BMP-1

The legendary BMP-1. The original Mechanised Infantry Combat Vehicle (MICV). The heavily armed BMP-1 first appeared in the sixties and was a pioneering infantry vehicle in every right. Armed with a low pressure 73mm gun and a ATGW, the BMP-1 had firing ports for the carried infantry and was able to keep up the main battle tanks. The vehicle proved to be a shock to the western military establishment which were equipped with armoured taxis in the form of the machine gun-armed FV432 and M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC).

The BMP-1 saw combat with the Egyptian and the Syrian armies in the Arab-Israeli Wars of the twentieth century and was unsuccessful. It would appear that the Arab armies were incapable of the application of the Russian Operation Art. The Iraqis had deployed the BMP-1 unsuccessfully in the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War and the War in Iraq. The Russians had deployed the BMP-1 in action in Chechnya and Afghanistan.

Tank Museum: Bovington: July 2006