Moscow. December 27. INTERFAX-AVN - The new infantry fighting vehicle (BMP) B-19 will soon complete tests and enter service with the Russian army, said the commander-in-chief of the Ground Forces Oleg Salyukov.
"The new BMP B-19 in terms of fire capabilities significantly exceeds the existing domestic BMP-2 and BMP-3 and has no analogues in the world. Currently, various types of tests of the BMP B-19 with the Epoch combat module are continuing, the completion of which and the adoption of the BMP B-19 are planned in the near future," Salyukov said in an interview with the newspaper of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Krasnaya Zvezda.
The commander-in-chief said that in September, during the Russian-Belarusian strategic exercises "West-2021", a motorized rifle platoon consisting of three B-19 infantry fighting vehicles with an Epoch combat module with a new 57 mm automatic cannon and two guided weapons complexes "Kornet" and "Bulat" was used for the first time.
"The use of a 57-mm automatic cannon allows the car to more effectively fight lightly armored vehicles and manpower in personal armor protection, including those hidden in the folds of the terrain. The use of the modern Kornet guided weapons system ensures the guaranteed defeat of tanks and other highly protected objects, as well as helicopters of a likely enemy at long ranges," Salyukov said.
"However, the use of such a powerful tool as the ATGM "Kornet" on medium-protected objects is not always justified, including due to limited ammunition. Therefore, a completely new complex of guided weapons "Bulat" has been developed for the BMP B-19 with the Epoch combat module," he said.
In 2014, Interfax reported that the new Epoch combat module was being developed for the advanced Kurganets-25 BMP, but it can also be installed on other Russian infantry fighting vehicles.
As part of the uninhabited combat module "Epoch" is a 57-mm gun, a 7.62-mm PKTM machine gun is paired with the gun. The module is controlled remotely from the commander and gunner terminals and does not take up space inside the combat vehicle. The module is equipped with modern missile weapons - the Kornet and Bulat complexes.
Salyukov also said that state tests of armored vehicles of the "Athlete" family are at the last stage.
"This is the further development of Tiger-M cars. The new "Athlete" cars have increased security and load capacity with high mobility indicators," the commander-in-chief said.
He said that a line of samples of highly mobile artillery and mortar weapons on various types of chassis is being developed to perform tasks in the Arctic.
Salyukov said that in 2021, the Ground Forces received about 2.5 thousand new basic weapons, military and special equipment. Among them, he named the Buk-MZ, Tor-M2 and Arctic Tor-M2-DT anti-aircraft missile systems, Tornado-G multiple launch rocket systems, upgraded T-72BZM, T-80BVM tanks, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles and BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, as well as T-90M tanks.
