Russia’s Devastating “Terminator” Tanks – The BMPT Terminator

BMPT Terminator

This is the mighty BMPT, a Russian armored fighting vehicle that is armed to the teeth and specialised for anti-infantry work in urban environments.

Sprawling with missiles, autocannons and grenade launchers, the BMPT has been given the unofficial nickname "Terminator".

They are the result of lessons learned from high losses in urban warfare in the Soviet-Afghan War and actions in Chechnya.

The BMPT was designed specifically to solve this – with plenty of gun elevation and enough weapons for any potential target. The BMPT only entered service with Russia in 2018, but it has been operated by Kazakhstan since 2011.

Tank Escort

Ever since the creation of the tank in WWI it has been well understood that tanks without support can be picked off, even by infantry and basic anti-tank weapons.

No where is this more true than in urban areas.

These conditions are particularly dangerous for tanks as they are close quarters (some streets are too small to even rotate the turret) and contain many, many vantage points for an enemy.

Buildings add verticality to the battlefield, which provides foes with opportunities to strike the weak roof armor of tanks. And once under attack they are unable to return fire due to limited gun elevation.

Furthermore, the tightly packed buildings and streets allow the enemy to move around under cover and quickly retreat into hiding.

The Soviets experienced these difficulties first-hand during the Soviet-Afghan War. The undulating mountainous terrain gave Afghan defenders an advantage against Soviet tanks, who struggled to see and engage them.

Then in the First Chechen War Russian tanks were picked off in urban battles. In these scenarios the military was forced to use self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles with their high gun elevation to fight off infantry in hills or buildings.

These lessons motivated the Soviets to create a heavily armored vehicle that would deal with these threats to allow tanks to do their jobs properly.

Work had started on a vehicle of this nature in the 1980s at the Chelyabinsk plant. This generated two vehicles, the Object 781 and Object 782.

They were both built from heavily modified T-72B hulls and equipped with a vast array of weaponry for the anti-infantry role. The Object 781 carried two 30 mm guns, while the Object 782 carried a 100 mm gun and 30 mm gun.

We here at TankHistoria love to document, discuss, explain and simply ponder the fascinating history of the tanks and armored fighting vehicles that have clashed on the battlefields and drawing boards over the last 100 years.