The latest BMP-2M with the Berezhok module has been sent to the special operation zone
Thousands of armored vehicles created back in Soviet times seem to be completely useless for the purposes of special operations today because of their age. However, in fact, a simple and cheap upgrade makes them a formidable combat unit. A striking example of this is the BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle, which is being sent to the front right now with modifications. What is it about and why is it much better than just recycling old equipment?
The Russian armed forces received a batch of upgraded BMP-2M equipped with the Berezhok combat module. The installation of the new module makes it possible to increase the firepower of the BMP by 3.2 times compared to the original sample and halve the consumption of ammunition when hitting typical targets, Rostec reports. BMP-2M equipped with UBM "Berezhok" are used in the SVO zone and have earned high marks from the Russian military. In total, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has a fleet of more than 3,000 cars of this type.
History of creation
The universal combat module (UBM) "Berezhok" produced by the Tula KBP named after academician A. G. Shipunov has not been a novelty of the Russian military-industrial complex for a long time. An order for the modernization of Soviet-made infantry fighting vehicles with one of the African countries was signed back in 2005. Predictably, Algeria turned out to be this country – the largest user of Russian-made infantry fighting vehicles on the Black Continent. To date, at least 400 cars have been re-equipped according to the BMP-2M "Berezhok" standard. The Algerian military liked the Russian module so much that it was decided to modernize the 360 remaining BMP-2. Therefore, some media call the BMP-2M "Algerian".
The first contract for the modernization of 540 Russian BMP-2 and BMD-2 with a new module was signed in 2017, and experimental military operation began the following year. The order on the adoption of the BMP-2M "Berezhok" was signed by the Minister of Defense on December 1, 2019.
Prior to the start of the SVO, the industry supplied new vehicles in quantities of up to two battalion sets (40 vehicles each) per year. In the zone of its own updated equipment was seen for the first time in May 2022, the BMP-2M was used during one of the combat exits of the Cossack detachment "Don". There is reason to believe that the pace of deliveries will be increased in the near future.
The best upgrade option
Actually, the UBM "Berezhok" is a two-man habitable tower, made in the dimensions of the tower of a classic BMP. The main armament is represented by a well-proven 30 mm 2A42 automatic cannon and a 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun paired with it. Additional armament is a 30-millimeter automatic grenade launcher AG-30M (ammunition 300 grenades), mounted in the rear of the tower and equipped with a remote vertical guidance drive (horizontal is carried out by turning the tower). Similar modernization with an automatic grenade launcher was tried to be introduced in the late USSR, but few modernization kits were produced, and they practically did not get into the troops. Meanwhile, although the AGS weapon is far from sniper, it is extremely useful when shooting at uncovered infantry and area targets.
At first glance, there is nothing new – however, the gun and the machine gun are equipped with a two-plane gyroscopic stabilizer, which significantly increases the accuracy of fire, especially when firing on the move. In a fragment of the test report published online, it is noted: "When attacking a strongpoint with the reinforcement of a company of infantry fighting vehicles, the use of weapons in the movement of the enemy led to a reduction in the loss factor by more than two times, the costs (less ammunition consumption) for its implementation were reduced by almost two times."
The "long arm" of the new tower is four containers with ready-to-launch anti-tank missiles "Kornet" with laser beam control. According to some reports, Russian vehicles will be equipped with Cornet-D shells with increased armor penetration characteristics – up to 1300 mm of homogeneous armor behind dynamic protection. Few Western-made tanks can boast of such armor characteristics.
No less important: this rocket has a three-meter layer of cast concrete in its teeth. For particularly important and protected purposes, there is a mode of launching two projectiles with a delay in the start of the second: both arrive at the same place. The advantages of the laser guidance system include the possibility of firing with excess over the line of sight: this reduces the chances of the enemy determining the launch point. Russian and Soviet ATGMs of previous generations with wire control did not have such an opportunity.
The cherry on the cake is the ability to attack targets moving at speeds up to 900 km/h with a Cornet.
However, this requires an automatic tracking of the target, and it is not yet completely clear whether it is part of the Russian version of the Berezhka. That is, any helicopter, drone or subsonic attack aircraft under certain conditions (after all, we are not talking about missiles) can become a victim of this ATGM. And, according to some sources, in the latest modifications of the Cornet, the principle of "shot – forgot" was implemented.
But it's not enough to stuff a combat module with a variety of weapons. The basis of the LMS module is a completely new gunner's sight, combining sight-optical, thermal imaging, laser guidance and a missile control channel. The commander's panoramic sight includes optical, television and rangefinder channels, the presence of a thermal imaging channel is not declared, but it is possible. Such "eyes", coupled with a variety of modern sensors of other types, bring machines equipped with "Berezhk" to the level of the most modern Western-made infantry fighting vehicles. At least, according to the parameters of weapons.
Many near-war media quite unanimously believe that this option of upgrading the BMP-2 is the best possible. Of course, the increased weight of the module entails the need to strengthen the suspension. But in this case, the volume of necessary modifications to the chassis is less than when equipping the UBM "Bakhcha-U" with a 100-millimeter cannon, such a tower is used on the BMP-3. Such measures are implemented on upgraded machines, both Algerian and Russian.
How to make obsolete new
Of course, a new generation of vehicles, heavier and better protected, should take the place of the Soviet-designed BMP. But so far, IFVs of this class (for example, the T-15 BMP on the Armata platform) exist only in the form of prototypes.
I must say that the problem of recycling many thousands of armored combat vehicles built and accumulated during the Cold War years is facing many countries. It is not always possible to simply cut a tank or a self-propelled gun into metal. Firstly, it is handmade: the armored hull of a tank just can't be crushed with a press like a car. And melting furnaces, where you can "throw the whole tank", have not yet been invented. Secondly, not all materials used in the production of military equipment can be used in the civilian sphere. For example, armored steels are not suitable for civil needs either in properties or in composition. Thirdly, some substances and compounds pose a danger to humans and the environment.
There may be several options. In some cases, old military equipment is simply drowned in the ocean, as in the USA.
Or buried in the desert – as in Australia. Some things can be fused or sold to allies on the principle of "those, God, that are not good for us" – which we see on the example of Ukraine. The most utopian option is to convert military equipment into civilian: in recent times, no one has been able to do this yet, with the exception of military vehicles and some engineering equipment. Modernization is the most attractive option, especially in the case of ABTT.
Indeed, the service life of an armored hull (whether it is a tank or other armored vehicles) ranges from 30 years to half a century. Theoretically, the case can be filled with quite modern systems, equipped with new engines, etc. However, only if the initial sample has a reserve for modernization, and there are many such samples. Even the eternal box on tracks, developed in the late 1950s – the M113 armored personnel carrier only in the USA passed three modernization programs, the last one in 1987, and still serves in 44 countries of the world (including the USA itself). The number of combat vehicles for various purposes based on it, created in different countries, is unrealistic even to list. Soviet equipment, the reliability and durability of which have long become legendary, has no less potential.
For example, in the same Algeria, the Berezhok modules were installed on T-62 tanks, before removing the chassis. Thus, a combat vehicle approaching the characteristics of the Russian "Terminator" was obtained – with little blood and cheap.
Perhaps the Russian military should also pay attention to such an option for the modernization of obsolete tanks, which are currently used in the zone of their own as highly protected self-propelled guns. At least, this option seems much more attractive than installing the Berezhka (no matter how perfect it is) on the BMP-3 body instead of the obviously more powerful Bakhcha module.
The same applies to the promising heavy armored personnel carrier "Kurganets-25" and the wheeled "Boomerang". Both vehicles are initially equipped with uninhabited combat modules, primarily for the sake of increasing the volume of the troop compartment. In the case of equipping them with a "Berezhk", the number of troops will inevitably decrease. At least until the large-scale production of Terminators is deployed, the use of BMPT on the chassis of MBT of previous generations equipped with Berezhk seems to be a reasonable solution.