According to the Ukrainian state-owned defence industry group, Ukroboronprom, the country’s armed forces has begun receiving a large batch of Czech-manufactured BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles (which are a licensed copy of the Soviet BMP-1). The BVP-1s were transported by rail via Poland.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine have begun receiving BVP-1s, coming from the stocks of Czech Republic’s land forces / Picture: Ukroboronprom
‘The state company Ukrspetsexport, a subsidiary of Ukroboronprom, has begun delivering 37 BMP-1 IFVs to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Last week, the vehicles were supplied to Ukraine ahead of schedule. The technical inspection of the batch has started on April 2’, said Ukroboronprom in a statement on April 7th.
The ‘new’ Ukrainian BVP-1s could have been procured through the Czechoslovak Group (CSG), the largest arms exporter of the Czech Republic, as the company specializes in overhaul, upgrade and modernization of obsolete, Soviet-era armoured vehicles and other weapon systems, subsequently offering them on export markets.
‘The supplier and the Defense Ministry have made the greatest contribution to the fulfilment of this contractually important defense state. Without the synergy of joint action, it is difficult to execute such orders under the current conditions’, said Aivaras Abromavicius, General Manager of Ukroboronprom.
According to CSG’s, BVP-1 IFVs have a weight of 13 tons. It is protected by 6-23 mm armor. BVP-1 is powered by the UTD-20 diesel engine and have a top road/off-road speed of 65/45 km/h, a top swimming speed of 7 km/h, and a range of 600 km. The vehicle is armed with the 2A28 73 mm semi-automatic gun, optionally mounted 9M14M ATGM system, and Kalashnikov PKT 7.62 mm coaxial general-purpose machine gun.