Since its first public appearance in 2005, the Боевая машина поддержки танков or BMPT Terminator, meaning tank support combat vehicle, at the same time generated many fantasies and speculations, as well as a lot of skepticism on the part of certain armored specialists. The Russian armies themselves were far from being convinced of its usefulness alongside its T72, T80 or T90. In fact, the orders were homeopathic, and only for testing purposes. But when in 2018, the modernized variant Terminator 2 was sent to Syria for tests in a combat environment, the results obtained apparently finished convincing the most skeptical within the Russian general staff, and a procedure to effectively test and integrate the armored vehicle into the Russian armies was initiated. The first of these tanks were delivered to the 80th Armored Division from Chelyabinsk, according to a report broadcast by Russian media, where they will be intensively tested in the company of the tanks they must escort.
Traditionally, battle tanks have been escorted by infantry fighting vehicles and the infantry they transport, in order to eliminate armor and infantry units, particularly anti-tank units, and to prevent attacks. attacks from the flanks or outside the area of effectiveness of heavy tanks. The BMPT Terminator was designed to replace, on its own, simultaneously infantry fighting vehicles as well as dismounted infantry units. In fact, in a non-urban environment, 2 BMPTs can escort a squad of 3 combat tanks, instead of 6 IVCs and 40 infantry soldiers, according to the Russian approach. In an urban environment, the doctrine would provide for deploying 2 BMPT per tank.
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