127-466: The BMPT "Terminator" ( Боевая машина поддержки танков – Tank Support Fighting Vehicle) is an armored fighting vehicle (AFV), designed and manufactured by the Russian company Uralvagonzavod . This vehicle was designed for supporting tanks and other AFVs in urban areas . The BMPT is unofficially named the "Terminator" by the manufacturers. It is heavily armed and armored to survive in urban combat. The AFV
254-586: A T-80 was also hit by a kamikaze drone while towing the BMPT away. A third one was hit by a crowdfunded kamikaze drone in September 2023; a BREM-1 armoured recovery vehicle attempting to recover the BMPT was also reportedly destroyed. According to journalist and military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko, a BMPT Terminator was reportedly either destroyed or damaged in the Kurakhove direction in late October 2024, if true marking
381-433: A diesel engine ; modern technology, including the use of turbo-charging , helps to overcome the lower power-to-weight ratio of diesel engines compared to petrol. Gas turbine (turboshaft) engines offer a very high power-to-weight ratio and were starting to find favour in the late 20th century – however, they offer very poor fuel consumption and as such some armies are switching from gas turbines back to diesel engines (i.e.
508-449: A limited impact on the war. They were first observed during the battle of Sieverodonetsk in Ukraine . In late May 2022, footage emerged of 2 BMPTs in action with Russian tanks during an offensive on Lysychansk, the armored group took positions on a hill and began shelling a highway below but was forced to retreat due to Ukrainian artillery fire. Of the approximately 10 BMPTs deployed, there
635-447: A main battle tank will normally be designed to take hits from other tank guns and anti-tank missiles , whilst light reconnaissance vehicles are often only armoured "just in case". Whilst heavier armour provides better protection, it makes vehicles less mobile (for a given engine power), limits its air-transportability, increases cost, uses more fuel and may limit the places it can go – for example, many bridges may be unable to support
762-560: A thermobaric warhead and yields a blast effect of 9.5 kg in TNT equivalence. This missile's average speed for all variants is 400 m/s when reaching a target located 5.8 km from the launcher for a flight time of 14.5 seconds. The 9M120 has an operational range of up to 6 km and travels at a supersonic speed of 550 m/s. The main weapons of BMPT are the two 30 mm 2A42 autocannons . A total of 850 rounds of ready-to-use ammunition can be carried. These twin autocannons have
889-494: A turret or cupola. The greater the recoil of the weapon on an AFV, the larger the turret ring needs to be. A larger turret ring necessitates a larger vehicle. To avoid listing to the side, turrets on amphibious vehicles are usually located at the centre of the vehicle. Grenade launchers provide a versatile launch platform for a plethora of munitions including, smoke , phosphorus, tear gas , illumination, anti-personnel, infrared and radar-jamming rounds. Turret stabilization
1016-726: A British Army engineer. They were very popular with smaller countries. Some saw some combat (with limited success) in World War II. However, the vulnerability of their light armour eventually caused the concept to be abandoned. However, the German Army uses a modern design of air-transportable armoured weapons carriers, the Wiesel AWC , which resembles the concept of a tankette. The term "super-heavy tank" has been used to describe armoured fighting vehicles of extreme size, generally over 75 tonnes. Programs have been initiated on several occasions with
1143-747: A Vickers QF-1 "Pom-Pom" gun of 40 mm. The Germans fielded the Sd.Kfz. 10/4 and 6/2, cargo halftracks mounting single 20 mm or 37 mm AA guns (respectively) by the start of the war. Rocket launchers such as the Soviet Katyusha originated in the late 1930s. The Wehrmacht fielded self-propelled rocket artillery in World War II – the Panzerwerfer and Wurfrahmen 40 equipped half-track armoured fighting vehicles. Many modern multiple rocket launchers are self propelled by either truck or tank chassis. The level of armour protection between AFVs varies greatly –
1270-417: A combined fire rate of 600 rounds per minute, which gives a continuous fire time of 85 seconds (1 min 25 sec) before running out of ammo (not considering the constraints that limit the practical rate of fire, such as barrel overheating). Traverse of the autocannons is synchronised with the turret and they can elevate between −5° and +45°. The twin 2A42s are stabilized in the vertical and horizontal planes. One of
1397-551: A decisive Israeli victory. In Jenin the battle was much harder and fierce. Unlike in Nablus, the forces who fought in Jenin were mainly reserve forces. The Palestinian militants booby-trapped the city and the refugee camp with thousands of explosive charges, some were very large and most were concealed in houses and on the streets. After 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush combined with booby traps, snipers and suicide bombers ,
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#17328587208211524-512: A dedicated anti-personnel fighting vehicle would provide valuable assistance in an urban environment. Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were used as a temporary solution in Chechnya . However, these vehicles were not well-armored and did not possess the obstacle-clearing capabilities of an MBT. There have been several different prototype designs of a tank support fighting vehicle, like the Object 193A and
1651-433: A famous, notorious place in the history of war, particularly urban warfare. It seems to encapsulate and personify it, to provide an instinctive yardstick by which urban warfare can be examined, understood, defined, and assessed" according to military historian Stephen Walsh. The Soviets used the great amount of destruction to their advantage by adding man-made defenses such as barbed wire, minefields, trenches, and bunkers to
1778-574: A ground-level tunnel similar to that between the first courtyard and the road. The larger, more expensive flats faced the street and the smaller, less expensive ones were found around the inner courtyards. Just as the Soviets had learned a lot about urban warfare, so had the Germans. The Waffen-SS did not use the makeshift barricades erected close to street corners, because these could be raked by artillery fire from guns firing over open sights further along
1905-435: A highly mobile and protected fighting unit has been around for centuries; from Hannibal 's war elephants to Leonardo 's contraptions , military strategists endeavoured to maximize the mobility and survivability of their soldiers. Armoured fighting vehicles were not possible until internal combustion engines of sufficient power became available at the start of the 20th century. Modern armoured fighting vehicles represent
2032-652: A myriad of structures, and mountains of rubble. Ferroconcrete structures will be ruined by heavy bombardment, but it is very difficult to demolish such a building totally when it is well defended. Soviet forces had to fight room by room while defending the Red October Steel Factory during the Battle of Stalingrad , and in 1945, during the race to capture the Reichstag , despite heavy bombardment with artillery at point blank range (including 203 mm howitzers ). It
2159-515: A short term measure, they deployed self-propelled anti-aircraft guns ( ZSU-23-4 and 2K22M ) to engage the Chechen combat groups, as their tank's main gun did not have the elevation and depression to engage the fire teams and an armoured vehicle's machine gun could not suppress the fire of half a dozen different fire teams simultaneously. In the long term, the Russians brought in more infantry and began
2286-458: A single belt. Only vertical stabilization is provided for the grenade launchers. The horizontal angles that the AG-17Ds can cover are from 5° (to the left) to 27° (to the right) for the right grenade launcher and from 27° (to the left) and 5° (to the right) for the left grenade launcher. The maximum vertical elevation is +20° and the minimum is −5.5°. The muzzle velocity is 185 m/s and the fire rate
2413-878: A small team of infantry soldiers should fight in close and built-up spaces). IDF's LASHAB was developed mainly in recent decades, after the 1982 Lebanon War included urban warfare in Beirut and Lebanese villages, and was further developed during the Second Intifada (2000–2005) in which IDF soldiers entered and fought in Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps. The IDF has a special large and advanced facility for training soldiers and units in urban warfare. Urban military operations in World War II often relied on large quantities of artillery bombardment and air support varying from ground attack fighters to heavy bombers . In
2540-512: A systematic advance through the city, house by house and block by block, with dismounted Russian infantry moving in support of armour. In proactive moves, the Russians started to set up ambush points of their own and then move armour towards them to lure the Chechen combat groups into ambushes. As with the Soviet tank crews in Berlin in 1945, who attached bedsprings to the outside of their turrets to reduce
2667-467: A tank being first deployed as a medium tank, but in later years relegated to light tank roles. Tanks were also classified by roles that were independent of size, such as cavalry tank , cruiser tank , fast tank , infantry tank , "assault" tank, or "breakthrough" tank. Military theorists initially tended to assign tanks to traditional military infantry, cavalry, and artillery roles, but later developed more specialized roles unique to tanks. In modern use,
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#17328587208212794-414: A tank chassis. During World War II, most major military powers developed self-propelled artillery vehicles. These had guns mounted on a tracked chassis (often that of an obsolete or superseded tank) and provided an armoured superstructure to protect the gun and its crew. The first British design, "Bishop" , carried the 25 pdr gun-howitzer in an extemporised mounting on a tank chassis that severely limited
2921-940: A three-dimensional environment, limited fields of view and fire because of buildings, enhanced concealment and cover for defenders, below-ground infrastructure, and the ease of placement of booby traps and snipers. Historically, the United States Armed Forces has referred to urban warfare as UO (urban operations), but this term has been largely replaced with MOUT (military operations in urban terrain). The British armed forces terms are OBUA (operations in built-up areas), FIBUA (fighting in built-up areas), or sometimes (colloquially) FISH (fighting in someone's house), or FISH and CHIPS (fighting in someone's house and causing havoc in people's streets/public spaces). The term FOFO (fighting in fortified objectives) refers to clearing enemy personnel from narrow and entrenched places like bunkers, trenches and strongholds;
3048-446: A very large movable siege tower, the helepolis , as early as 340 BC, and Greek forces used such structures in the Siege of Rhodes (305 BC). The idea of a protected fighting vehicle has been known since antiquity. Frequently cited is Leonardo da Vinci 's 15th-century sketch of a mobile, protected gun-platform ; the drawings show a conical, wooden shelter with apertures for cannons around
3175-488: A wide variety of both ground targets and air targets. Despite significant advances in anti-tank warfare , it still remains the most versatile and fearsome land-based weapon-systems of the 21st-century, valued for its shock action and high survivability . A tankette is a tracked armed and armoured vehicle resembling a small "ultra-light tank" or "super-light tank" roughly the size of a car, mainly intended for light infantry support or scouting . Tankettes were introduced in
3302-458: Is 420–480 rds/min, which gives a continuous fire time (both barrels combined) of 37–43 seconds before running out of ammo (not considering the constraints that limit the practical rate of fire, such as barrel overheating). An effective range of 1,700 m is provided while the kill radius of the 30 mm grenades is seven meters. Automatic grenade launcher operators are equipped with the "Agat-MR" day/night independent stabilized sights. To enable
3429-616: Is a tank fulfilling the role of a main battle tank, but using only anti-tank surface-to-surface missiles for main armament. Several nations have experimented with prototypes, notably the Soviet Union during the tenure of Nikita Khrushchev (projects Object 167, Object 137Ml, Object 155Ml, Object 287, Object 775), A flame tank is an otherwise-standard tank equipped with a flamethrower , most commonly used to supplement combined arms attacks against fortifications , confined spaces, or other obstacles. The type only reached significant use in
3556-486: Is able to use the commander's sight to engage targets if his own sight is disabled or destroyed. The commander of the vehicle also has the ability to override the command to take control of the turret and guns from the gunner. The navigation system used by the BMPT is a combined GPS / GLONASS module. The Terminator possesses a System 902A automatic smoke grenade launcher on both sides of the turret which serves as camouflage and provides protection against guided weapons. When
3683-683: Is also difficult to destroy underground or heavily fortified structures such as bunkers and utility tunnels; during the Siege of Budapest in 1944 fighting broke out in the sewers, as both Axis and Soviet troops used them for troop movements. Analysts debate the scope and size of urban battles in the modern day, as they are unlikely to match the scale of battles in the Second World War. For example, professor Michael C. Desch states that while "enormous forces engaged on both sides in those battles may never be seen in high-intensity urban battles again", that "the large numbers of killed and wounded underline
3810-430: Is an important capability because it enables firing on the move and prevents crew fatigue. Modern AFVs have primarily used either petrol (gasoline) or diesel piston engines. More recently, gas turbines have been used. Most early AFVs used petrol engines , as they offer a good power-to-weight ratio . However, they fell out of favour during World War II due to the flammability of the fuel. Most current AFVs are powered by
3937-555: Is armed with four 9M120 Ataka missile launchers, two 30 mm 2A42 autocannons, two AG-17D grenade launchers, and one coaxial 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun. The BMPT is built on the chassis of the widely used T-72 main battle tank. The BMPT was designed based on combat experience gained during the Soviet–Afghan War and the First Chechen War . Multiple prototypes of a tank support combat vehicle were created prior to
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4064-426: Is distinguished by its high level of firepower, mobility and armour protection relative to other vehicles of its era. It can cross comparatively rough terrain at high speeds, but its heavy dependency on fuel, maintenance, and ammunition makes it logistically demanding. It has the heaviest armour of any AFVs on the battlefield, and carries a powerful precision-guided munition weapon systems that may be able to engage
4191-517: Is footage of 1 being destroyed and 2 being damaged in Ukraine. On 9 February 2023, a BMPT was destroyed by Ukrainian artillery near Kreminna , Luhansk. In July 2023, the Russian 3rd Army Corps released footage of a Terminator using its 30mm autocannon and Ataka anti-tank missiles at night. Later in August 2023, a second BMPT was damaged or destroyed by Ukrainian kamikaze drones near Spartak , Donetsk Oblast;
4318-424: Is located at the top of the BMPT and has a 360° field of view. This panoramic sight has optical, low-level laser rangefinder and television channels. The B07-K2 standard gunner's sight consists of optical and thermal channels and a laser rangefinder. The vehicle also has hunter-killer capabilities with its separate commander's panoramic sight and gunner's sight which can detect both ground and aerial targets. The gunner
4445-606: Is located on each side of the turret. These launchers have an elevation of up to +25° and depression down to −5°. Laser beam riding SACLOS is the method of guidance used by the Terminator's ATGMs. The original 9M120 Ataka missile is 130 mm in diameter and features a tandem warhead capable of defeating explosive reactive armor (ERA). The tandem warhead penetrates 800 mm of Rolled homogeneous armor (RHA) behind ERA with later variants capable of penetrating 950 mm of RHA after ERA. The anti-personnel variant (9M120F) contains
4572-469: Is only armored against small arms fire. The maximum speed of the vehicle is 60 km/h over highways and a cruising range of 550 km with external fuel tanks. The BMPT can cross a trench that's as long as 2.7 ± 0.1 m and overcome vertical obstacles as high as 0.85 m. Like the T-72, the transmission of the engine is manual with seven gears for forward and one gear for reverse. The maximum gradient for
4699-430: Is to be deployed with two BMPTs. Outside of urban warfare that ratio is reversed with one BMPT protecting two main battle tanks. This results from the complexity of fighting in urban terrain and the need for a versatile anti-personnel platform that can engage multiple targets at once and on different height levels. The introduction of such a vehicle makes urban fighting less stressful on MBTs and can relieve them of some of
4826-697: The Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International and Non-International Armed Conflicts . Sometimes distinction and proportionality , as in the case of the Canadians in Ortona , causes the attacking force to restrain from using all the force they could when attacking a city. In other cases, such as the Battle of Stalingrad and
4953-429: The Battle of Berlin , both military forces considered evacuating civilians only to find it impractical. When Russian forces attacked Grozny in 1999, they conducted a massive artillery and air bombardment campaign in an attempt to smash the city into submission. The Russian Army handled the issue of civilian casualties by issuing an ultimatum urging citizens to leave or be destroyed without mercy. Leaflets dropped on
5080-501: The Battle of Manila in 1945, General MacArthur initially placed a ban on artillery and air strikes to save civilian lives. Military forces are bound by the laws of war governing military necessity to the amount of force which can be applied when attacking an area where there are known to be civilians. Until the 1970s, this was covered by the 1907 Hague Convention IV – The Laws and Customs of War on Land which specifically includes articles 25–27. This has since been supplemented by
5207-466: The European theatre of war , roughly 40% of battles took place in urban areas. In some particularly vicious urban warfare battles such as Stalingrad and Warsaw , all weapons were used irrespective of their consequences. Military historian Victor Davis Hanson noted the lethality of urban warfare in the Second World War, "When civilian met soldier in the confined landscapes, the death toll spiked, and it
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5334-514: The First Battle of Grozny ), while artillery and air support can be severely reduced if the "superior" party wants to limit civilian casualties as much as possible, but the defending party does not (or even uses civilians as human shields ). Some civilians may be difficult to distinguish from such combatants as armed militias and gangs, and particularly individuals who are simply trying to protect their homes from attackers. Tactics are complicated by
5461-677: The First Chechen War most of the Chechen fighters had been trained in the Soviet armed forces. They were divided into combat groups consisting of 15 to 20 personnel, subdivided into three or four-man fire teams . A fire team consisted of an antitank gunner, usually armed with a Russian made RPG-7s or RPG-18s , a machine gunner and a sniper. The team would be supported by ammunition runners and assistant gunners. To destroy Russian armoured vehicles in Grozny , five or six hunter-killer fire teams deployed at ground level, in second and third stories, and in basements. The snipers and machine gunners would pin down
5588-749: The Hussite Wars . These heavy wagons were given protective sides with firing slits; their heavy firepower came from either a cannon or from a force of hand-gunners and crossbowmen , supported by light cavalry and infantry using pikes and flails . Heavy arquebuses mounted on wagons were called arquebus à croc . These carried a ball of about 3.5 ounces (100 g). By the end of World War II , most modern armies had vehicles to carry infantry, artillery and anti-aircraft weaponry . Most modern AFVs are superficially similar in design to their World War II counterparts, but with significantly better armour, weapons, engines, electronics, and suspension. The increase in
5715-595: The MOWAG Piranha , originally designed as an APC, has been adapted to fill numerous roles such as a mortar carrier , infantry fighting vehicle, and assault gun. Armoured fighting vehicles began to appear in use in World War I with the armoured car, the tank, the self-propelled gun, and the personnel carrier seeing use. By World War II, armies had large numbers of AFVs, together with other vehicles to carry troops this permitted highly mobile manoeuvre warfare . The concept of
5842-540: The Object 745 . A mock-up of the Object 199 was shown for the first time in public during the summer of 2000. This vehicle was slightly different from the current design, being armed with only a single 2A42 30 mm gun and with four 9M133 Kornet missiles located on one side of the turret. The production model of the BMPT was introduced in 2002 and featured twin 30 mm autocannons, two independent 30 mm automatic grenade launchers, and four Ataka missile launchers. When used in urban terrain, each main battle tank
5969-744: The Russian Marines with the PT-76 , the British Army with the Scimitar , and the Chinese Army with the Type 63 . Modern main battle tanks or "universal tanks" incorporate recent advances in automotive, artillery, armour, and electronic technology to combine the best characteristics of the historic medium and heavy tanks into a single, all-around type. They are also the most expensive to mass-produce. A main battle tank
6096-476: The Second World War (1939–1945). The armoured personnel carrier, designed to transport infantry troops to the frontline, emerged towards the end of World War I. During the first actions with tanks , it had become clear that close contact with infantry was essential in order to secure ground won by the tanks. Troops on foot were vulnerable to enemy fire, but they could not be transported in the tank because of
6223-574: The Second World War , during which the United States, Soviet Union , Germany , Italy , Japan and the United Kingdom (including members of the British Commonwealth ) all produced flamethrower-equipped tanks. Usually, the flame projector replaced one of the tank's machineguns, however, some flame projectors replaced the tank's main gun. Fuel for the flame weapon was generally carried inside
6350-540: The battle of Sieverodonetsk in Ukraine . The history of the BMPT's development can be traced back to the Soviet–Afghan War . Combat experience during the lengthy war revealed that infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) like the BMP-1 and BMP-2 cannot fully deal with infantry, despite the BMP-2's high gun elevation. Although main battle tanks (MBTs) possessed a high amount of firepower, the limited elevation and depression angles of
6477-443: The macromanagement factor (i.e. sending troops, using of heavy armoured fighting vehicles , battle management), CQB refers to the micromanagement factor—namely: how a small squad of infantry troops should fight in urban environments and/or inside buildings in order to achieve its goals with minimal casualties. As a doctrine, CQB concerns topics such as: Military CQB doctrine is different from police CQB doctrine, mainly because
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#17328587208216604-411: The 19th century. Most of those, thanks to housing regulations and few elevators, were five stories high, built around a courtyard which could be reached from the street through a corridor large enough to take a horse and cart or small trucks used to deliver coal. In many places these apartment blocks were built around several courtyards, one behind the other, each one reached through the outer courtyards by
6731-601: The 2020s. In 2023, analyst Mikael Weissmann claimed that it is widely agreed upon that urban warfare will be the "battlefields of tomorrow". The characteristics of an average city include tall buildings, narrow alleys, sewage tunnels and possibly a subway system. Defenders may have the advantage of detailed local knowledge of the area, right down to the layout inside of buildings and means of travel not shown on maps. The buildings can provide excellent sniping posts while alleys and rubble-filled streets are ideal for planting booby traps . Defenders can move from one part of
6858-403: The BMPT is 30° and 25° when climbing forwards and travelling along a side respectively. Fording capabilities are provided by the BMPT. It can cross water obstacles with a depth of 1.2 m without preparation and 1.8 m with five minutes of preparation. When installed with a snorkel kit, this vehicle is able to cross rivers up to five meters in depth. The rear of the driver's compartment, at
6985-476: The BMPT to engage targets in both day and night conditions and when the BMPT is stationary or moving, a computerized fire-control system is fitted. The sight of the gunner includes a thermal channel, an optical channel, a guided ATGM channel, and a laser rangefinder. The field of view sight has an independent stabilization in two planes. The sights provide detection of targets at ranges up to 7,000 m in poor weather conditions. The commander's B07-K1 panoramic sight
7112-486: The IDF changed its tactics from slow advancing infantry soldiers backed by attack helicopters to a heavy use of armoured bulldozers. The heavily armoured bulldozers began by clearing booby traps and ended with razing many houses, mainly in the center of the refugee camp. The armoured bulldozers were unstoppable and impervious to Palestinian attacks and by razing booby-trapped houses and buildings which used as gun posts they forced
7239-525: The KMT-7 or KMT-8 mine sweepers. T-72 tanks can be also converted into BMPT. BMPT-72 "Terminator 2" is an improvement over its predecessor. It is made from a T-72 hull where the turret is replaced with a "Terminator" module and armament. The Terminator 2 can be effectively used to destroy enemy tanks, armored personnel carriers and other armored assets, and to suppress enemy firing emplacements and infantry using grenade launchers and antitank weapons systems. Unlike
7366-505: The Russian T-80 used a gas turbine engine, whereas the later T-90 does not). The US M1 Abrams is a notable example of a gas turbine powered tank. Notable armoured fighting vehicles extending from post-World War I to today. The tank is an all terrain AFV incorporating artillery which is designed to fill almost all battlefield roles and to engage enemy forces by the use of direct fire in
7493-411: The Soviets. Most of the central districts of Berlin consisted of city blocks with straight wide roads, intersected by several waterways, parks and large railway marshalling yards. The terrain was predominantly flat but there were some low hills like that of Kreuzberg that is 66 metres (217 ft) above sea level. Much of the housing stock consisted of apartment blocks built in the second half of
7620-409: The Terminator 1 however, the Terminator 2 is a retrofit only package, with old T-72B or T-72M tanks being upgraded to BMPT-72 standard. The Terminator 2 is aimed at the export market (in particular as part of offset deals ). The conversion process of the obsolete vehicles can be undertaken at the customer facilities. The two automatic grenade launchers are removed along with its operators, reducing
7747-455: The U.S. Army under Zachary Taylor invaded the town. The U.S. Army had no prior training in urban warfare and the Mexican defenders hid on rooftops, shot through loopholes, and stationed cannons in the middle of the city's streets. The houses at Monterrey were made of thick adobe , with strong double doors and few windows. The rooftops were lined with a two-foot-tall wall that acted as a parapet for
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#17328587208217874-624: The United States Marine Corps , Charles C. Krulak , and retired military officer and chairman of the urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, John Spencer have predicted urban warfare to become the norm in wars. Spencer confirmed this to be true in an article in 2024, providing a list of numerous urban battles in the recent decades of the 21st century alone, those being Fallujah , Sadr City , Mosul , Raqqa , Marawi , and now Bakhmut , Mariupol , and Khan Yunis in
8001-587: The aim of creating an invincible siegeworks / breakthrough vehicle for penetrating enemy formations and fortifications without fear of being destroyed in combat. Examples were designed in World War I and World War II (such as the Panzer VIII Maus ), along with a few in the Cold War . However, few working prototypes were built and there is no clear evidence any of these vehicles saw combat, as their immense size would have made most designs impractical. A missile tank
8128-414: The army needed to " mouse hole " through each house and root out the defenders in close combat. Worth's men used pick axes to chip holes in the adobe walls of the homes, in the roof of the house from where the soldiers could drop in, or used ladders to climb to the top of a rooftop and assault the Mexican defenders in hand-to-hand combat. The typical assault on a home would include one man who would run to
8255-536: The basic fact that such conflict is extremely lethal", referencing the battles of Stalingrad and Berlin. An article by the Modern War Institute states that while lessons may be taken from Stalingrad, ultimately "Stalingrad took place in a theater with a large number of army groups with a total of a million soldiers involved on each side; modern armies are unlikely to fight with these numbers." Many analysts, such as former American army general and Commandant of
8382-400: The battlefield. The classifications are not absolute; two countries may classify the same vehicle differently, and the criteria change over time. For example, relatively lightly armed armoured personnel carriers were largely superseded by infantry fighting vehicles with much heavier armament in a similar role. Successful designs are often adapted to a wide variety of applications. For example,
8509-652: The best-known infantry tanks was the Matilda II of World War II. Other examples include the French R-35 , the British Valentine , and the British Churchill . Urban warfare Urban warfare is warfare in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat differs from combat in the open at both operational and the tactical levels. Complicating factors in urban warfare include the presence of civilians and
8636-409: The bottom of the hull. Weaponry varies by a very wide degree between AFVs – lighter vehicles for infantry carrying, reconnaissance or specialist roles may have only a autocannon or machine gun (or no armament at all), whereas heavy self-propelled artillery will carry howitzers , mortars or rocket launchers. These weapons may be mounted on a pintle , affixed directly to the vehicle or placed in
8763-478: The capacity of transport aircraft makes possible and practicable the transport of AFVs by air. Many armies are replacing some or all of their traditional heavy vehicles with lighter airmobile versions, often with wheels instead of tracks. The first modern AFVs were armed cars, dating back virtually to the invention of the motor car . The British inventor F. R. Simms designed and built the Motor Scout in 1898. It
8890-498: The chassis to increase protection against rocket propelled grenades. Missile launchers for the Ataka missiles are fitted with extra armor to provide protection against splinters and small arms fire. CBRN protection is provided for the crew members and is collective. A type R-168-25UE-2 radio is installed on board the Terminator 2. The mobility of the BMPT-72 does not differ significantly from
9017-622: The circumference. The machine was to be mounted on four wheels which would be turned by the crew through a system of hand cranks and cage (or "lantern") gears . Leonardo claimed: "I will build armoured wagons which will be safe and invulnerable to enemy attacks. There will be no obstacle which it cannot overcome." Modern replicas have demonstrated that the human crew would have been able to move it over only short distances. Hussite forces in Bohemia developed war wagons – medieval horse-drawn wagons that doubled as wagon forts – around 1420 during
9144-489: The city but it could not hit the well-hidden defenders any better than the U.S. soldiers could. Two days later the US again assaulted the city from two sides and this time they fought differently. Not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the 21st, General William Jenkins Worth listened to his Texan advisers. These men had fought in Mexican cities before at the Battle of Mier in 1842 and the Battle of Bexar in 1835. They understood that
9271-577: The city read: ' You are surrounded, all roads to Grozny are blocked...Persons who stay in the city will be considered terrorists and bandits and will be destroyed by artillery and aviation. There will be no further negotiations. Everyone who does not leave the city will be destroyed '. Fighting in an urban environment can offer some advantages to a weaker defending force or to guerrilla fighters through ambush-induced attrition losses. The attacking army must account for three dimensions more often, and consequently expend greater amounts of manpower to secure
9398-452: The city to another undetected using tunnels and spring ambushes . Meanwhile, the attackers tend to become more exposed than the defender as they must use the open streets more often, unfamiliar with the defenders' secret and hidden routes. During a house to house search the attacker is often also exposed on the streets. The Battle of Monterrey was the U.S. Army's first major encounter with urban warfare. It occurred in September 1846 when
9525-432: The combat effectiveness of tank units and decrease their losses from enemy close-combat assets. The armament includes an unmanned turret armed with: The BMPT uses the Ataka missile to defeat heavily armored vehicles like tanks (shaped charge), infantry (thermobaric warhead) or aircraft (continuous rod). These missiles are carried only within their launchers, without any additional ones stowed away. A pair of ATGM launchers
9652-574: The complexity of the urban terrain . Urban combat operations may be conducted to capitalize on strategic or tactical advantages associated with the possession or the control of a particular urban area or to deny these advantages to the enemy. It is considered to be arguably the most difficult form of warfare. Fighting in urban areas negates the advantages that one side may have over the other in armor, heavy artillery, or air support. Ambushes laid down by small groups of soldiers with handheld anti-tank weapons can destroy entire columns of modern armor (as in
9779-403: The crew to three; the number of munitions for the Ataka missiles, 2A42 autocannons, and PKTM machine gun remains unchanged. A new and improved FCS is installed in the BMPT-72. The ballistic computer is electronic and fully digital with a set of weather and topographical sending units. Air burst munitions are under development for BMPT and other Russian military vehicles. Although the weight of
9906-606: The damage done by German panzerfausts , some of the Russian armour was fitted quickly with a cage of wire mesh mounted some 25–30 centimetres away from the hull armour to defeat the shaped charges of the Chechen RPGs. Operation Defensive Shield was a counter-terrorism military operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in April 2002 as a response to a wave of suicide bombings by Palestinian factions which claimed
10033-464: The defending soldiers. Each home was a fort unto itself. On September 21, 1846, the U.S. Army which included some of its best soldiers, recent West Point graduates, marched down the city's streets and were cut down by the Mexican defenders. They could not see the men hidden behind walls, loopholes, or rooftops. They tried to march straight down the street until the intense fire drove them to hide in adjacent buildings. Taylor tried to move artillery into
10160-536: The design of the current BMPT. The Object 199 "Ramka" was the prototype later to be designated the modern BMPT with the official producer being Uralvagonzavod . By late 2013, the only operator of the BMPT was Kazakhstan . A small number were delivered to the Russian Ground Forces for evaluation beginning in 2005. The Russian Defence Ministry finally ordered the BMPT in August 2017. Deliveries of more than 10 vehicles were begun in early 2018. On 1 December 2021,
10287-402: The dismantling of mines and wires; and the securing of footholds in enemy areas. Israel Defense Forces calls urban warfare לש"ב (pronounced LASHAB ), a Hebrew acronym for warfare on urban terrain . LASHAB in the IDF includes large-scale tactics (such as use of heavy armoured personnel carriers , armoured bulldozers , UAVs for intelligence, etc.), CQB training for fighting forces (how
10414-448: The door of the house and chip the door away with a pick axe under covering fire. Once the door showed signs of weakening, 3–4 other soldiers would run to the door and barge in with revolvers blazing. Worth lost few men on the 23rd using these new urban warfare techniques. The Battle of Stalingrad is largely seen as the defining battle of urban warfare, with the battle commonly studied and referenced in studies of urban warfare. The battle
10541-622: The first Self-propelled artillery , was fielded in 1917. It was based on the first tank, the British Mark I , and carried a heavy field-gun. The next major advance was the Birch gun (1925), developed for the British motorised warfare experimental brigade (the Experimental Mechanized Force ). This mounted a field gun, capable of the usual artillery trajectories and even anti-aircraft use, on
10668-574: The first BMPT company of nine combat vehicles was introduced into one of the tank regiments of the tank division of the Central Military District. The version, unofficially dubbed the "Terminator-3", incorporates the chassis, hulls, and components of the T-14 Armata tank. Examples of an "upgraded" version of the BMPT-72 are participating in the Russian invasion of Ukraine , first observed during
10795-637: The first loss of such a vehicle in a year. Armored fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle ( British English ) or armored fighting vehicle ( American English ) ( AFV ) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour , generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked . Examples of AFVs are tanks , armoured cars , assault guns , self-propelled artilleries , infantry fighting vehicles (IFV), and armoured personnel carriers (APC). Armoured fighting vehicles are classified according to their characteristics and intended role on
10922-502: The front of the vehicle, has been raised, providing greater internal volume. It uses proven elements from those fitted to the T-90 MBT. The Terminator has a crew of five which consists of: a vehicle commander, a driver, a gunner, and two grenade launcher operators. NBC protection is provided to the crew to ensure survival against radiation, chemical and biological weapons. As an option, the BMPT can be fitted with mine-clearing devices such as
11049-438: The frontal assault role. Though several configurations have been tried, particularly in the early experimental "golden days" of tank development, a standard, mature design configuration has since emerged to a generally accepted pattern. This features a main tank gun or artillery gun , mounted in a fully rotating turret atop a tracked automotive hull, with various additional secondary weapon systems throughout. Philosophically,
11176-618: The future may have integrated air defense systems and be fully unmanned . Armata is powered by a new generation 1,500 hp multifuel diesel engine coupled with a hydro-mechanical automatic transmission (unlike the two predecessors), with a maximum road speed of 65–70 km/h (40–43 mph), an operational range of 550 km (340 mi), and a power-to-weight ratio of over 30 hp/tonne. The BMPT was first deployed by Russia in Ukraine on 18 May 2022, according to RIA Novosti . The BMPTs deployed to Ukraine appear to have been fitted with AGS-17 grenade launchers. With only around 10 BMPTs in service, they have
11303-674: The gun's performance. It was replaced by the more effective Sexton . The Germans built many lightly armoured self-propelled anti-tank guns using captured French equipment (for example Marder I ), their own obsolete light tank chassis ( Marder II ), or ex-Czech chassis ( Marder III ). These led to better-protected tank destroyers, built on a medium-tank chassis such as the Jagdpanzer IV or the Jagdpanther . The Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon debuted in WWI. The German 88 mm anti-aircraft gun
11430-434: The guns fires armor-piercing rounds while the other fires anti-personnel rounds. A wide range of ammunition is used by the 2A42 autocannon and they include: High Explosive - Tracer (HE-T), Armor-piercing discarding sabot (APDS), High Explosive Fragmentation (HE-FRAG) and Armor-Piercing -Tracer (AP-T). These rounds have effective ranges between 2,500 m and 4,000 m depending on the variant. The muzzle velocity of
11557-400: The heavy tank has fallen out of favour, being supplanted by more heavily armed and armoured descendant of the medium tanks – the universal main battle tank . The light tank has, in many armies, lost favour to cheaper, faster, lighter armoured cars ; however, light tanks (or similar vehicles with other names) are still in service with a number of forces as reconnaissance vehicles , most notably
11684-494: The individual vehicle too, depending on the role of the vehicle and the likely direction of attack. For example, a main battle tank will usually have the heaviest armour on the hull front and the turret, lighter armour on the sides of the hull and the thinnest armour on the top and bottom of the tank. Other vehicles – such as the MRAP family – may be primarily armoured against the threat from IEDs and so will have heavy, sloped armour on
11811-505: The intense heat and noxious atmosphere. In 1917, Lieutenant G. J. Rackham was ordered to design an armoured vehicle that could fight and carry troops or supplies. The Mark IX tank was built by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. , although just three vehicles had been finished at the time of the Armistice in November 1918, and only 34 were built in total. Different tank classifications emerged in
11938-765: The interwar period. The tankette was conceived as a mobile, two-man model, mainly intended for reconnaissance. In 1925, Sir John Carden and Vivian Loyd produced the first such design to be adopted – the Carden Loyd tankette . Tankettes saw use in the Royal Italian Army during the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935–1936), the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), and almost everywhere Italian soldiers fought during World War II . The Imperial Japanese Army used tankettes for jungle warfare . The British Gun Carrier Mark I ,
12065-797: The lives of hundreds of Israeli civilians. It was in part characterized by alleged usage of human shields by both IDF and Palestinian militants. The two major battles were held in Nablus and Jenin . In Nablus, the Paratroopers Brigade and the Golani Brigade , backed by reservist armour force and combat engineers with armoured Caterpillar D9 bulldozers , entered to Nablus, killing 70 militants and arresting hundreds, while sustaining only one fatality. The forces deployed many small teams, advancing in non-linear manner from many directions, using snipers and air support. The battle ended quickly with
12192-546: The main gun made them easy targets in mountainous and urban terrain. It was evident that a new vehicle concept was needed. In the 1980s, the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant began designing prototypes for the new concept, early prototypes being Object 781 , Object 782 , and Object 787 . The main requirements for this new machine were to possess large firepower, high angles of elevation and depression, and protection equivalent to that of an MBT. An additional requirement that
12319-474: The mid-1920s as a reconnaissance vehicle and a mobile machine gun position They were one or two-man vehicles armed with a machine gun. Colloquially it may also simply mean a "small tank". Tankettes were designed and built by several nations between the 1920s and 1940s following the British Carden Loyd tankette which was a successful implementation of "one man tank" ideas from Giffard Le Quesne Martel ,
12446-416: The militants in Jenin to surrender. In total, 56 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the battle of Jenin. The term close-quarter battle refers to fighting methods within buildings, streets, narrow alleys and other places where visibility and manoeuvrability are limited. Both close-quarters-battle (CQB) and urban operations (UO) are related to urban warfare, but while UO refers mainly to
12573-496: The military usually operates in hostile areas while the police operates within docile populations. Armies that often engage in urban warfare operations may train most of their infantry in CQB doctrine. While training will vary, it generally will focus on what proficiencies each unit possess. This is in opposition to what units may lack in either strength or weapons capabilities. The fundamentals of muzzle awareness and weapons safety are of
12700-459: The muddy, pocked terrain and slit trenches of the Battle of the Somme . The tank eventually proved highly successful and, as technology improved, it became a weapon that could cross large distances at much higher speeds than supporting infantry and artillery . The need to provide the units that would fight alongside the tank led to the development of a wide range of specialised AFVs, especially during
12827-452: The new BMPT is reduced by four metric tonnes, its level of protection isn't lower than that of its predecessor. The Terminator 2's length and width is reduced compared to the original Terminator. The BMPT-72 has a height of 3.33 m and a width of 3.6 m while the Object 199 Ramka had a height of 3.44 m and a width of 3.8 m. Additional slat armor is fitted on the rear and sides of
12954-484: The opposing force who can often hear and even feel their arrival. Tanks were classified either by size or by role. Classification by relative size was common, as this also tended to influence the tanks' role. Over time, tanks tended to be designed with heavier armour and weapons, increasing the weight of all tanks, so these classifications are relative to the average for the nation's tanks for any given period. An older tank design might be reclassified over time, such as
13081-690: The original BMPT. An auxiliary diesel APU is also fitted that allows to keep most of the functions activated while the main engine is off. Two options are available, a small 5 kW DGU-5-P27 5-VM1 and a 8 kW DGU-8-P27 5-VM1. BMPT ("Terminator 3") – is a new design model of Tank Support Fighting Vehicle based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform with a crew of 3 or 4. Possible armament would be one or two 57 mm autocannons (ammo storage problem), 4x ATGM Sprinter, 2x AGS-40 Balkan automatic grenade launchers, one or two 7.62 mm PKTM machine guns. It will have an automatic gun turret RCWS and in
13208-452: The projectiles is 960 m/s. A 7.62 mm PKTM machine gun is mounted coaxially with the main armament and holds 2,000 rounds. A pair of either AGS-17 D or AGS-30 grenade launchers are carried, one located on each side of the BMPT, and operated by a single crew member. A total of 600 rounds of 30 mm grenades are carried for both grenade launchers. There is no reloading for the grenade launchers because each one holds 300 rounds in
13335-527: The realization of an ancient concept – that of providing troops with mobile protection and firepower. Armies have deployed war machines and cavalries with rudimentary armour in battle for millennia. Use of these animals and engineering designs sought to achieve a balance between the conflicting paradoxical needs of mobility, firepower and protection. Siege engines , such as battering rams and siege towers , would often be armoured in order to protect their crews from enemy action. Polyidus of Thessaly developed
13462-447: The rear of the hull in an armored compartment on the left fender. The vehicle is equipped with an automatic fire fighting system to fight any fires that will ignite within the vehicle. Armor is reinforced with 3rd generation "Relikt" ERA on the frontal armor and both sides of hull and turret, slat (cage) armor in the rear. Missile launchers are reinforced by armored shields, protecting them from splinters and small arms fire. Weapon station
13589-485: The rubble, while large factories even housed tanks and large-caliber guns within. In addition, Soviet urban warfare relied on 20-to-50-man-assault groups, armed with machine guns, grenades and satchel charges, and buildings fortified as strongpoints with clear fields of fire. A Soviet combat group was a mixed arms unit of about eighty men, divided into assault groups of six to eight men, closely supported by field artillery. These were tactical units which were able to apply
13716-399: The screening system warns the crew of laser tracking, a smoke screen is created by the launch of grenades. Special attention was paid to the survivability of the BMPT and its crew. Certain measures were taken to ensure this like placing the fuel tanks in a sealed housing compartment and fastening the seats towards the roof in case of a mine penetration. There are additional fuel tanks located in
13843-583: The straight streets. Instead, they put snipers and machine guns on the upper floors and the roofs – a safer deployment as the Soviet tanks could not elevate their guns that high. They also put men armed with panzerfausts in cellar windows to ambush tanks as they moved down the streets. These tactics were quickly adopted by the Hitler Youth and the First World War Volkssturm veterans. To counter these tactics, Soviet submachine gunners rode
13970-507: The streets. They moved through the apartments and cellars blasting holes through the walls of adjacent buildings (for which the Soviets found abandoned German panzerfausts were very effective), while others fought across the roof tops and through the attics. These tactics took the Germans lying in ambush for tanks in the flanks. Flamethrowers and grenades were very effective, but as the Berlin civilian population had not been evacuated these tactics inevitably killed many civilians. During
14097-431: The supporting infantry while the antitank gunners would engage the armoured vehicle aiming at the top, rear and sides of vehicles. Initially, the Russians were taken by surprise. Their armoured columns that were supposed to take the city without difficulty as Soviet forces had taken Budapest in 1956 were decimated in fighting more reminiscent of the Battle of Budapest in late 1944. As in the Soviet assault on Berlin, as
14224-399: The tactics of house to house fighting that the Soviets had been forced to develop and refine at each Festungsstadt (fortress city) they had encountered from Stalingrad to Berlin. The German tactics in the battle of Berlin were dictated by three considerations: the experience that the Germans had gained during five years of war; the physical characteristics of Berlin; and the tactics used by
14351-439: The tank is, by its very nature, an offensive weapon. Being a protective encasement with at least one gun position, it is essentially a pillbox or small fortress (though these are static fortifications of a purely defensive nature) that can move toward the enemy – hence its offensive utility. Psychologically, the tank is a force multiplier that has a positive morale effect on the infantry it accompanies. It also instills fear in
14478-597: The tank, although a few designs mounted the fuel externally, such as the armoured trailer used on the Churchill Crocodile . Flame tanks have been superseded by thermobaric weapons such as the Russian TOS-1 . The idea for this tank was developed during World War I by British and French. The infantry tank was designed to work in concert with infantry in the assault, moving mostly at a walking pace, and carrying heavy armour to survive defensive fire. Its main purpose
14605-405: The tanks and sprayed every doorway and window, but this meant the tank could not traverse its turret quickly. The other solution was to rely on heavy howitzers (152 mm and 203 mm) firing over open sights to blast defended buildings and to use anti-aircraft guns against defenders posted on the higher floors. Soviet combat groups started to move from house to house instead of directly down
14732-417: The utmost importance given the propensity for fratricide due to the confined spaces, as well as the limited avenues of approach. Armed forces seek to train their units for those circumstances in which they are to fight: built up, urban areas are no exception. Several countries have created simulated urban training zones. The British Army has established an "Afghan village" within its Stanford Battle Area and
14859-475: The weight of a main battle tank. A trend toward composite armour is taking the place of steel – composites are stronger for a given weight, allowing the tank to be lighter for the same protection as steel armour, or better protected for the same weight. Armour is being supplemented with active protection systems on a number of vehicles, allowing the AFV to protect itself from incoming projectiles. The level of protection also usually varies considerably throughout
14986-454: The workload so that they can concentrate on their main objective of engaging other tanks and hardened targets. The BMPT's armor protection is equal to that of an MBT and its powerful armaments allow it to engage virtually any enemy formation while operating in a common battle formation. Thanks to the multiple weapons systems found on the BMPT, this vehicle is able to fire at multiple targets simultaneously. These features significantly help increase
15113-442: Was equipped with a Hotchkiss machine gun , and with 7 mm armour for the gunner. Armoured cars were first used in large numbers on both sides during World War I as scouting vehicles. In 1903, H. G. Wells published the short story " The Land Ironclads ," positing indomitable war machines that would bring a new age of land warfare, the way steam-powered ironclad warships had ended the age of sail . Wells's literary vision
15240-474: Was meant to supplement the latter was enhanced protection from close-range hand-held RPGs. The need for such a vehicle became even more evident during the First Chechen War . When using conventional armor during urban engagements, Russian forces suffered heavy losses in manpower and equipment, including the destruction of an entire mechanized brigade during the First Battle of Grozny . While these losses cannot be entirely blamed on technology, it became clear that
15367-413: Was no surprise that the greatest carnage of World War II—at Leningrad and Stalingrad—was the result of efforts to storm municipal fortresses". However, when liberating occupied territory some restraint was often applied, particularly in urban settings. For example, Canadian operations in both Ortona and Groningen avoided the use of artillery altogether to spare civilians and buildings, and during
15494-591: Was powered by a four-cylinder 3.3-litre 16 hp Cannstatt Daimler engine giving it a maximum speed of around 9 miles per hour (14 kilometres per hour). The armament, consisting of two Maxim guns, was carried in two turrets with 360° traverse. Another early armoured car of the period was the French Charron, Girardot et Voigt 1902 , presented at the Salon de l'Automobile et du cycle in Brussels , on 8 March 1902. The vehicle
15621-629: Was realized in 1916, when, amidst the pyrrhic standstill of the Great War , the British Landship Committee deployed revolutionary armoured vehicles to break the stalemate. The tank was envisioned as an armoured machine that could cross ground under fire from machine guns and reply with its own mounted machine guns and naval artillery . These first British tanks of World War I moved on caterpillar tracks that had substantially lower ground pressure than wheeled vehicles, enabling them to pass
15748-578: Was the first armed, petrol-engine powered vehicle ever built. It consisted of a De Dion-Bouton quadracycle with a Maxim machine gun mounted on the front bar. An iron shield offered some protection for the driver from the front, but it lacked all-around protective armour. The armoured car was the first modern fully armoured fighting vehicle. The first of these was the Simms's Motor War Car , also designed by Simms and built by Vickers, Sons & Maxim in 1899. The vehicle had Vickers armour 6 mm thick and
15875-517: Was the single largest and costliest urban battle ever, with it being seen as the worst and most extreme case of urban warfare. The Battle of Stalingrad saw all types of MOUT combat techniques. Historian Iain MacGregor states that the "evolution of urban, house-to-house fighting and defending these buildings and built-up areas was seemingly born in Stalingrad in the winter of 1942". The battle "occupies
16002-440: Was to suppress enemy fire, crush obstacles such as barbed-wire entanglements, and protect the infantry on their advance into and through enemy lines by giving mobile overwatch and cover . The French Renault FT was the first iteration of this concept. The British and French retained the concept between the wars and into the Second World War era. Because infantry tanks did not need to be fast, they could carry heavy armour. One of
16129-599: Was truck-mounted and used to great effect against British tanks, and the British QF 3-inch 20 cwt was mounted on trucks for use on the Western Front . Although the Birch gun was a general purpose artillery piece on an armoured tracked chassis, it was capable of elevation for anti-aircraft use. Vickers Armstrong developed one of the first SPAAGs based on the chassis of the Mk.E 6-ton light tank/ Dragon Medium Mark IV tractor , mounting
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