Big Bang Ricochet 027: Russia's BMPT TACV

What on earth is a TACV? It looks like a tank, but there's no big gun, so that can't be it. It could be a tank destroyer, but four missiles isn't enough to be one of those. Ah, it must be an Infantry Fighting Vehicle, but... there's no infantry?!

The BMPT is the first of an entirely new class of vehicles known as the Tank Assistance Combat Vehicle. The Russians claim it is the result of studies going back as far as World War II, which claim tank crews are overworked because they fall prey to the widest variety of opponents, from aircraft to other tanks, to strongpoints and bunkers, to individual soldiers with anti-tank weapons. The claim that placing one BMPT with a platoon of six APCs and 40 troops increases combat efficiency of the platoon twofold. The also claim that operating one BMPT with a platoon of five tanks increases the tank platoon's efficiency by 30%. The TACV's job is to support tanks in combat by dealing with all the secondary targets, allowing the tanks to focus on enemy heavy armor and strongpoints.

The truth is the BMPT and the TACV class in general are a means for the Russians to circumvent the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe treaty, which limits the number of assembled tanks, APC, IFV, and other armored vehicles they may possess. The BMPT manages this by not meeting any of the written definitions for the various AFV classifications listed in the treaty. The ongoing war in the Chechen Republic has been a drain, claiming thousands of armored vehicles. The BMPT is meant to handle both the limitations placed on Russia's military, as well as countering the highly effective tank hunting tactics of the Chechen rebels, who are reknowned for firing on armored vehicles from positions that lie outside the elevation ranges of most Russian vehicular weapons.

The armaments of the BMPT are varied an potent, including 30mm autocannons, Kornet anti-tank guided missiles, multiple 30mm automatic grenade launchers, and 7.62mm machine guns. The BMPT is built up from the hull of a T-72 or T-90 tank.

8 pages of content, detailing both versions of the BMPT. Also detailed are the 2A42 30mm automatic cannon and ammunition, the AGS-30 automatic grenade launcher, and the Shtora-1 Active Protection System.