This 30-year-old fighting vehicle is how Russia gets troops into combat

Harold C. Hutchison
Nov 1, 2018 9:35 PM PDT
1 minute read
Tanks photo

SUMMARY

While Americans are familiar with the M1126 Stryker infantry combat vehicle and the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, they may not know that the latter was designed to counter a type of Russian vehicle that had been around for decades.

While Americans are familiar with the M1126 Stryker infantry combat vehicle and the M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, they may not know that the latter was designed to counter a type of Russian vehicle that had been around for decades.


An M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle. (DoD photo)

In the 1980s, when the Bradley was coming online, its counterpart was entering service for the Soviets and Warsaw Pact nations. That counterpart was the BMP-2. BMP is short for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty. It first became operational in 1982, and was much improved over the original vehicle in the series, the groundbreaking BMP-1.

A Russian-designed BMP-1 at an Israeli museum. Combat experience with this vehicle prompted a massive re-design. (Wikimedia Commons photo by Bukvoed)

While the BMP-1's main weapon was a 73mm gun backed by an AT-3 Sagger anti-tank missile, the BMP-2 replaced that with a 30mm autocannon with an AT-5 Spandrel. Combat experience gained in Arab-Israeli wars had shown that the 73mm gun wasn't very accurate. Worse, the AT-3's guidance method required the operator to remain exposed. The change in armaments addressed both of those issues.

The BMP-2 also made major adjustments to the internal arrangements. Turns out that some of the design elements of the BMP-1 made driving a Ford Pinto seem safe. Notably, infantrymen sat back-to-back with the fuel tank between them. Ammo for the main gun was stored about the BMP-1 and exposed. The grunts liked the firepower, and the 73mm gun could help keep enemies' heads down, but these drawbacks were killers.

A partially destroyed abandoned Iraqi BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle sits along a roadside in Northern Iraq, during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The BMP-2 saw action in the Iran-Iraq War, the Soviet-Afghan War, Desert Storm, the Russo-Georgia War, the fighting in Chechnya, and in Operation Iraqi Freedom, among others. During Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, it came out second-best when rated against the Bradley. In response, the Russians began development of the BMP-3, which replaced the wire-guided missiles with a 100mm gun.

Learn more about this vehicle in the video below. Which BMP do you think is best?

 

(Dung Tran | YouTube)

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Sign up for We Are The Mighty's newsletter and receive the mighty updates!

By signing up you agree to our We Are The Mighty's Terms of Use and We Are The Mighty's Privacy Policy.

SHARE