Ukraine fitted Soviet-era BMP with Spanish 30mm cannon turret

Ukraine’s 146th Separate Restore and Restoration Regiment printed pictures of a Soviet-era BMP infantry preventing automobile fitted with a Spanish GUARDIAN 30 distant weapon station.

The pictures, posted to the regiment’s official social media web page, present a regular BMP hull carrying the GUARDIAN 30 turret instead of the unique conical Soviet turret that the automobile left the manufacturing facility with a long time in the past. The GUARDIAN 30, produced by Madrid-based Escribano Mechanical and Engineering, is a totally stabilized distant weapon station, which means no crew member must be uncovered above the hull throughout operation, that mounts a 30mm MK44S Bushmaster II autocannon, a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun, 12 smoke grenade launchers, and a twin electro-optical system combining a cooled infrared digital camera, laser rangefinder, and day sight digital camera. The complete bundle weighs beneath 1,250 kilograms (2,756 kilos) excluding weapons and ammunition, and might rotate 360 levels in azimuth whereas elevating from minus 20 levels to plus 60 levels, a geometry that fits city and shut terrain the place threats seem from elevated positions or rooftops.

The importance of what the 146th regiment’s pictures present goes properly past the novelty of a Western turret on a Soviet hull. The BMP, which entered service within the Soviet Military in 1966, was designed round a 73mm smoothbore gun, the 2A28 Grom, that was already being criticized as insufficient for contemporary fight earlier than the Chilly Warfare ended. The Grom fires rocket-assisted rounds with poor accuracy past roughly 800 meters (875 yards) and requires semi-manual loading that generates a gradual fee of fireside. Its optical sighting system dates from the Sixties. Towards the drone threats, counter-battery radars, and fortified positions that outline the present battle in Ukraine, a BMP-1 in its authentic configuration gives troop transport however minimal helpful direct-fire assist. Changing the Grom and its turret with a stabilized 30mm autocannon that may interact targets past 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) with fire-control-system accuracy transforms the tactical utility of the identical hull completely.

Ukrainian officers confirmed in Might 2025 that Guardian 30 distant weapon stations produced by Escribano Mechanical and Engineering had been already arriving in Ukraine, with Ukroboronprom Common Director Oleh Hulyak stating: “We’re grateful to our overseas colleagues for his or her cooperation and plan to deepen it with the intention to enhance the fight energy of armored automobiles. We’re doing every little thing to make sure that our defenders obtain dependable and highly effective weapons within the mandatory portions.” That announcement referenced the Guardian 30 alongside older Soviet armored personnel provider hulls, confirming the combination program had official authorities assist on each the Ukrainian and Spanish sides.

The GUARDIAN 30 has amassed a major operational and business document since Escribano launched it in 2020, with over 800 models bought to prospects throughout Europe and the Center East. The turret incorporates a cooled infrared digital camera with a detection vary of 19.1 kilometers (11.9 miles), a laser rangefinder correct to plus or minus one meter at ranges as much as 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), and stabilization rated under 0.2 milliradians, permitting correct fireplace whereas the automobile is transferring over tough terrain. The MK44S Bushmaster II, the identical autocannon used within the American Bradley infantry preventing automobile and the Australian AS21 Redback, fires NATO-standard 30mm ammunition and might defeat mild armored automobiles, soft-skinned targets, and low-flying drones at ranges that the Grom can’t attain on its greatest day.

The combination onto a BMP hull is technically simple in comparison with some improve packages, as a result of the GUARDIAN 30’s design explicitly accommodates set up on armored platforms not initially configured for it. The turret ring dimensions are adaptable, and the distant operation electronics hook up with the crew compartment reasonably than requiring a crew member within the turret itself. Ukraine has been pursuing BMP-1 modernization via a number of parallel packages all through the battle, together with the domestically developed BMP-1TS which replaces the unique turret with a Ukrainian-built unmanned station carrying a 30mm ZTM-1 autocannon and Barrier anti-tank missiles. The GUARDIAN 30 integration photographed by the 146th regiment seems to symbolize a separate program utilizing Spanish {hardware} reasonably than indigenous improvement, suggesting Ukraine is pursuing a number of improve paths concurrently to handle the massive variety of BMP-1s in its stock.