The Khrizantema (Russian: "Хризантема"; English: Chrysanthemum) is a Russian supersonic anti-tank missile. Khrizantema was designed to deal with current and future generations of main battle tanks, such as the M1A2 and Leopard 2A5 and later, and can also be used to engage slow and low flying aerial targets like helicopters.[1] The missile carries the GRAU designation 9M123 and the NATO reporting name AT-15 Springer.[2] The BMP-3 is a Soviet amphibious infantry fighting vehicle, successor to the BMP-1 and BMP-2. The abbreviation BMP stands for Boevaya Mashina Pehoty (Боевая Машина Пехоты, literally "Infantry Combat Vehicle").[1] The design of the BMP-3 or Obyekt 688M can be traced back to the Obyekt 685 light tank prototype with 100mm gun 2A48-1 from 1975.[2] This vehicle did not enter series production but the chassis, with a new engine, was used for the next-generation infantry combat vehicle Obyekt 688[3] from A. Blagonravov's design bureau. The Ob. 688 weapons configuration—an externally-mounted 30 mm gun and twin Konkurs ATGM launcher—was rejected; instead the new 2K23 armament system was selected. The resulting BMP-3 was developed in the early 1980s and entered service with the Soviet Army officially in 1987. It was shown for the first time in public during the 1990 May Day parade and was given the NATO code IFV M1990/1. The BMP-3 is designed and produced by the Kurganmashzavod ("Kurgan Machine Building Plant") some variants however are build by the Rubtsovsk Machine Building Plant (RMZ), for example the BRM-3K.[4][5] The BMP-3 is one of the most heavily armed infantry combat vehicles in service, fitted with a low-velocity 2A70 100mm rifled gun, which can fire conventional shells or 9M117 ATGMs (AT-10 Stabber) (40 100mm rounds and 8 ATGMs are carried), a 2A72 30mm dual feed autocannon with 500 rounds and a rate of fire of 350 to 400 RPM, and a 7.62mm PKT machine gun with 2,000 rounds, all mounted coaxially in the turret. The main gun elevates from −5° to +60°.[6] There are also two 7.62mm PKT bow machine guns, again with 2,000 rounds each. The BMP-3 is capable of engaging targets out to 5,000--6,000 meters with its ATGM weapon system 9K116-3 "Basnya". The minimum engagement distance, flight time and vulnerability of launcher are typical of command-guided, rather than fire-and-forget, ATGM systems. With conventional ammunition, such as the HE-Frag shell 3OF32, the 2A70 gun has a range of 4,000 meters. The 3BM25 APFSDS round can also be used.[2] Russia Listeni/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation[10] (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya, IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈrat͡sɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia.[11] It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares land borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both with Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the US state of Alaska across the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world's ninth most populous nation with 143 million people as of 2012.[12] Extending across the entirety of northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans nine time zones and incorporates a wide range of environments and landforms. The M1 Abrams is an American third-generation main battle tank produced by the United States. It is named after General Creighton Abrams, former Army Chief of Staff and Commander of U.S. military forces in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972. Highly mobile, designed for modern armored ground warfare,[10] the M1 is well armed and heavily armored. Notable features include the use of a powerful gas turbine engine (multifuel capable, usually fueled with JP8 jet fuel), the adoption of sophisticated composite armor, and separate ammunition storage in a blow-out compartment for crew safety. Weighing nearly 68 short tons (almost 62 metric tons), it is one of the heaviest main battle tanks in service. The M1 Abrams entered U.S. service in 1980, replacing the M60 tank.[11] It served for over a decade alongside the improved M60A3, which had entered service in 1978. The M1 remains the principal main battle tank of the United States Army and Marine Corps, and the armies of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Australia, and Iraq.

• published: 13 Sep 2013
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