BMP-2

The order to begin series production of the BMP-2 was signed in April 1980. Prototypes of ‘Object 675’ were built in Chelyabinsk and Kurgan, where the BMP-1 was already in production. The first production BMP-2s were sent to the 40th Army in Afghanistan and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. The BMP-2 was first shown to the public on 7 November 1982 during a military parade in Moscow. According to 1990 figures, the USSR had around 5,996 of these second-series infantry fighting vehicles.

The BMP-2 used a naturally aspirated UTD-20S1 six-cylinder, four-stroke V-type diesel. It displaced 15,800 cc and produced 300 hp at 2,600 rpm.

The BMP-2 has hull armour 6–26 mm thick. Crew: 3; combat weight: 14 tonnes. Maximum speed: 65 km/h on land and 7 km/h afloat; land range: 600 km.

Main armament: a 30 mm 2A42 automatic cannon, a launcher for the 9M113 Konkurs anti-tank guided missile system or a 9M135M-1 launcher for 9M111 Fagot missiles, a 7.62 mm PKT machine gun, two 9K34 Strela-3 man-portable air-defence systems (two RPG-7 launchers could be carried instead), and six smoke grenades for the 902V Tucha system.

Ammunition: 500 cannon rounds (160 armour-piercing tracer and 340 high-explosive fragmentation incendiary and fragmentation tracer rounds), four anti-tank guided missiles and 2,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition.