Armored vehicles will be protected, camouflaged and quickly repaired
The Russian military used a platoon of tank support vehicles (BMPT) "Terminator" in a special operation in Ukraine. These vehicles, together with tank platoons, hit Ukrainian positions, armored vehicles, anti-tank missile systems (ATGMs). The use of "Terminators", in addition to the real strengthening of the power of Russian armored vehicles, will make it possible to clarify the tactics of using these vehicles, to determine their place in armored groups. In particular, to increase the combat stability of tank units.
As a matter of fact, the contours of the use of BPMT partially clarified in the fighting in Syria. The finishing touch remained.
A FUNDAMENTALLY NEW CLASS
"Terminators" entered the army in 2018. The armament of the BMPT is two 30–mm 2A42 cannons, four 9M120-1 "Attack" guided missile launchers with a laser guidance system, two AGS-17 grenade launchers and a 7.62-mm upgraded Kalashnikov machine gun. So far, 10 such vehicles have been transferred to the Russian army.
The Terminator is compared by design with the T-72 tank. However, instead of a turret with a 125 mm cannon, the BMPT has a remotely controlled cannon-missile module with the above weapons. It gives a powerful synergistic effect with the unchanged design of the machine.
Moreover, the Terminator belongs to a fundamentally new class of armored vehicles. It is unique and has no analogues – so far no other country in the world has developed such machines. Experts even predict that the BMPT is capable of changing the course of military operations.
Skeptics say: a counter tank battle is hardly possible today. In modern military conflicts, events often occur in urban buildings, where a tank is like an elephant in a china shop. While the enemy has a solid set of anti-tank weapons. It is enough to recall Grozny in the first Chechen campaign: tank columns simply burned on the streets of the city.
But the tank gun then just punched through the wall. And today the automatic guns of the "Terminator" are getting enemy soldiers. Whatever they say, the BMPT effectively fights tanks, generally with enemy armored vehicles, and destroys infantry with its grenade launchers and ATGMs.
The Ataka-T Guided Weapons Complex issues commands to four 9M120–1 anti-tank guided missile launchers with a tandem cumulative warhead. The range of missiles is 6 km, penetration is up to 850 mm of homogeneous armor behind dynamic protection. The warhead of the UR 9M120F of high-explosive and volumetric detonating action with a TNT equivalent of 9 kg, the warhead of the 9M120F-1 of high-explosive fragmentation action.
In addition to these targets, the Ataka-T KUV can also hit low-flying air objects moving at speeds up to 400 km/h. Missiles from the guided weapons complex are characterized as follows: length – about 2 m, weight – about 40 kg, laser beam guidance, firing range – up to 6 km (the latest modification – up to 8 km), target height – from 2 to 3.5 km.
KUV "Ataka-T" was created on the basis of the "Assault" complex. In addition to the Terminator, it is installed on IFVs and APCs on helicopters and attack aircraft, on ships.
Compared to the first modification of the BMPT, there are no AG-17D automatic grenade launchers on the Terminator-2, so two operators were removed from the crew. So the crew was reduced from five to three people: the commander, the gunner, the driver.
The body of the T-72, on the chassis of which the BMPT is built, needs additional protection, especially when operating in the city. "Terminator" bears the "birthmark" of the T-72: problems with the chassis. The car, in particular, is not able to force large water obstacles on the move.
The crews of the Terminator spoke in favor of replacing the 30-mm 57-mm 2A91 cannon – for reinforcement. This gun with an armor–piercing projectile penetrates 120 mm of armor, its rate of fire is about 80 rounds per minute. It is effective even against cruise missiles and rockets.
PARTNER AND DEFENDER
The first full-time unit in the Russian Armed Forces (a company of nine vehicles) equipped with Terminator tank support combat vehicles was formed in the Central Military District. In terms of combat effectiveness, one BMPT can replace two infantry fighting vehicles and a motorized rifle platoon. The Terminator has a diesel multi-fuel supercharged engine with a capacity of 1000 hp.
The Terminator was used in a military operation in Syria. Today, it is able to support the T-90M "Breakthrough" and T-14 "Armata" tanks. The use of "Terminators" significantly increased the power of tank units.
According to the developers, the BMPT should follow the tanks and destroy dangerous targets for them: grenade launchers, calculations of anti-tank guided missiles, enemy armored vehicles, etc. Therefore, the new equipment has a large set of firing means.
BMPT is as protected as tanks, has even better booking. The entire crew is in the hull, so the car has a low-profile turret. The overview of the BMPT crews is better than on most modern tanks.
In addition to guns, the machine is armed with supersonic laser-guided missiles "Attack" and can hit, as already mentioned, and low-flying targets. Missiles can be equipped with a cumulative or high-explosive fragmentation warhead and allow you to hit targets in shelters: grenade launchers or ATGM calculations in ruins or in buildings.
The experience of local wars and armed conflicts has shown that hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers and anti-tank missile systems pose the greatest danger to armored combat vehicles in combat conditions in dense urban areas and on rough terrain. And the designers of Uralvagonzavod developed BMPT as a means of covering tanks from fighters equipped with RPG and ATGM.
It was assumed that the BMPT would act together with the tanks in a single combat order and destroy targets that pose a danger to tanks, as well as hit any other objects. But there were no large-scale tank battles in Syria, and the Terminator was used as well-protected heavy infantry fighting vehicles.
In 2021, the Terminator-SV research work was carried out in the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and methods of using BMPT were developed. Recommendations have been developed on organizational and staff structures, training of specialists, forms and methods of combat use, logistics and technical support.
Combat operations of BMPT are possible in the same battle line with tanks. Previously, it was recommended to move infantry fighting vehicles that had the ability to fire support tanks at a distance of 100-200 m behind the battle line of tanks.
BMPT is called a tank partner. It hits tank-dangerous manpower so that the tank is engaged in armored targets. It is expected that the tank battalion will be reinforced by a company of tank support combat vehicles by about 15-25%.
By the way, the new Terminator car, they say at Uralvagonzavod, will be renamed Ilya Muromets. The abbreviation will also be different: instead of BMPT – BMOP (fire support combat vehicle).
BOTH THE REPAIRMAN AND THE TOW TRUCK
The fighting has shown that not only BMPT or BMOP should be enlisted as tank assistants. Uralvagonzavod also supplies the Russian military with armored repair and evacuation vehicles BRAM-1M for the evacuation of T-72, T-80 and T-90 tanks. BRAM-1M allows you to evacuate damaged vehicles and assist crews during field repairs.
The upgraded BRAM-1M on the chassis of the T-90 tank develops a speed of up to 60 km / h, a power reserve of 700 km. The lifting capacity of the hydraulic crane of the machine has been increased to 20 tons, on the cargo platform it carries up to 1.5 tons of cargo. The BRAM-1M has a welding machine for field repairs. The machine received an installation with a 12.7 mm machine gun. The T-16 BREM on the Armata platform has two winches, a bulldozer coulter, a mechanized hitch and towing facilities.
A novelty on the Armata platform is the T–16 armored recovery vehicle for the evacuation and repair of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (including T-14 and T-15) in the field. It is distinguished from the BRAM of previous generations by the presence of a manipulator that can lift up to one and a half tons, increased height and lifting capacity of the crane, mechanized coupling, towing means. The T-16 is also capable of pulling out stuck or sunken objects, performing excavation work, and forcing water barriers.
The new BRAM is much more comfortable, it can evacuate crew members of damaged tanks. The machine is equipped with climate control, there is a place for devices for boiling water and heating food. The crew can also carry out the evacuation of damaged equipment without leaving the car. The crew of the T-16 has already replaced the tank engine in the field: it took about an hour.
UMBRELLA FROM "BAYRAKTARS" AND "JAVELINS"
Russian tanks literally on the eve of a special military operation received experimental protection systems against Bayraktars and Javelins. Both pose a deadly threat to the upper part of armored vehicles. Foreign publications actively wrote about this.
The FGM-148 Javelin portable anti-tank complex consists of a launch unit and an infrared sensor. The launched missile flies sharply up in an arc, then, controlled by an infrared sensor, it also falls sharply, piercing the upper armor of the car. The range of the Javelin is about 4 km. It is possible to disable almost any tank, according to Western experts. But the rockets are expensive: one launch costs 80-100 thousand dollars. Already in November 2021, the Ukrainian military used these weapons in the Donbass, although they denied it.
The Turkish TB2 "Baytaktar" is a combat drone carrying up to four high–precision weapons, including a MAM-L anti-tank missile guided by a laser. One UAV costs 5-10 million dollars. Turkish drones have destroyed hundreds of military vehicles in Libya, Syria, in the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ukraine first used the "Baytaktar" in October 2021 – attacked a 122-millimeter howitzer in the Donbass.
The Russian military uses non-standard ways to protect tanks from attacks from above. Firstly, they install "umbrellas" made of lattice armor on the upper part of armored vehicles. It disables or initiates the premature triggering of cumulative ammunition fuses in an anti-tank missile. The jet for burning armor is directed at an inefficient angle or at a safe distance from the tank turret.
It remains to take into account that Javelin missiles have a two-stage tandem warhead for hitting spaced and reactive armor, and their fuses are located closer to the tail, not to the nose of the missile.
Secondly, the lattice screen can protect against kamikaze drones, grenades and bombs dropped by quadrocopters. The heat-emitting pipe at the place of the air intake necessary for crossing the water barrier (in the rear of the tower) also serves as protection for the tanks. The pipe is a false bait for Javelin missiles. It can distort the parameters of the missile homing head, leading away from the target.
And we will not exclude from the arsenal of the tank an active protection system, aerosol grenades with thermal and laser shielding, infrared interference.
Nikolay Poroskov
Nikolay Nikolaevich Poroskov is a military journalist.