Two generations: Veteran tanks PT-76 and BMP-3F serve together in Indonesia

The Marine Corps of the Indonesian Navy simultaneously operates PT-76 light tanks and modern BMP-3F. There is no such thing in any other armed forces of the world.

According to the available reference data, the first 55 units remained, the second - more than fifty. According to the photos published on the Web, you can understand how much the "troika" is more than the "seventy-sixth".

This is understandable: if there are three fighters in a tank, then in an infantry fighting vehicle, in addition to a crew of the same number of people, five more servicemen are placed in the landing compartment, and there are two places for machine gunners in the front of the vehicle.

There is also a significant difference in armament - an armored veteran has one 76-mm gun with forty shells, a 90-mm Belgian cannon with a reduced total ammunition by four shots is installed on a part of the equipment that has undergone modernization.

The BMP-3 has a significantly expanded range of weapons, this is a 100-mm gun, which, in addition to the usual forty shells, can also use eight anti-tank guided missiles with a range of up to 5500 m. Moreover, the loading process is automated, thanks to which a high rate of fire is achieved, reaching up to ten rounds per minute.

The gunner-operator has at his disposal a 30-mm cannon capable of destroying lightly armored objects, manpower, low-flying planes and helicopters.

Given the specifics of the service, these tanks and infantry fighting vehicles swim well, including in conditions of sea waves. They can, firing, independently reach the shore, disembarking from landing ships. Therefore, it is not surprising that these combat vehicles very often jointly perform combat training tasks and, apparently, the Indonesian Marines are not going to abandon the PT-76.

Alexey Moiseev