BMPT Terminator is one of those “wonder weapons” which russians really liked to flex about before they invaded the Ukraine. Well, today another myth was debunked. Enjoy the video
For those who are new to BMPT Terminator
BMPT is an acronym for Boyevaya Mashina Podderzhki Tankov, which is a Russian armored vehicle that provides fire support for tanks. It is sometimes referred to as the “Terminator” due to its intended role as a tank support vehicle and its heavily armored design. The BMPT is equipped with a variety of weapons, including 30mm automatic cannon, grenade launchers, and guided missiles, making it capable of engaging a wide range of targets, including enemy infantry, armor, and fortifications.
Reality is often dissapointing
That’s all very good in theory, but russian armed forces never managed to neither find a place in the brigade structure nor to produce these vehicles in any meaningful numbers. So far it is known that they have around 12 (well, eleven now) of them in the army. This would not be a major problem – BMPT Terminator can be easily produced using existing T-72 tanks. However, it does not look like they have any reasonable use on the modern battlefield.
Armament of BMPT Terminator
The main armament consists of two 2A42 automatic cannons. While these soviet designed cannons are really good, the russian engineers managed to screw up the system anyhow. The way barrels are placed make them interfere with each other, leading to excessive shaking and hence lower accuracy. This is well demonstrated in this video:
The regular rule of thumb is that it is better to have two separate vehicles with a gun each rather then the double barrel. Well, this rule has it’s exceptions, but they aren’t common.
The rest of the weapons installed on the terminator is also chaotic. They have a lot of ATGM missiles, which are not well protected and would be kicked off the turret after even a small caliber projectile impact. BMPT Terminator also features some automatic grenade launchers and 7.62 PKT machine guns. Overall it seems that russian engineers wanted to design a self-moving trench with a lot of soldiers in it, each operating his own weapon. I wonder where they got concept from.
