The Kurganets-25 is a very unique tracked 25-ton warmachine which is designed into three main variants, a armoured personnel carrier, a infantry fighting vehicle and a armoured recovery vehicle. The Kurganets-25 is developed into various models, and it will replace BMP, BMD, MT-LB and other types of tracked Soviet armored platforms currently in active service with the Russian Armed Forces. Now there are some reports that the russian military may soon launch this infantry tank into the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War to test this warmachine overall combat capabilities and performance in the battlefield.
Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine War in February this year. The Russian Military has suffered heavy losses in the form of Armoured vehicles, hundreds of russian main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, rocket artillery systems, etc has been destroyed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. So, after the heavy losses to its armoured forces, the immediate need to introduce newer vehicles equipped with the state-of-the-art technologies into the warzone is now necessary for the Russian Army. The Kurganets-25 infantry tank is considered as one of new-generation vehicle which has much better armament and much better protection as compared to old soviet-era vehicles.
The urge to the Russian Ministry of Defense to soon send the Kurganets-25 to test fire is mentioned more when Moscow has recently launched new vehicles such as Typhoon-VDV and BPM-97 into the warzone.
Now talking about the Kurganets-25 infantry tank, this new armoured vehicle have modular armor that can be upgraded for specific threats. The warmachine is designed by Kurgan Machine-Building and Kurganmashzavod. This vehicle has the per unit cost of $5,600,000. The vehicle is produced since 2015.
The Kurganets-25 IFV and APC variants were first seen in public (initially with the turret and main armament shrouded) during rehearsals for the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade.
The Kurganets-25 is designed to bring the Russian tracked troop carrier fleet up to standard with Western designs like the American M2 Bradley and British Warrior, which outclassed their Soviet Cold War BMP-series counterparts. The Kurganets-25 is based on the Armata Universal Combat Platform while being lighter than the T-15 Armata “heavy IFV” based on the same and similar to the wheeled VPK-7829 Bumerang.
There are two versions of the vehicle: a heavily armed infantry fighting vehicle carrying 6-7 troops, and a lightly armed APC carrying 8 troops. Other variants proposed for the Kurganets include an armored ambulance, an 82 mm Vasilek mortar carrier, an anti-tank vehicle, an armored recovery vehicle, a reconnaissance vehicle, a command vehicle, and an armored engineering vehicle.
The vehicle represents a departure from traditional Russian low profile designs, having a higher floor more suited for mounted combat rather than troop carrying, which provides better IED and mine protection. While the T-15 is expected to be deployed with T-14 tanks in armored formations, Kurganets-25 platforms will equip mechanized units.
The Kurganets-25 IFV features the Bumerang-BM remote control turret with its 2A42 30 mm autocannon, a 7.62 mm coaxial PKT machine gun and a bank of two Kornet-EM anti-tank guided missiles on either side. The Kurganets-25 APC variant has a 12.7 mm MG RWS instead of the Bumerang-BM turret.
The Kurganets-25 weighs 25 tonnes. This allows the Kurganets-25 to be light enough to be mobile on water. The maximum speed of the vehicle is 80 km/h on land and 10 km/h on water. Both the IFV and APC variants have a front-mounted 800 hp engine.
The Kurganets-25 protection system consists of large modular armor panels mounted around the fuselage and the Afghanit active defense system which protects the vehicle against anti-tank weapons.
Initially, Russian Defence Officials expected this new generation of infantry fighting vehicle to enter mass production from 2020 to replace older soviet-era armoured vehicles.
But, the above mentioned plan has not been implemented, similar to the T-14 Armata Tank, the Kurganets-25 infantry fighting vehicle has not fully completed its test and assessments.
So obviously, there will be a very high probability of risk of russia decides to bring this warmachine into war, because this vehicle is currently tested properly, and the Ukrainian Army has got access to a large varieties of advanced anti-tank weapons provided by NATO.
With the above-mentioned situation, it is clear that it will be very difficult for the Russian Ministry of Defense to respond to the call from some military officials or the media regarding the sending of the Kurganets-25 infantry tank to Ukraine for real battlefield testing.