BMP-1

The BMP-1 is a Soviet tracked, amphibious infantry fighting vehicle whose designation stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty, or infantry combat vehicle, entering Soviet service in 1966 as the world's first mass-produced vehicle of its kind, designed at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant design bureau under Pavel Isakov and manufactured chiefly by Kurganmashzavod. It carries a crew of three and eight dismounting infantry, is armed with a 73mm smoothbore gun and an anti-tank guided missile launcher intended to let it fight alongside main battle tanks rather than merely transport troops to the battlefield, and its amphibious hull let it cross rivers without preparation, a capability important to Soviet doctrine for rapid armored advances. More than twenty thousand were built in the Soviet Union alone, with tens of thousands more produced under license in Czechoslovakia, China and India, and the type has seen combat in numerous conflicts across the Middle East, Africa and Asia.