At least eight Russian BMD-4M airborne Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV) fell into the hands of Ukrainian Soldiers since the Kremlin’s invasion began.
The new Russian combat vehicle was advertised as a reliable “chariot” for the Russian Airborne Troops, or VDV.
Despite this, the Ukrainian army managed to destroy a large number of BMD-4s along with their crews and capture about ten units in good condition. According to the Ukrainian military, about 20 BMD-4Ms were destroyed in the Kyiv region alone, and ten more in the south of the country in the Kherson region.
Visually confirmed Russian BMD-4 vehicles losses suffered, since the 24th of February 2022, comprises more than 12 combat vehicles, according to Oryx’s blog.
The BMD-4M is the latest generation of Russian airborne infantry fighting vehicles. By 2020 Russian military obtained around 200 of these armored vehicles.
This armored vehicle was specially designed for airborne troops. It is an amphibious and air-droppable infantry fighting vehicle, an updated version of the BMD-4 with a new engine and running gear, among other features.
The airborne assault vehicle is armed with a 100mm 2A70 semi-automatic gun / missile launcher weighing 332kg.
The 2A70 gun is coupled to a highly reliable 30mm 2A72 automatic cannon mounted on the turret. It can fire GSh-6-30 rounds with a muzzle velocity of 960m/s. The rate of fire is more than 300 rounds per minute. The launcher can fire either 3UOF17 or 3UOF19 rounds at a rate of ten rounds a minute. Its muzzle velocity ranges from 250m/s to 355m/s.
The secondary armament of the vehicle is a 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun, which can fire Arkan Tandem 9M117M1 and Konkurs anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) systems.
The turret is also equipped with three smoke grenade dischargers on each side at the front.
