BMP‑2 face-off: Ukrainian and Russian IFVs clash in dramatic duel
The war in Ukraine is full of astonishing events. One of the more intriguing moments involved an armored duel between BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs). Here, we present the details of this clash and the performance of these machines.
3:44 PM EDT, October 2, 2024
In the video below, you can see two BMP-2 IFVs encountering each other at a crossroads, one belonging to the Ukrainians and the other to the Russians. Most likely, thanks to the help of a reconnaissance drone, the Ukrainian vehicle started firing at the Russian one first.
The visible flashes suggest that the first shots were fired using a belt of 3UOF8 high-explosive incendiary ammunition, with each round containing 1.7 ounces of explosive-incendiary mixture. Subsequently, it appears that the Russians, in a panic, abandoned the targeted BMP-2, which the Ukrainians later captured. It seems that the BMP-2 did not sustain critical damage.
BMP-2 - an outdated relic of the Cold War
The BMP-2 is one of the world's most popular infantry fighting vehicles, produced since the 1980s. It was developed as an upgrade to the BMP-1, featuring a 30 mm 2A42 automatic cannon instead of a 73 mm gun, making it significantly better suited for combating infantry and lightly armored vehicles.
Like its predecessor, the BMP-2 can ford water obstacles, but its weight (approximately 33,000 pounds) leaves little room for additional armor. This significantly lags what Western IFVs offer, which sometimes weigh nearly 88,000 pounds. Only the front steel plate is designed to withstand armor-piercing rounds up to 23 mm, while the sides can be penetrated by an FN FAL rifle loaded with tungsten-core armor-piercing ammunition.
In practice, Ukrainians have noted that 20 mm armor-piercing ammunition from a Marder 1A3 or 25 mm rounds from an M2A2 Bradley turn the BMP-2 into a proverbial sieve. On the plus side, the BMP-2 is fairly well-armed, but its combat capabilities in poor weather conditions or at night are severely limited due to the lack of passive night vision or thermal sight.
The BMP-2 has a crew of three soldiers and an additional seven soldiers in the transport compartment. It is not a vehicle designed for modern warfare, but it's better than a pickup truck.
