The BMP-23 (''бойна машина на пехотата'') is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

infantry fighting vehicle An infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), also known as a mechanized infantry combat vehicle (MICV), is a type of armoured fighting vehicle and armoured personnel carrier used to carry infantry into battle and provide direct fire, direct-fire suppo ...

which was first introduced in the early 1980s. However, it was based on a design from the Bulgarian design bureau from the 1970s, being presented in 1980s. The hull is based on that of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

2S1 The 2S1 ''Gvozdika'' (, "Dianthus caryophyllus, Carnation") is a Soviet Self-propelled artillery, self-propelled howitzer introduced in 1972 and is in service in Russia and other countries . It is based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, mount ...

self-propelled

howitzer The howitzer () is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun) and a mortar. It is capable of both low angle fire like a field gun and high angle fire like a mortar, given the distinction between low and high angle fire break ...

(also produced by Bulgaria) with thicker armour and a more powerful

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

, which is itself based on a stretched

MT-LB The MT-LB (, literally "multi-purpose towing vehicle light armored") is a Soviet Union, Soviet multi-purpose, fully amphibious vehicle, amphibious, tracked Armoured fighting vehicle, armored fighting vehicle in use since the 1970s. It was also ...

chassis. Since the 2S1 is a larger

vehicle A vehicle () is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term "vehicle" typically refers to land vehicles such as human-powered land vehicle, human-powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velo ...

, the troop transport compartment is not as cramped as that of the BMP-1. The armour is made of welded rolled steel, capable of withstanding heavy machine gun fire. The BMP-23 was first seen on a parade in 1984.

Design

Armament

The turret of the BMP-23 is armed with a 23-mm autocannon 2A14 from the air-defence gun

ZU-23-2 The ZU-23-2, also known as ZU-23, is a Soviet towed 23×152mm anti-aircraft twin-barreled autocannon. ZU stands for ''Zenitnaya Ustanovka'' (Russian: Зенитная Установка) – anti-aircraft mount. The GRAU index is 2A13. Develo ...

with 600 rounds, and initially the

9M14 Malyutka The 9M14 Malyutka (; "Little one", NATO reporting name: AT-3 Sagger) is a manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) wire-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided mi ...

ATGM An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

was used however this was later replaced on the BMP-23D modernization with the

9K111 Fagot The 9K111 ''Fagot'' (; " bassoon") is a second-generation tube-launched semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) wire-guided anti-tank missile system of the Soviet Union for use from ground or vehicle mounts. The 9K111 Fagot missile syst ...

ATGM. There is also a coaxial PKT machine gun. As the BMP-30 variant uses a turret from the BMP-2 it has no ATGMs and uses the 2A42 autocannon.

Variants

* BMP-23 - Baseline variant with

ATGM. * BMP-23D - Upgraded variant with

ATGM and 81mm smoke grenade launchers. * BRM-23 - Reconnaissance version, limited production. Entered service in 1991. * BMP-30 - Modified BMP-23 with the turret taken directly from the

BMP-2 The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle f theinfantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Development his ...

Operators

* : The BMP-23 has served with the

Bulgarian army The Bulgarian Army (), also called Bulgarian Armed Forces, is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military command is in ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Tracked infantry fighting vehicles Infantry fighting vehicles of Bulgaria Bulgaria–Soviet Union relations Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s