Russia's Central Military District receives new equipment, including BMPT ‘Terminator'

The CMD announced on 10 November that its 90th Guards Tank Division would receive it first nine ‘Terminator' armoured vehicles on 1 December following testing. (Russian MoD)

Russia's Central Military District (CMD) has been receiving new equipment in 2021.

The CMD announced on the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) website on 10 November that its 90th Guards Tank Division would receive its first company of nine ‘Terminator' tank support combat vehicles (BMPTs) on 1 December. CMD Commander Colonel General Alexander Lapin reported that new techniques of using the BMPT to support tanks were tested during an exercise in June, which had shown “the tank support combat vehicle is very effective; this vehicle has no equal in terms of firepower in this class”. He spoke of plans for a larger-scale exercise in June 2022 to explore the possibilities of employing a BMPT battalion.

Col Gen Lapin also said the CMD's 201st Military Base in Tajikistan would receive its first T-72B3M tanks this month. “Today, we have three motor rifle battalions re-equipped with new military equipment ... By the end of this year, we will complete the rearmament of the tank battalion; we will receive 30 deeply modernised T-72B3M tanks,” he said. The CMD added that the base had been re-equipped throughout the year with Igla and Verba manportable air-defence systems, Kord machine guns, and AK-12 assault rifles.

The CMD reported on the Russian MoD website on 11 November that it had received 150 weapons, aircraft, and pieces of special equipment in October, equipping units in Irkutsk, Samara, Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk, and Tyumen regions and in the Perm district. This included upgraded MiG-31 interceptors, a ‘divizion' (battalion-sized) set of S-300PM2 air-defence systems, Kasta and Nebo-U surveillance radars, and Mustang trucks, tractors, and tankers.