BMP-3 in Russian Army

A few steps forward from the MTLB remote controlled bomb.

SIMPLICIUS The Thinker Ѱ
@simpatico771
🪖 Rostec’s remote-controlled BMP-3 is planned to be tested in the SVO zone.

The vehicle is currently undergoing testing; after completion, it can be tested in a special operation zone.

“This is a very promising technique that will allow the use of vehicles without the risk of damaging the crew in the most dangerous areas,” said Sergei Chemezov in an interview with RIA Novosti .

He also added that the remote control kit is planned to be installed not only on the BMP-3. In the near future, it could be equipped, for example, with a 2S25M self-propelled anti-tank gun.

We are seeing something akin to ww1 where entirely new tactics and tech will have to be developed. Robots, small portable guided missiles for soldiers. Anti drones, anti missiles, new quick acting semi and fully autonomous surface to air weapons. New kinds of drones. Even rocket packs to quickly and temporarily launch soldiers over and around dangerous battlefield obsticles.

We are witnessing a scary but incredible future for weapons development.

So according to this video they have submitted new changes for the Kurganets BMP model and it is still some time from service entry, but the reason I put the video in this thread is that because the new turret for all the new vehicle families with the 57mm gun and Kornet missiles is going to be fitted to an improved model of the BMP-3 called Manul which might start serial production later this year that will have all sorts of new features including sniper and drone related improvements.

If they made serial production of BMP3 Manul at the end of this year, we can forget about K25 at all in near future This Manul is cheap version of K25 and it yestardey they need it indtead of BMP3...maybe for  2-3 years when SVO end we can expect K25 in serial priduction, until that we will see this manul as primary BMP for Russian military...similar is with BTR21....cheaper version of Boomerang with lot of updates they need it yestarday as well.

I don't think you are understanding the situation... the Kurganets is not being delayed because it is expensive, it is being delayed because they want to get the design right before they put it into serial production and it has probably had a few areas they want changed or upgraded with experience in Syria and Ukraine so it makes sense to make those changes and test that they do what they want it to do rather than rush something into production and service if it is not ready yet.

The Manul version of the BMP-3 allows them to get the new gun (57mm) and new turret and new equipment and systems including integrated drone systems into serial production and widespread use before the introduction of the Kurganets family.

Remember BMP-3 is a BMP, Kurganets is an entire family of vehicles... a Manul BMP with a 57mm gun that can replace the 30mm cannon of the BMP-2 and the upgraded BMP-1s and also the the 30mm cannon and 100mm gun on the BMP-3 is going to be a big step forward for Russian units in terms of fire power and performance.

The Kurganets is going to be more expensive but not because it is gold plated, and that extra cost comes with extra value and performance... likely including APS systems and anti drone systems built in at the factory.

lancelot wrote:Actually if Manul enters production I doubt we will ever see the Kurganets. It has much the same specifications. Last I heard the Kurganets needed a lot of modifications and the new engine it uses supposedly didn't work according to specifications either.

It has less armour and no APS.

lancelot wrote:Actually if Manul enters production I doubt we will ever see the Kurganets. It has much the same specifications. Last I heard the Kurganets needed a lot of modifications and the new engine it uses supposedly didn't work according to specifications either.

You are right...If Manul go to serial production it will end Kurganets 25 project for all. Its made to be cheap and easy to build, as i said it hase more then 30% same parts as BMP3... Its almost the same weight, good engine in it and has normal personel compartment instead of this BMP3 insane one.

It use Epoha turret with is great, has 500 30mm rounds , 4 kornet missile for any tank treat.. all in all its good vehicle, but luck of armor protection of K-25, but still it can be fitted with APS same on K-25 it is...

Also they will go with BTR-21/22 instead of Boomerang...it has more room for personnel, it has normal entrance for them instead of insane one in BTR-80/82. And also is cheaper then Boomerang and also has more then 35% same part as in BTR are...So you can build fast this type of vehicle..

Russia today need good vehicle who they can build fast..Boomerang and Kurganets are to complicated for made and its very expensive one.

So yeah its end of Kurganets if they made Manul, and they will made it...

lancelot wrote:Actually if Manul enters production I doubt we will ever see the Kurganets. It has much the same specifications. Last I heard the Kurganets needed a lot of modifications and the new engine it uses supposedly didn't work according to specifications either.

They're not even in the same weight class. What are you talking about?

Manul is an Su-35, which is an Su-27 with new stuff they were developing for the Su-57.

Kurganets is not a BMP, it is a vehicle family... no single vehicle will replace it.

The MiG-29M is cheaper than the MiG-35 so if they wanted a cheap light fighter they should have gone with the MiG-29M design if what they wanted was cheap.

Everything is relatively expensive when it is new, but when put into mass production it becomes affordable.

Remember CDs?

We were told they cost $30 per CD because it was a new technology, and then it was because the sound quality was better, but really it was labels being stamped onto clear plastic disks that you could buy for 50c or less.

The delays to the Kurganets have nothing to do with how much it costs, they created a design and did a bit of testing and decided on some changes which are being implimented. Their experiences in the Ukraine will almost certainly add a few more changes they will want to apply which all needs to be implimented and applied and then tested properly to make sure it works.

Certainly I would say the effect of drones both friendly and enemy drones and their use and defence from them will change the design and features of the vehicles too.

This is not the Soviet Army of western propaganda that just throws men at problems, the Russians have been proven to identify problems and deliver quick in the field solutions followed up by factory made solutions to deal with issues and problems. Built in jammers and detectors and decoy systems etc will all be part of the delay where they test things in combat and if they work then integrating them in the new vehicle design makes sense but if it doesn't work then modify or even rethink the design and try something new to test in combat and repeat the process. Stuff that works can be added to the existing fleet, it is not like they will be waiting for 10 years for the right vehicle to be delivered.

Perhaps if western artillery vehicles got such rigorous testing they would actually work a bit better... do you think Leopard II tanks and other western armoured vehicles were tested in mud and snow?

Russian vehicles are not magic or super vehicles but what they are is properly tested and as reliable as they can make them.

Gunner position information.

That missile code seems to be mentioning the bastion missile. I thought they use the lasso missile. Anyways 7km range? Damn that is good.

They improved the gun to allow higher pressures so they were able to go from 4km with HE shell and missiles to 5.5km with the standard missile and 7km with the standard HE round.

The new missile is called Arkan... and I suspect this newer missile with a 7km range is an upgrade or replacement for it.

The old missile in the original vehicle had a separate missile rack for 8 missiles, but the new vehicle I believe carries four missiles with 34 HE rounds.

As clever as it is the new 57mm grenade launcher looks even better with an APFSDS round and a HE round and Kornet and Bulat ATGMs.

GarryB wrote:They improved the gun to allow higher pressures so they were able to go from 4km with HE shell and missiles to 5.5km with the standard missile and 7km with the standard HE round.

2A70 fires two types of HE rounds - 3UOF17 and 3UOF19. The later has increased range because of better ballistics and higher speed, but both can be used same time.
You can see that in the film, when the guy points out at the ammo selection box.

Here is how it is set :

Now it is O100, meaning low range 3UOF17.


Indicator shows zero :


And the guy comments : we have zero "17".

Here is N100, meaning higher range 3UOF19


Indicator shows 9 pcs and he comments : we have 9 pcs of "19".


And here you have Bastion missiles, there in a rack on the right, with ammunition storage front right.


The guy comments that there are 18 pcs there and 22 in carusel.

One more Bastion can be spotted on the side of the hull, left. So 4 missiles in total with 40 pcs of mixed 100mm ammo.

The original vehicle could only use the 4km range missiles and shells, they upgraded the gun and with new ammo they could reach 5.5km with the Arkan missile and 7km with the HE shell, but on the original vehicle the 100mm gun was not centred and firing the increased power shells cracked the turret ring because the recoil was not centred.

The photos of the Bakhcha-U upgrade show 15 rounds visible in the turret bustle which suggests the half of the turret that is not visible should be able to hold rather more than another 7 rounds (15+7=22).

Most of the sources I have seen claim 34 x 100mm HE rounds and 4 missiles stowed in the turret bustle for the Bakhucha-U upgraded turret (along with 2,000 rifle calibre machine gun rounds for the coaxial and 468 x 30mm cannon shells for the 2A72 cannon).

The Bakhcha-U turret doesn't use Bastion missiles any more, it uses Arkan missiles loaded into the turret bustle loader with the other rounds.

Some pretty good CNC in that factory, almost as if its new



Arms Show Tracker
@21aar_show
Ok we are now 100% certain Kurganmashzavod are delivering newly built BMP-3's at the end of each month.

BMD-4M and BTR-MD are also in production.

See the paint on the new builds:

The most recent Kurganmashzavod video of BMP-3 deliveries (i.e. the February 2024 batch, the second for the year) shows basically an entire trainload of BMP-3s heading for the customer from beginning to end - easily between 25-30 vehicles. That's possibly indicative of a current capability to deliver ~300 new BMP-3s delivered annually.

If you uncritically believe Oryx (lol) that means Russia will have already made good BMP-3 losses for the entire war with just a little over a year's production at the current rate.

Considering that they produce around 30 tanks per week, I would say 300 BMPs a year is not a big challenge and there are many more of those ...

With one shift.
Now they operate three ...

The repair plants have also taken over much of the responsibilities of resurrecting the massive reserve stocks apart from their usual duties of recuperating losses, leaving Kurganmashonvod plant proper focused entirely on pushing out new builds.

still BMP-3 time slowly but surely passing... I hope Manul will soon take over . The most important is to protect the crew whole mission. completing.

Aso fo rKurganets-25 and Manmul i don't think they will be made concurrently. When the war is over Manul will still be in production to replace BMP-1/2 then 3 still in RuA then due to drones warfare Kurganets will be redesigned pretty substantially if at all keep the same name. Same as T-44 changed to T-54/T55 after WW2.

GunshipDemocracy wrote:still BMP-3 time slowly but surely passing...  I hope Manul will soon take over . The most important is to protect the crew whole mission. completing.

Aso fo rKurganets-25 and Manmul i don't think they will be made concurrently. When  the war is over Manul will still be in production to replace BMP-1/2 then 3 still in RuA then due to drones warfare Kurganets will be redesigned pretty substantially if at all keep the same name. Same as T-44 changed to T-54/T55 after WW2.

Still the Manul is still based on BMP-3 chassis, so they could be operated together in a single unit while in the case of Kutganets such thing is not possible.
Same happen with BMP-1AM with the BMP-2, so you could still have your own family of vehiclres in both cases.