Close encounter with PPK. Those Russians miraculously survived

The war in Ukraine is full of instances when soldiers miraculously avoided death. One of the more interesting cases includes the crew of this Russian BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. We present the backdrop of their confrontation with an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM).

In the video below, you can see a Russian BMP-2M firing at the Ukrainian position using a 2A42 automatic 30 mm caliber gun, and at the same time, from more to the right side, an anti-tank guided missile flies by the person recording the clash, missing them by literal inches.

Then after a few seconds of delay, the Russian recording yells at the driver to flee from that place. If they had stayed there longer, a second missile would have likely been launched at them, which could have hit its target.

Judging by the spread control surfaces, the missile may resemble one from the Stugna-P system or a slightly smaller RK-3 Korsar. Both systems are very common among Ukrainians and are relatively simple and easy to produce.

The first system was adopted for the armament of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2011 and it is a fully Ukrainian version of the Skif being developed jointly with Belarus. Designed by the Kyiv design bureau "Luch", the Stugna-P system is based on a simple guidance system based on a laser beam, which requires the shooter to guide the missile until it hits.

This exposes the shooter to danger, as when shooting at targets at a distance of approximately 3 miles, the target has about 20 seconds to react and may, for example, fire at the launcher's position. However, the Ukrainians have developed a solution in the form of remotely launching a missile from a control station connected to the launcher with a 164-foot cable.

The Stugna-P uses two types of shells, cal. 130 mm and 152 mm, but the former is significantly more popular in use. It has a tandem cumulative warhead adapted for overcoming, for example, rod or reactive armor, capable of melting up to about 31.5 inches of armor steel.

In turn, the second RK-3 Korsarz system is its lighter and smaller version introduced into service in 2017, with a range reduced to approximately 1.55 miles and a smaller warhead.

The Russians used a historical landmark here from the 1980s, modernized with a package introduced in 2008, mainly including the use of a new BPK-3-42 gun sight equipped with thermal imaging and the TKN-AI commander sight. Additionally, the diesel engine was boosted to 400 HP in this version, air conditioning was added, and elements of the suspension were strengthened.