BMP-3 Program
The Russian Army will not purchase any more BMP-3 units as of 2010. Deputy Defense Minister for Armaments, Army General Vladimir Popovkin (later - Head of Russian Space Agency), spoke of the vehicle very negatively. "We really need to take care of our soldiers. Today they sit atop BMP because inside it's like a "coffin" Nobody wants to be inside. We should develop another vehicle." These words broke a contract for the supply of the BMP-3 to Greece for $1.5 billion.
The order for the delivery of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles that the Russian Defense Ministry suspended three years earlier over inferior quality will be completed, a defense industry official said 24 September 2013. The vehicles, manufactured in 2010 at the Kurganmashzavod plant, “were criticized by the Defense Ministry” when they were first made, Oleg Bochkarev, deputy head of the governmental Military Industrial Commission, said in an interview with RIA Novosti.
The vehicle has since been modernized and given “a large number of various modifications,” he said, adding that the product is in high demand on foreign markets. “This equipment will function for a long time yet,” Bochkarev said. First Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Sukhorukov said last year that Kurganmashzavod had been fined 3 billion rubles ($90 million) over its failure to deliver BMP-3s on time and meet the required quality standards.
The Defense Ministry and Concern "Tractor plants" signed a contract for the supply of several hundred BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles , vice president and co-owner of the concern Albert Bakova told Tass. "We have signed a three-year contract with the Ministry of Defence on the BMP-3. The number in the hundreds of vehicles," - a spokesman said. According to him, in the course of serial production more than 1.5 thousand BMP-3 armored vehicles had been made.
It was also clarified that "Kurgan", included in the "Tractor Plants", would continue to carry out the order for the supply of military BMP-3 to complete the development work on the platform "Kurganets-25" and the serial production of armored infantry fighting vehicles of the new generation on its base.
Previously it became known that before the end of 2017 the Russian Defense Ministry was due to receive over 200 new BMP-3s.
The marines of the Pacific Fleet will be the first to receive the new BMP-3F, and deliveries to the troops will begin in 2022. In each of the two brigades, one battalion will be re-equipped with new military equipment. The first BMP-3F will receive the 40th separate marine brigade in Kamchatka. Acting commander of the 155th brigade located in Primorye, Captain 2nd Rank Igor Tatarchenko reported that the units of his unit would also receive BMP-3F. Russian experts noted that this will dramatically increase the firepower and mobility of "black berets" in the Far East. “Today the marines are part of the rapid reaction force. Units can board a ship and go anywhere in the world. The presence of heavy weapons will allow them to independently perform any tasks, ”military historian Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia in January 2021. Previously, such a modification of machines was supplied only for export. She is in service with the Indonesian Marine Corps. The military of this country especially noted the high power of the combat vehicle's weapons, its low silhouette, which reduces the visibility, reliability and unpretentiousness in service.
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