IDET 2019: Slovak MoD showcases BPsV1 combat reconnaisance vehicle.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Slovak Republic is present at IDET 2019 in Brno, Czech Republic, and showcases its latest BPsV1, which is an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) based on the BMP-1.

The BPsV1 (upgraded BMP-1 IFV) of the Slovak Army on display during IDET 2019, Czech Republic (Picture Source: Army Recognition)

Last year, the Slovak Army announced the upgrading of a certain amount of Soviet-made BMP-1-based BPsV Svatava armoured reconnaissance vehicles to the BPsV1 (Bojove Preskumne Vozidlo ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target, Acquisition and Reconnaissance)) level.

"The ground forces of the Slovak Armed Forces have taken delivery of 18 BPsV1 vehicles as of mid-2017," the analysts of the think-tank then said, adding that the BPsV1 is based on the Soviet-made BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) that was produced by Czechoslovak defence enterprises under license provided by the Soviet Union. " The BPsV1 is optimized for the tracked ISTAR role," they pointed out.

The BPsV1 armoured reconnaissance vehicle has been developed by a consortium of Slovakian companies that comprises EVPU, Konstrukta Defence, DMD Group and MSM Group. The BPsV1 has retained the original power pack that is based on a UTD-20 diesel engine with a power output of 300 h.p. The vehicle has a cruising range of nearly 550 km when being fueled by basic fuel supply.

The combat weight of the vehicle has increased to 15.29 t during the modernization process, while its length remains the same as the length of the baseline platform (6.73 m). The BPsV1 has received side-mounted additional floatation devices that have increased the vehicle's width to 3.46 m. Owing to the installation of the aforementioned devices, the platform has retained swimming capability.

This new version of the vehicle can accommodate up to 4 crew members, with an additional batch of 2 seats for special equipment operators. It is armed with a TURRA 30 weapon station that regroups a 30mm cannon 2A42 with an anti-tank guided missile system SP135M KONKURS. As secondary armaments, the vehicle can also be equipped with a PKT 7.62mm machine gun (max range of 1500 m) and GALIX smoke grenade launchers (GALIX 13 and GALIX 6 decoy target).

It is also fitted with Schiebel MIMIND mine detectors, a KESTREL 5500 portable meteostation, a UGS set (unattended ground sensors), a FLIR RANGER/GSR portable ground surveillance radar, a JIM COMPACT multifunctional observation device, and it can operate along with a Micro FALCON Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).