BMD-1
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| BMD-1 | |
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 BMD-1 on display in Kiev |
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| Type | Airborne infantry fighting vehicle |
| Place of origin | Soviet Union |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 7.5 tonnes |
| Length | 6.74 m |
| Width | 2.94 m |
| Height | 1.96 m |
| Crew | 3 (+4 passengers) |
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| Armor | 23 mm |
| Primary armament |
73mm 2A28/Grom smoothbore main gun |
| Secondary armament |
7.62 mm PKT coaxial machine gun, 2×7.62 mm PKT bow machine guns, AT-3 Sagger ATGM |
| Engine | V6 Diesel 5D-20 240 hp (180 kW) |
| Power/weight | 32 hp/tonne |
| Suspension | torsion-bar |
| Operational range |
320 km |
| Speed | 70 km/h |
The BMD-1 is a Soviet airborne infantry fighting vehicle, which was introduced in 1969 and first seen by the West in 1970. BMD stands for Boyevaya Mashina Desanta (Боевая Машина Десанта, literally "Combat Vehicle of the Airborne") †. It can be dropped by parachute and although it resembles the BMP-1 it is in fact much smaller. The BMD-1 was used as an IFV by the Soviet Army's airborne divisions.
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[edit] Development
In the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis the army was instructed to consider putting more emphasis on means to project power outside of the normal sphere of Soviet influence. As a result there was a major effort to develop the VDV (Soviet airborne forces) as a rapid deployment force. Soviet studies of airborne operations had shown that lightly armed paratroops were unable to deal with armoured forces. This pushed them towards mechanizing the airborne forces.
The development of the Il-76 heavy transport aircraft allowed the transport of light armoured vehicles. However the requirement for an airborne drop required a vehicle that weighed less than seven tons. The existing BMP-1 weighed thirteen tonnes, effectively ruling it out. The task of designing the BMD fell to the Volgograd Tractor Plant, which had produced an unsuccessful competitor to the BMP – the Ob'yekt 914. The BMD design, Ob'yekt 915, was basically a trimmed down version of the Ob'yekt 914 – smaller and with less armour, while still keeping the 73 mm main gun. The compromise made is the extremely cramped crew compartment. Even though it can on paper carry four infantrymen, typically this is reduced to three.
Development started in 1965 and limited production began in 1968. After operational trials it was deployed in limited numbers by 1969.
[edit] Air-drop techniques
The BMD was originally dropped under the MKS-350-9 multi-canopy parachute. The intention was to drop the vehicle without the crew. This had always proven problematic, since the crew frequently landed some distance from the vehicle and often had trouble finding it. In the 1970s there were experiments with dropping the BMD with the two key crew members, the driver and gunner, seated inside the vehicle during the descent. The first such test took place in January 1973, and the concept was proved valid in a subsequent series of tests.
A rocket parachute, the PRSM-915, was developed to ensure the vehicle's safe landing. To use the parachute, the BMD is first packed onto a special pallet before takeoff. To drop the BMD, a drogue chute is released that initially drags the BMD out of the Il-76 transport plane. Once clear of the plane a single large main chute opens. The deployment of the main chute triggers the deployment of four long rods which hang beneath the pallet. As soon as the rods touch the ground a retrorocket fires, slowing the BMD rapidly and giving it a relatively soft landing. This system entered into service in 1975, and allows a BMD to be parachuted with both driver and gunner.
An alternative radio location system also exists. Each of the crew is given a radio receiver locked onto a transponder in its particular BMD, allowing each BMD crewman to quickly locate his respective vehicle after an airdrop.
[edit] Description
The BMD-1 has the same turret as the BMP-1, armed with a 73 mm gun and a coaxial machine gun. Two other machine guns are mounted in the bow of the hull. An 9M14 "Malyutka" (AT-3 Sagger) launcher is mounted on the main gun. Armour thickness is 23 mm on the turret front and 15 mm on the hull front, resistant to small arms fire and shrapnel. The vehicle has electric and manual bilge pumps, a gyro-compass, engine pre-heater, smoke-generating equipment TDA, NBC system FTP-100M, tranceiver R-123, intercom R-124 and a centralized ethylene-bromide fire-extinguishing system as fitted to other former Soviet armoured vehicles.
The BMD-1's armour was made from cast magnesium alloy, in order to save weight. Combat experience in Afghanistan demonstrated that the armour itself would catch fire and burn fiercely, often killing the crew, when hit with a weapon such as an RPG. Later variants of the BMD had aluminium armour instead.
Because of its small number of crew, the introduction of the BMD led to a reduction in the number of soldiers in an airborne battalion, from 610 to 316 men. The firepower of the BMD also meant that some of the battalion's integral fire support could be done away with.
The Russian military was considering replacing the BMD series altogether with the GAZ-3937. This very lightweight wheeled armoured personnel carrier incorporates plastic and carbon fibre in its construction, as well as aluminum. The GAZ-3937 can be air-dropped like the BMD, but is considerably lighter and less expensive to manufacture. Since the GAZ-3937 lacks the armor protection, cross-country mobility, and heavy armament of the BMD series, and is armed only with a 7.62 mm PKM machine gun in front of the commander's hatch, the BMD-4 (an upgraded BMD-3) has been selected for the future use of the Russian airborne and naval infantry.[citation needed] The BMD-4 uses the same 100 mm main gun with 30 mm autocannon and 7.62 mm medium machine gun turret on an improved, larger hull raising overall weight to the 15-ton class. The waterjet swim propulsion systems of the BMD-3/4 are strong enough to enable ship-to-shore transport resulting in Russian naval infantry use.
[edit] Variants
- BMD-1 (Ob'yekt 915) - Basic model.
- BMD-1K - BMD-1 with two Clothes Rail antennas and a generator box.[1]
- BMD-1P - 9K14 "Malyutka" (AT-3 Sagger) system replaced with 9K111 "Fagot" (AT-4 Spigot). Entered service in 1977.
- BMD-2 (Ob'yekt 916) - New turret with stabilized 2A42 30mm cannon with 300 rounds (180 AP, 120 HE) with a maximum elevation of 75 degrees. External 9P135M missile launcher.
- BTR-D (Ob'yekt 925) (bronyetransportyor) - Lengthened variant (with 6 rather than 5 road wheels), slightly up-armoured at the front. The BTR-D has no turret but is armed with two bow-mounted machine guns PKB and can be fitted with pintle-mounted automatic grenade launchers (AGS-17, AGS-30 or AGS-57) and/or machine guns (PKM, 6P41, "Utyos" or "Kord"). Entered service in 1974 and can carry 10 passengers. Combat weight: 8.5 tons.
- BTR-DG (Ob'yekt 925G) - Cargo version without bow machine guns, firing ports or periscopes and with a modified troop compartment.
- BTR-RD "Robot" - Anti tank missile team carrier with "Fagot" and "Konkurs" ATGM. This is basically a BTR-D with a pintle mount added and with missile racks inside the troop compartment.
- BTR-ZD "Skrezhet" (zenitnaya ustanovka) - Air defence variant with a crew of 3 and with racks for MANPAD missiles. can also be used to tow or carry the a ZU-23-2 air-defence gun.
- NPDU Sterkh (nazemnyj punkt distantsionnogo upravleniya) - UAV carrier and launch vehicle of the "Stroy-P" set. Launches Yak-061 "Pchela-1T" UAV for reconnaissance or jamming at ranges of 60 km. Entered service in 1990.
- R-440-ODB "Kristall-BDS" - Satellite communications vehicle with R-440 system with a range of 15,000 km. The vehicle has a roof-mounted satellite dish AK-12 that is covered with a cage-like structure during transport.
- BMD-1KShM "Soroka" (Ob'yekt 926) (komandno-shtabnaya mashina) - Unarmed command post version, equipped with radiosets R-123M, R-111 and R-130M or -134, a portable 1kW generator AB1, a navigation system TNA-3, two slim antenna masts and a collapsible frame antenna. No bow machine guns or firing ports. Crew: 3.
- BMD-1R "Sinitsa" (radiostantsiya) - Division-level signals vehicle with R-161A2M set and fitted with one heavy and one slim antenna mast. Only a small number was delivered.
- BREM-D (Ob'yekt 932) (bronirovannaya remonto-evakuatsionnaya mashina) - Repair and recovery vehicle, fitted with a light crane, a winch, a generator, tow bars and welding equipment. Entered service in 1989 in very small numbers.
- 1V119 "Reostat" - Artillery observation post (punkt razvedki i upravleniya ognyom). Fitted with PSNR-5/1RL133 ("TALL MIKE") radar and observation devices NNP-21 and V-7 in an unarmed turret. The other specialised equipment consists of three radiosets R-173 and R-159, an aiming circle PAB-2AM and range finders DSP-30 and DAK-2.
- 2S9 Anona (Ob'yekt 925S) - Fitted with 120mm 2A60 mortar. Entered service 1981.
[edit] Operators
Armenia - 10
Azerbaijan - 41
Belarus - 154 BMD-1 from 2000.
Russia - 1,800 BMD-1, BMD-2 and BMD-3 [2]
Ukraine - 61 BMD-1 and 78 BMD-2 [3]
Uzbekistan - 120 BMD-1 and 9 BMD-2 from 2000.
[edit] Former Operators
Soviet Union - Passed on to successor states.
[edit] See also
[edit] External Links
- BMD-4 latest version
[edit] References
- http://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/armored_vehicles/bmd-1.htm
- Hull, A.W. , Markov, D.R. , Zaloga, S.J. (1999). Soviet/Russian Armor and Artillery Design Practices 1945 to Present. Darlington Productions. ISBN 1-892848-01-5.
| Soviet and post-Soviet armoured fighting vehicles after World War II | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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