IHS Jane’s is reporting that Ukrainian industry has developed a prototype for a substantial upgrade package for the Russian BMP-1 IFV.  The prototype, which has been named BMP-1 UM IFV, is currently being tested in Ukraine.

The extensive modifications include the replacement of the original one-man BMP-1 turret, which was armed with a 73 mm 2A28 smoothbore gun, a 7.62 mm PKT co-axial machine gun (MG), and a KBM 9K11 Malyutka (Sagger) anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) that was originally mounted on top of the main gun’s barrel.

Many operators have removed the original wire-guided ATGW as it is difficult to control, especially in windy conditions.

In the upgrade, the baseline turret has been replaced by the locally developed Shkval overhead weapon station (OWS), production quantities of which have been developed for installation on a number of platforms including the locally manufactured BTR-3 8×8 series of armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

The OWS is armed with a stabilised 30 mm ZTM-1 dual-feed cannon, 7.62 mm KT coaxial machine gun (MG), and a 30 mm AG-17 automatic grenade launcher, which is mounted externally on the left side of the turret.

The ZTM-1 has an effective range in the ground-to-ground role of up to 2,000 m and can also be used to engage some types of aerial targets. It has a maximum muzzle velocity of 960 m/s.

Ready-use ammunition typically consists of 225 rounds of 30 mm ammunition and 2,500 rounds of 7.62 m ammunition; additionally it can carry 116 rounds of 30 mm grenade ammunition (of which 29 are ready use).

Mounted on the right side of the turret is a bank of two Kyiv Design Bureau Bar’er laser-guided ATGW, which are semi-automatic command-to line-of-sight (SACLOS). The missile has a maximum range of 5,500 m and a minimum range of 100 m; it is fitted with a tandem high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead that is designed to neutralise targets fitted with explosive reactive armour (ERA).