Russian news agency TASS reported that Russia has delivered the latest BMPT “Terminator” tank support fighting vehicle to an African country, Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev told a briefing on Wednesday. The Terminator 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 tank support fighting vehicle is unofficially named the “Terminator” by the manufacturers, UralVagonZavod.
Terminator is heavily armed and armored to survive in urban combat. The BMPT is built on the chassis of the widely-used T-72 main battle tank. This AFV is armed with Ataka-T Guided Weapon System 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 Terminator has four Ataka ATGM launchers as a set of primary armaments to defeat enemy tanks and infantry. The main weapons of BMPT are the two 30 mm 2A42 autocannons with 850 rounds of ready use ammunition High Explosive-Tracer, Armor-piercing discarding sabot (APDS), High Explosive Fragmentation and Armor-Piercing-Tracer can be carried.
The protection of the BMPT is superior to most MBTs, as active and passive protection is used, and additional armor (the vehicle lacks a manned turret), is distributed to the hull of the vehicle. The BMPT is fitted with additional ERA, on the front and sides. The side skirts are equipped with dynamical protection and latticed screens, which provides protection against RPGs. According to the characteristics of protection boards, the BMPT is superior to the T-90 tank. The BMPT mounts “Relikt” explosive reactive armor, which is claimed to be two to three times more effective than Kontakt-5 used on previous Russian tanks.
The first operator of the Terminator was Kazakhstan. 10 BMPT units were ordered in 2010 and delivered by Russia from 2011 to 2013. As of early 2014, in addition to the purchase of the vehicles, licensed assembly will be implemented with a number of techniques from kits supplied by Russia. 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. In April 2016, Russia and Algeria concluded an agreement for the delivery of 300 Russian “Terminators”. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2018 and continue until the end of 2019.
