Posted on 09/19/2015 8:19:59 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
The latest version of Russia’s BMP-3 Dragun armored vehicle became a major attention grabber at the Russia Arms Expo which has just wrapped up in Nizhny Tagil.
A heavily updated version of its BMP-3 predecessor, the BMP-3M Dragun AFV features an uninhabited combat module with a front-loaded engine.
The combat module, isolated from the crew and troop compartment, features a 2A70 100 mm rifled gun, which can fire conventional shells or guided missiles, a 2A72 30 mm dual feed autocannon, which can fire 300 rounds per minute, and a 7.62mm machine gun that can fire up to 800 rounds per minute, mounted coaxially with the cannon.
Such an arrangement ensures maximum protection for the crew and troopers against a direct hit by armor-piercing shells.
In another first, the three-man crew is moved to the front immediately behind the engine unit, each with their own escape hatch.
The fire control system effectively engages ground and airborne targets both on the move and from static positions.
It consists of a SOZH-M gunner's main sight with an integrated laser range-finder and missile-guidance channel, a Vesna-K targeting system with a thermal imaging camera and automatic target tracker, an armament stabilization system, a ballistic computer with data input sensors and a laser projector.
The BMP-3M is powered by a multi-fuel diesel four-stroke, liquid-cooled turbo diesel engine packing over 800 horse power. This allows the 21-ton vehicle to move at 70 kilometers per hour on a highway and up to 10 kilometers per hour in water.
The BMP-3M is designed and produced by the Kurgamashzavod (Kurgan Machine Building Plant).
In May 2015, the Russian Defense Ministry signed a three-year contract to receive hundreds of BMP-3M vehicles to maintain its armored vehicle force until its replacement, the Kurganets-25, completes research and development.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/20150917/1027144651/afp-features-expo.html#ixzz3mCM9ZbMU
Looks ideal for invading small, neighboring, defenseless countries.
TREADHEAD Ping!
There’s something to be said for tracked armor able to traverse the countryside, towns and bridges and not being a 70 ton behemoth.
Not that different from previous BMP variants.
The main diff seems the unmanned turret, if I understand correctly.
The 100mm gun seems the same as before, a low velocity hi-lo pressure thing. I didn’t know there was a missile for it but I suppose there always was one.
Are there separate bathrooms on it :-)
It’s an APC.
Consider it a very well armed M113 or Stryker.
Most armored vehicles in any army aren’t heavily armored tanks.
Looks ideal for resolving contested parking space issues.
Although well protected from a frontal hit by the slopping armor, the sides have no slope. The sides have no active armor, but also, judging by the size of the mounting hardware they do not appear to be armored beyond rifle ammo. It appears this is light, cheap, fast and disposable.
The problem Russian main battle tanks had in Chechnya is that they were vulnerable from above and behind. This appears to be the case here also. They apparently made no effort to make the vehicle stealthy and I’ll bet all 800 hp is visible for miles in a thermal plume.
I understood that.
Needs a Russian Orthodox Cross on it.
All I see here is an up graded PT 76????
With modern anti-tank weapons, if you are armored enough to resist them, then you are too heavy to move, to heavy to cross bridges, and too heavy to transport by air. So you might as well scale back the armor to what will stop .50 cal and shrapnel.
I'm thinking the next-gen tank will be unmanned (controlled by somebody well behind it) but capable of serious firepower.
It’s a nice target for a drone. That’s all.
No. It's a considerable advance of the old BMD/BMP-1, the one that mounted the 73mm Sagger/Malyutka AT missile.
And, it appears, considerably more mine-resistant, and maybe RPG-7 resistant as well.
And look for an updated Arena-4 with upgrades against incoming Javelin/Hellfire missiles. Don't think it'd stop a Paveway II.
The three seats, side-by-side for the operating crew and the *glass cockpit [touchscreen, no less!] is a bit newer.
Not sure how they fit the forward PKM gunners with that 3-wide seating arrangement, also used in the Armata tank.
Looks like Ivan is thinking about Blue Force tracking....
Just what the folks at CombatReform have been shouting from the rooftops for the last decade-and-a-half or so, hoping for upgraded M113s instead of wheelies.
Maybe Ivan will sell us some of theirs.
Looks ideal for killing MRAPS and Strykers, maybe Bradleys, while the .50 rounds bounce off the armor. And Bradley 25mm HEAT rounds just pops off the active armour.
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