement. Yet, two

years after the state tests were

successfully finished, the General

Orderer, however, has not signed the

decision to put the vehicle into ser-

vice with the Russian armed forces

and include it into the state defense

order for 2009. Nevertheless, the

Uralvagonzavod plant is now prepar-

ing the BMPT’s series production on

its own initiative.

The ready vehicle still needs

evaluating its combat performance

and application methods by mili-

tary experts. Perhaps, the organiza-

tional structure of military units will

be changed. It is already clear that

the range of its employment largely

exceeds the narrow task of support-

ing tank units.

Western experts say that due

extending urban areas, the probabil-

ity and duration of combat action in

such regions will increase. The exist-

ing armoured vehicles including tanks

cannot fulfill this task. The importance

of this problem is proved by the pres-

ence of versions of M1, Leopard-2 and

Leclerc tanks adapted for urban bat-

tles at the Eurosatory 2006 show. The

main solutions implemented in such

tanks are employing machine guns or

grenade launchers out independently

from the main gun, strengthening the

side and rear parts. All these solu-

tions significantly raise the weight of

Western tanks that are heavy even

without that, worsen the visibility

through organic sights. At the same

time, the BMPT is almost ready for

combat actions in urban areas and

mountain/forest terrain. With that, it

is 10-15 t lighter and more maneuver-

able as its armament remains within

the hull borders in case of turret rota-

tion and pointing angles allow easy

engagement of targets located from

basement to upper floors.

Many countries, chiefly European

ones, rapidly field UAVs able to solve

reconnaissance and combat missions

as well as new attack helicopters,

which requires an adequate response

including fielding air defense systems.

The introduction of such systems (the

Tunguska, Tor or Buk-M1/M2E), how-

ever, requires large expenditures due

to their high cost. That is why, the

BMPT can be also used to protect

units from low-speed aerial targets

given the attached air defense means

are not enough.

The vehicle can be also employed

in counter-terrorist and peace-keeping

operations including peace-enforce-

ment ones. The invasion of Georgian

troops into the South Ossetia proved

that the lack of the BMPT able to solve

a wide range of combat tasks and hav-

ing powerful armament, protection

and advanced fire control systems in

the 58th Army and peace-keeping

troops badly affected the efficiency

of Russian troops. This is especially

evident considering the obsolete

armoured vehicles used by the 58th

Army in this conflict.

Thus, Ural Design Office of Transport

Mechanical Engineering experts think

that fielding the BMPT by the Russian

armed forces and its series produc-

tion are very important as it allows to

largely enhance the combat power of

tank units.