Russian marines of the Far East receive BMP-3 IFVs.

The Pacific Fleet Marine Corps, stationed in the Primorsky Territory, received 40 new BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. They will replace the BMP-2 with a piece of up-to-date equipment.
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Delivery of BMP-3 IFVs (Picture source: Russian MoD)

The 40 new BMP-3s were delivered to Vladivostok by rail and then transported by special equipment to the place of their permanent deployment. Earlier, the formations of the Pacific Fleet marines in Primorye and Kamchatka were completely re-equipped with BTR-82A armored personnel carriers and reinforced by units of T-80BV tanks.

The design of the BMP-3 (the abbreviation BMP stands for boevaya mashina pehoty, infantry combat vehicle) or Obyekt 688M can be traced back to the Obyekt 685 light tank prototype with a 2A48-1 100 mm gun from 1975. The prototype did not enter series production, but the chassis, with a new engine, was used for the next-generation infantry combat vehicle Obyekt 688 from A. Blagonravov's design bureau.

The Ob. 688's original weapon configuration consisting of an externally mounted Shipunov 2A42 30 mm autocannon, a 7.62mm PKT machine gun and twin 9M113 Konkurs ATGM launcher was rejected; instead, the new 2K23 armament system was selected. The resulting BMP-3 was developed in the early 1980s and entered service with the Soviet Army officially in 1987. It was shown for the first time in public during the 1990 Victory Day parade and was given the NATO code IFV M1990/1.

The BMP-3 is designed and produced by the Kurganmashzavod (Kurgan Machine Building Plant) some variants however are built by the Rubtsovsk Machine Building Plant (RMZ), for example the BRM-3K.

In May 2015, the Russian Defense Ministry signed a three-year contract to receive "hundreds" of BMP-3 vehicles to maintain its armored vehicle force until its replacement, the Kurganets-25, completes research and development. In the process of the BMP's serial production, the vehicle's design underwent 1,500 amendments. The contract was fully executed in 2017. 200 more received in 2018-2019 and 168 more in production are to be delivered in 2020-2021 with additional protection.

At the Army-2017 show near Moscow, the Russian Defence Ministry signed a contract covering the first deliveries of an unspecified number of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) fitted with the Bumerang-BM turret.

BMP-3 IFV (Picture source: Army Recognition)