In recent years, various so-called projects have been proposed in different countries. tank support combat vehicles / fire support combat vehicles. So far, it is impossible to talk about the existence of a certain classical concept of such a technique, and therefore the new samples are noticeably different from each other. First of all, the differences lie in the composition of the weapons. From this point of view, even the developments of the same country may differ. Let us consider carefully the issue of weapons and determine what weapons are needed for an effective BMPT.
First of all, you need to remember the goals and objectives of BMPT / BMOP. Such a technique, as its name implies, is intended to provide fire support to tanks or infantry. The main tank is not always capable of fighting tank-hazardous targets, and therefore their destruction is assigned to the infantry. However, in a number of situations, the infantry cannot accompany the tanks and help them. It is for this case that an BMPT is needed - a special vehicle with powerful protection and advanced weapons, capable of spotting and destroying grenade launchers, anti-tank systems crews, as well as light armored vehicles or some fortifications in time.
The first serial BMPT of Russian design. Photo Wikimedia Commons
Thus, potential targets for BMPT weapons are manpower and a significant part of combat vehicles for various purposes. At the same time, depending on the specifics of the current situation, the fire support vehicle may be able to attack tanks or field structures. All this makes special demands on its armament and fire control equipment.
Bullets and shrapnel
Despite the development of protective equipment, infantrymen with grenade launchers or portable ATGMs still remain one of the main threats to tanks and other armored vehicles. Their weapons are capable, at a minimum, of causing damage to the tank and interfering with its operation. Thus, BMPT should be able to effectively defeat "soft targets" that threaten armored vehicles. Small arms and automatic grenade launchers are the obvious means of dealing with such threats.
In the near zone, at distances of at least several hundred meters, a normal caliber machine gun is an effective anti-personnel weapon. For example, the Russian BMPT "Object 199" / "Terminator" carried one PKTM machine gun with an aiming range of up to 1500 m. Placing a machine gun on a stabilized installation and the presence of a fire control system with advanced optics made it possible to realize the full potential of such weapons. The twin installation for barrel armament on the Terminator allowed the weapon to be raised 45 ° above the horizon, which in a known manner increased the firing zone of the machine gun and other systems.
The flat trajectory of the bullet limits the combat qualities of the machine gun, preventing it from hitting targets behind obstacles. To increase the anti-personnel potential of BMPT / BMOP, automatic grenade launchers can be used, capable of hinged fire and literally throwing ammunition over obstacles. Grenade launchers of the AG-17D type are used in several domestic projects of tank support vehicles. With their help, it is proposed to hit manpower, unprotected buildings and lightly armored vehicles at ranges up to 1500-1700 m.
Tower "Terminator" with the main part of the weapon. Photo Vitalykuzmin.net
It should be noted that there are disputes and improvements in the field of "light" weapons. For example, the Russian "Terminators" of the first versions had both a machine gun and a pair of automatic grenade launchers. In the future, grenade launchers were abandoned for reasons of crew reduction and optimization of internal space. Foreign models, such as the newest Chinese BMOS QN-506, may not have grenade launcher weapons at all and can do only with a machine gun.
Artillery fire
An obvious way to bring the range of destruction of tank-hazardous targets to several kilometers is the use of artillery weapons. Equipping BMPT / BMOP with a tank gun or other medium or large caliber cannon does not look optimal, and therefore such equipment should be equipped with small-caliber cannons. Guns of 30-40 mm caliber have the most successful combination of firepower and dimensions, and also do not impose special requirements on volume for a large ammunition load.
For a long time, Russian engineers came to the conclusion that it was necessary to use two automatic cannons at once. A pair of 30 mm 2A42 guns provides a significant increase in firepower while maintaining reasonable ammunition dimensions. In addition, the installation with a pair of guns is distinguished by increased survivability: damage to one gun allows you to continue firing.
An interesting fact is that foreign engineers do not always use Russian ideas when developing new concepts and real samples. As a result, their vehicles carry only one small-caliber cannon. This simplifies the design of the combat vehicle, but at the same time leads to understandable consequences in the context of firepower and combat survivability. However, foreign equipment, such as the Ukrainian BMPT "Guard", may have a couple of guns.
A 30-mm automatic cannon is capable of striking manpower or unprotected equipment at distances of up to 3-4 km. At shorter ranges, it also turns out to be a means of dealing with light armored vehicles and various structures. Vertical aiming in a wide sector allows you to attack low-flying, slow air targets. Thus, artillery can be considered almost the most important element of BMPT weapons, capable of striking most characteristic targets. At the same time, as events and trends of recent years show, it should be developed in a certain direction.
An updated version of The Terminator. Photo by NPK "Uralvagonzavod" / uvz.ru
A serious threat to tanks is posed by light and medium-weight armored vehicles armed with anti-tank systems - now a lot of armored personnel carriers or infantry fighting vehicles from different countries correspond to this definition. To date, most of these vehicles have protection against small-caliber artillery shells, most often 30 mm caliber. Thus, BMPT / BMOP with a 30-mm cannon can no longer be guaranteed to hit enemy vehicles before they reach the line of opening return fire.
The solution to this problem can be an increase in the caliber of weapons. Now in our country, new combat modules with a 57-mm automatic cannon are being created. It is quite possible that the next generation of "Terminators" will receive such weapons, and with it the ability to defeat almost all tank-hazardous objects - with the exception of tanks.
Guided missiles
Working in the same battle formations with tanks, the fire support combat vehicle has every chance of colliding with the enemy's heavy armored vehicles, and this must also be taken into account when forming its complex of weapons. As already mentioned, the installation of a tank gun on an BMPT does not make sense, therefore, to combat tanks, you must use a different weapon. Guided missiles are a reasonable response to such threats.
Russian tank support vehicles are equipped with the Ataka anti-tank missile system and are capable of using several types of missiles. The ready-to-use ammunition load consists of four missiles transported on the sides of the tower in transport and launch containers. The "Attack" complex increases the target firing range up to 6-8 km. Depending on the missile model, a tandem cumulative warhead is capable of penetrating at least 850-950 mm of homogeneous armor behind ERA.
Serial BMPTs at the parade. Photo by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation / mil.ru
The Sentinel vehicle is armed in a similar way. Its tower carries four TPK with missiles of the "Bar'or" complex. Their firing range is declared at the level of 5 km. The tandem warhead is said to be capable of penetrating more than 800mm of armor behind ERA.
Chinese engineers in their QN-506 project used a different set of weapons. This armored vehicle is equipped with a pair of large containers with missile weapons, with which two types of missiles are used. First of all, the Chinese BMPT / BMOP can use QN-502 guided missiles with a range of up to 6 km. Also, unguided rockets QN-201 of 70 mm caliber can be used against ground targets. Launch guides for unguided missiles are located on the same installations with anti-tank missile TPK.
Other well-known foreign projects and concepts also provide for the use of guided missile weapons, but from this point of view they are not of particular interest. Missiles are viewed as a "standard" addition to other weapons, and no radical innovations are foreseen.
Armament control
Even the best weapons will not be able to show high performance without effective controls and guidance. From the point of view of the possibilities of observation and search for targets, the BMPT should not be inferior to modern tanks and therefore needs the appropriate means. The commander must have a panoramic sight, the gunner needs his own sighting devices. It is obligatory to have a day and night channel, as well as range measuring instruments. In the future, tank support vehicles can also receive other means, such as radar stations or reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles. Some new models already have similar equipment.
As it developed, domestic BMPTs received the entire basic set of surveillance and weapons control equipment. At the same time, the specific composition of the weapons complex led to the need to create a completely new fire control system capable of controlling barrel and missile weapons of all types. The standard equipment of the "Terminator" provides surveillance of the entire surrounding space with timely target detection and subsequent weapon guidance.
A prototype of the Ukrainian BMPT "Guard". Photo Wikimedia Commons
The Chinese project QN-506, according to known data, provides for the use of similar equipment, but at the same time offers an expansion of capabilities due to completely new components. Such a BMPT should carry a light unmanned aerial vehicle with a camera on board, with a working radius of 10 km. The presence of the UAV ensures the conduct of reconnaissance at a great distance from the combat vehicle and, as a result, increases the situational awareness of the crew.
Fire in all directions
An unobvious, but important parameter of a tank support combat vehicle is the ability to fire in different directions, including with the simultaneous firing of different weapons at several targets. Modern BMPT / BMOP have similar capabilities of this kind, allowing you to solve the main combat missions. At the same time, certain problems are possible.
Russian Terminators of all modifications are equipped with a full-revolving turret and panoramic sights. Thus, the crew can detect a target in any direction and then attack it using a machine gun, cannons or missiles. If the target is in the front hemisphere, then some variants of our BMPT can hit it with the use of grenade launchers. In appropriate situations, the target in front can be fired in several ways at once. With only a turret and no forward-facing armament, the firepower is slightly reduced, but the targeting sectors remain the same.
You also need to take into account the number of simultaneously fired targets. Various situations can arise on the battlefield, and in some one BMPT you will have to attack several different targets at once, including in different directions. Some modern combat vehicles are capable of solving such tasks, while others are inferior to them in this.
Chinese combat vehicle QN-506. Photo Slide.mil.news.sina.com.cn
Old modifications of the Russian "Terminator" had both a turret with weapons and a pair of automatic grenade launchers on their own installations. The architecture of the tower and the LMS allowed the simultaneous use of cannons, machine guns and missiles for only one target. At the same time, a pair of grenade launchers, who had their own sighting devices and autonomous weapons installations, could attack two other objects. Later modifications of Russian BMPTs were left without grenade launchers. Accordingly, they lost a couple of targeted channels and related opportunities.
Future and development
The concept of a tank support combat vehicle / fire support combat vehicle is not particularly popular. New projects of this kind appear regularly, but real samples are built quite rarely, and most of them were created by just one country. Nevertheless, the military of different armies show some interest in the proposed ideas, and this is the reason for the continued development of the entire class and the emergence of new projects.
Apparently, in the future BMPTs will change, but the path of their development is still difficult to predict. Most likely, the main way to modernize such equipment will be the transfer of combat modules with weapons to new chassis that meet current requirements. It is also possible to update the complex of weapons. First of all, it must follow the path of using new types of barrel weapons, missile systems, etc. New products will increase the range and accuracy of fire. Further development of fire control facilities also makes sense, including with the addition of existing systems with new devices.
However, the development of the entire class of BMPT / BMOP is limited by objective factors. For one reason or another, this technique is not popular. The lack of orders leads to a lack of competition and, as a consequence, to the absence of the need for active development of the direction. Nevertheless, BMPTs still enter service in some countries, and this stimulates their development. Technological improvements continue, and in the future we will be able to see again the results of such incentives.
