BMP-1P Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle (1975 to present), TL7
Until the late 1960's, armored personnel carriers were, for the most part, battlefield taxis. The soldiers inside could not engage targets without exposing themselves to return fire and the APC itself was often armed with only a machine gun. This began to change, as countries gave their APCs better armament and troops the ability to fire their weapons while staying inside the vehicle. However, for the most parts the increments were small. Then, in 1967, the situation rapidly changed.
The Soviet Union, in a military parade that year, revealed the BMP-1, a compact, heavily armed personnel carrier that was the first of a new type -- the Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle. Here was a vehicle that not only could carry an 8-man squad in the relative safety of the typical APC, but was also capable of destroying tanks and other APCs at several thousand yards with either a 73mm low-velocity cannon (firing rocket-assisted shells) or an AT-3 Sagger missile on a launch rail overhanging the cannon barrel. In 1975, the BMP-1P appeared to the West. It is an upgrade on the BMP-1, adding six 81mm smoke dischargers on the turret sides and replacing the rail-mounted AT-3 with either the AT-4 Spigot or AT-5 Spandrel in a prepackaged, disposable pintle-mounted tube, as well as several other small improvements. The BMP-1 and its variants have been widely exported around the world, with over 22,000 having been built. NATO quickly moved to create their own MICV; the West German Marder was the first, in the very early '70's and eventually the M2 Bradley, as well as several others.
The layout of the BMP-1 is as follows: the engine is lengthwise in the front right side, with the driver to the left front and the commander behind him. Both have overhead hatches and the commander has the IR/white light spotlight located next to his hatch. The turret is centrally located, with the gunner sitting on the left with the autoloader behind him. He has an overhead hatch as well, which he must use to reload the ATGM launcher. The eight infantrymen are packed behind the turret basket, four to a side. There are four firing ports on each side; the front port on each side is for a RPK or PKM machine gun and the rear three are for assault rifles. There are also four hatches over the troop compartment and two doors at the rear, with one firing port in the left door. 1900 rounds for RPK/PKMs and 720 rounds for assault rifles are carried in addition to the soldier's personal loads. Also, a RPG-7 and five rockets are carried in each BMP-1; one vehicle in each platoon also carries a SA-7 Grail or SA-16 SAM launcher. Both of these weapons may be safely fired by a soldier standing in one of the rear hatches. The vehicle is amphibious without preparation, using its tracks for propulsion.
Despite the initial reaction NATO had to the BMP-1, it has turned out to have several flaws. The armor is extremely thin, as with other APCs, making the vehicle vulnerable to anything heavier than a machine gun. Its compact interior greatly increases the chance that any penetrating hit will disable or destroy the MICV (in addition, the hollow rear doors double as fuel tanks and the main fuel tank is in the troop compartment, meaning a rear hit is likely to incinerate the troops). The crew and passengers are extremely cramped, which undoubtedly hampers the crew's performance, especially when operated for long periods off-road. Running off-road at high speed can quickly reduce the troops to uselessness. The unstabilized 73mm gun has a blind spot between the 11-12 o'clock position, where it is blocked by the commander's spotlight (in fact, the turret won't rotate past the spotlight if the gun isn't sufficiently elevated). In addition, the gun must be at 3.5 degrees elevation for the autoloader to function correctly. There have also been reports that if the gunner is not being careful, the autoloader will attempt to feed his arm into the breech; several users have removed the autoloader due to safety concerns.
Related Vehicles:
BMD: A smaller, much lighter (less than 18,000 lbs) vehicle designed
for airborne operations, introduced in 1969. It carries 6 soldiers and
lacks the rear doors; troop enter and exit through two overhead hatches.
While it strongly resembles the BMP-1, it is actually a new vehicle.
BMP-2: Appearing in 1980, it replaces the one-man turret with a two-man
turret (an infantryman takes the commander's old seat in the hull behind
the driver). The 73mm cannon is replaced with a 30mm automatic cannon,
partially stabilized and capable of high-angle anti-aircraft fire. The
cannon has 500 rounds of ready ammo, normally 305 HE and 195 AP-type. There
are only six men in the troop compartment, with one rifle port on each
side deleted. It retains an ATGM launcher on the turret roof. Many BMP-2s
have been refitted with a pintle-mounted 30mm AGL on the turret roof, in
part due to lessons learned in Afghanistan. Hull armor is about 30% thicker
on the front and 50% on the sides. The BMP-2 will be detailed in the upcoming
GURPS®
Vehicles Companion™.
BMP-3: This is a new vehicle rather than a variant of the BMP-1; it
is best viewed as a light tank that can carry infantry inside. Roughly
similar to the BMP-2, but it places a 100mm rifled cannon in the turret
along with the 30mm cannon. The 100mm fires HE shells and AT-10 AGTMs.
There is no separate ATGM launcher on the turret roof. Armor on the turret
and hull is roughly double that of the BMP-1. It first appeared in the
early 1990's.
A Russian company also offers a replacement drop-in one-man turret armed with a stabilized 30mm cannon, a 4 Kornet ATGM launcher and improved sensors/sights for the gunner. There is also a French-designed reactive armor package available, but due to the danger it poses to dismounted infantry it is rarely issued.
Subassemblies: Body +3, full rotation Turret +2, eight Open Mounts
-1 (#1 and #8 partial rotation, #2-7 fixed), two Tracks +2
P&P: 221 kW diesel w/tracked drivetrain, 2x 4000 kWs lead-acid
batteries, 122 gallons diesel (fire chance: 8) in three self sealing tanks:
one 16 gallon (left rear door), one 18 gallon (right rear door) and one
88 gallon, 445 mile range (road)
Occ: Body: 2 CCS (driver and commander), 8 CS; Turret: 1 CCS
(gunner)
Cargo: 10 cf internal
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| Body | 6/96 | 4/50 | 4/47 | 4/17 | 4/17 |
| Turret | 5/85 | 5/72 | 4/62 | 4/17 | 0/0 |
| Tracks | 4/20 |
Weaponry
73mm 2A28 cannon [Turret:F] (16 HEAT, 24 HE)
7.62mm PKT coaxial MG [Turret:F] (2000 in one continuous belt)
AT-5 Spandrel launch tube [OM1] (1, plus 2 in turret, 2 in body)
Equipment
OM2-7: one smoke discharger each
OM8: white/IR searchlight (1 mile)
Turret: white/IR searchlight (0.6 miles), gunner day gun sight
(8x telescope, +3/+5), gunner Passive IR night gun sight (0.6 miles, Scan
9)
Body: driver Passive IR sight (1 mile, Scan 10), commander Passive
IR sight (1 mile, Scan 10), 2 medium range radios, 11-man NBC kit, compact
fire suppression system, bilge pump
Statistics
| Size: 7'x10'x22' | Payload: approx. 4100 lbs | Lwt: 28,400 lbs (14.18 tons) |
| Volume: 810 cf (Size Mod: +4) | Maint.: 45 hours | Price: $203,000 |
HT: 12
HP: 1080 [body], 384 [each track], 265 [turret]
| gSpeed: 47 | gAccel: 3 | gDecel: 20 | gMR: 0.5 | gSR: 4 | GP: very low (4/5) |
| wSpeed: 5 | wAccel: 0.3 | wDecel: 10 | wMR: 0.5 | wSR: 5 |
Design Notes
Frame is heavy and cheap for 445 cf body, 60 cf turret, and 279 cf
tracks.
New Weapons
73mm 2A28 cannon: short barrel, low-powered, smoothbore, slow
autoloader; all rounds are rocket-assisted
Dam 9dx3(10) HEAT, 6dx5(10) Improved HEAT or 6dx2[6d] HE, Acc 11, SS
25, 1/2Dam 1400, Max 5000, ROF 1/8
[Note: Improved HEAT is late TL7, increasing damage by 10%]
30mm 2A42 cannon: very long barrel, heavy autoloader
Dam 6dx5(2) AP, Acc 13, SS 25, 1/2Dam 1600, Max 4400, ROF 9
7.62mm PKT machine gun
Use stats for the PK machine gun in GURPS® High Tech™.
[Note: The following missiles use real world numbers where available; they were not designed using VE2 rules.]
AT-5 Spandrel anti-tank missile: HEAT warhead, wire guidance
Dam 5dx10(10) [5dx14(10) AT-5B], SS 20, Min 110, Max 4400, Speed 220
yps, End 20 sec, ROF 1/20, AWt 55 lbs [58 lbs AT-5B]
AT-4 Spigot anti-tank missile: HEAT warhead, wire guidance
Dam 6dx6(10), SS 20, Min 75, Max 2200, Speed 205 yps, End 11 sec, ROF
1/20, AWt 29 lbs
AT-3A/B Sagger anti-tank missile: 125mm HEAT warhead, wire guidance
Dam 6dx5(10) [6dx8(10) for AT-3C], SS 20, Min 550, Max 3300, Speed
125 yps, End 26 sec, ROF 1/20, AWt 24 lbs [25 lbs AT-3C]
Sources
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Military Vehicles, Ian Hogg
and John Weeks, 1980
Modern Fighting Vehicles, Bob Lewis, 1988
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/row/weg.pdf
http://members.aol.com/panzersgt/Threat/bmp1.html
Special thanks to Onno Meyer and Hans Christian-Vortisch for their input on the first draft.