BMP-3

BMP-3

Object 685

2S25

BMP-3

Object 685

2S25

USSR

VI Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
8.7	9.0	9.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:190 000

Purchase:520 000

Description

The BMP-3 is a rank VI Soviet light tank with a battle rating of 8.7 (AB) and 9.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.93 "Shark Attack".

General info

Survivability and armour

The BMP-3 is an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV), and has comparable armor to other IFVs. It uses special alloys in its construction, which are not equivalent to Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA, this is the type of armor that ammunition displays penetration against on stat cards). The front of the BMP-3 has about 50 mm of armor with an additional fuel tank behind this armor. This protects it against any machine gun and some small cannon rounds such as 20 mm, but it will be penetrated by any IFV auto cannon that it might face. The front turret armor has similar levels of protection. The side armor is even worse, at only about 20 mm RHA effectiveness, it will be penetrated by .50 caliber ammunition.

The survivability on the BMP-3 is very low. It has only 3 crew members who are closely spaced together. This means that most penetrating rounds will destroy the BMP-3 in one shot. Additionally, the BMP-3 is subject to the hull-break mechanic, so it will often be destroyed instantly when any component is hit by a large round. There are some empty spaces in the BMP-3 like the fuel tank in the front or the area in the back above the engine (where infantry would sit), but these would only be hit when directly side on with an enemy. This means that if you are going to be shot, it is best to be side on, trying to bait the enemy to hit one of these areas.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	78	23	18.7	775	954	41.44	51.02
Realistic	71	21		442	500	23.64	26.74

Armaments

Main armament

100 mm 2A70					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	48	-6°/+60°	±180°	Two-plane	33.3	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	4.0	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic					20.8	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
3OF32	HE	31	31	31	31	31	31
3OF70	HE	36	36	36	36	36	36
9M117	ATGM	600	600	600	600	600	600
9M117M1	ATGM	750	750	750	750	750	750

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
3OF32	HE	250	15.6	0.1	N/A	2602.6	+0.0°	79°	80°	81°
3OF70	HE	355	15.8	0.1	N/A	3542	+0.0°	79°	80°	81°
9M117	ATGM	370	18.8	N/A	0.1	3000	?.?°	80°	82°	90°
9M117M1	ATGM	370	18.8	0.2	0.1	3000	?.?°	80°	82°	90°

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
48	?? (+??)	?? (+??)	?? (+??)	?? (+??)	?? (+??)	?? (+??)	??

Additional armament

30 mm 2A72
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
500			-6°/+60°	N/A	Vertical
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	??.??	??.??	??.??	??.??	??.??
Realistic	??.??	??.??	??.??	??.??	??.??
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
??.??	??.??	??.??	??.??

30 mm 2A72					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	500	-6°/+60°	±180°	Vertical	33.3	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__	0.2	_.__	_.__	_.__
Realistic					20.8	__.__	__.__	__.__	__.__

Ammunition

• 30 mm HE (Default): HEF-I · AP-T
• 30 mm HE: HEF-I · AP-T · HEF-I · HEF-T
• 30 mm AP: AP-T · AP-T · AP-T · HEF-T
• 30 mm HVAP: HVAP · HVAP · HVAP · HVAP · HEF-T

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
	10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
30 mm APT	64	62	50	38	29	22
30 mm HE (Default)	64	62	50	38	29	22
30 mm HE	64	62	50	38	29	22
30 mm HVAP	100	95	80	72	62	50

Shell details
Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
AP-T	970	0.4	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1.0°	47°	60°	65°
HEF-I	960	0.389	0.2	0.1	49	+0.0°	79°	80°	81°
HVAP	1,120	0.304	N/A	N/A	N/A	+1.5°	66°	70°	72°
HEF-T	960	0.385	0.2	0.1	11.6	+0.0°	79°	80°	81°

Machine guns

7.62 mm PKT
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)	Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
2,000 (250)	700	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

Stock:

When stock the BMP-3 will face many challenges. Many of the strongest tools the BMP-3 has available are locked behind modifications. Most importantly, the Thermal sight and APDS 30mm ammunition belt. Stock BMP-3 commanders have two options available to them: Stay in the back line and use the ATGM or try and brawl up close with the 30mm. Unfortunateley, the 30mm only has 65mm of penetration when stock, so up close brawling is not the ideal strategy. Additionally, the ATGM reload is rather slow. These will be a challenge to overcome when spading this vehicle.

Spaded:

When spaded the BMP-3 has access to a variety of powerful tools. The tandem warhead ATGM has excellent speed and penetration, although it still has a slow reload. The tandem warhead can easily penetrate even vehicles protected by ERA bricks. The APDS belts on the 30mm can easily penetrate the sides of most western MBTs. Additionally, the BMP-3 has access to commander and gunner thermals in high resolution, an advantage few 8.7 tanks have. The thermals can even see through the ESS that the BMP-3 can lay down, so this may be used against vehicles without thermals. Despite these advantages, BMP-3 commanders should play carefully, as the ATGM reload still means that engaging more than one target at once will likely end in a quick trip back to the hangar. This is not helped by the fact that the BMP-3 has little in terms of armor and survivability. The two strategies that will be most effective for the BMP-3 are to either try and flank enemies and take them on one by one up close, or use the thermal binocular and tandem warhead ATGM to engage at longer ranges. However long range engagements will not result in many kills, because enemies may have a chance to move to cover before the ATGM has reloaded.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive	NVD	Laser rangefinder
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire	Airstrike	9M117M1
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism	Smoke grenade	30 mm APT
IV	Transmission	Engine	ESS	Artillery Support	Improved optics	30 mm HVAP

Pros and cons

Pros:

• High maneuverability
• Quick followup with 30mm armament
• Amphibious
• ATGM rounds with tandem warheads
• Currently the best (highest resolution) thermal sight in the game
• High gun elevation (60°)
• 4 second autoloader when using HE

Cons:

• Large profile
• HE rounds have little penetration
• HE rounds have low muzzle velocity
• Reload rate for ATGM is slower than HE rounds
• Susceptible to Hull Break

History

Development

The Object 685 light tank design was created in 1975. It was an amphibious light tank armed with a 100 mm cannon. The Object 685 never received any production orders, but the chassis and engine from the Object 685 would become the basis of the Object 688 infantry fighting vehicle. The Object 688 would become the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle.

Design

The hull has a similar shape to the BMP-1 and BMP-2 but the internal layout is different. The engine was placed at the rear right side of the vehicle, the driver sat at the front center, two infantry behind him, then the two man turret, and then the crew compartment at the rear. To dismount the vehicle, the infantry had to climb over the engine and out the rear doors. The armor protection is against 30 mm autocannon rounds at the front and 12.7 mm machine gun rounds on the sides and rear, when add-on armor kits are added. There are ERA kits that can be equipped as well. Main armament consists of a 2A70 100 mm gun - which can fire ATGM's - and a co-axial 2A72 30 mm autocannon. Secondary armament consists of a co-axial 7.62 mm machine gun. The armament is housed in a round, centrally mounted, turret. Power is provided by a UTD-29 450 hp engine, while later in production it received a UTD-29M 500 hp engine. The BMP-3 is also amphibious, propelled by its spinning tracks.

Service and Production

Over 2,000 BMP-3's have been produced, seeing combat in several conflicts. The BMP-3 has seen significant export, and has many modifications and variants. It is intended to be replaced by the Kurganets-25 in service.

Devblog

In the late 70s, the Kurganmashzavod factory started developing a new infantry fighting vehicle to replace the BMP-1. The vehicle got a new experimental light tank chassis. The first models were supposed to be equipped with a 30mm cannon as its primary weapon, as well as grenade launchers, machine guns, and ATGM launchers. The military considered the vehicle’s armament to be insufficient and said that it offered no real advantage over the BMP-1. In order to correct the situation, the Tula-based engineers suggested a new turret with the following armament: a rifled 100mm semi automatic cannon (also an ATGM launcher), a 30mm automatic cannon, and a PKT machine gun.

The vehicle successfully underwent testing in this state, and in 1987, was accepted into the Soviet Army with the designation BMP-3. Since then, this combat vehicle has been used by the Russian Army and over ten other countries, with especially large quantities being purchased by the United Arab Emirates where the vehicle was chosen over the Bradley and Warrior. The BMP-3 is constantly being upgraded and is still considered one of the best combat vehicles of its class in the world.

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

Bibliography

• David B. (2017, June 18). BMP-3. Tank Encyclopedia. https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/soviet/bmp-3.php
• BMP-3. (2020, April 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BMP-3&oldid=951891576

External links

• [Development] BMP-3 - Helping hand