(Washington, D.C.) Is Russia trying to leap ahead of the U.S. Army’s now evolving new infantry carrier? Could be possible, however the relative technological sophistication and weapons performance capacity of a new soon to be unveiled Russian infantry fighting vehicle.
Russia’s TASS news agency is reporting that its state-owned weapons maker will demonstrate its latest Bumerang infantry fighting vehicle for the first time at an upcoming MILEX 2021 arms show in Belarus. Perhaps it is a new variant of the Bumerang, the latest version of which was a wheeled armored platform used to develop the K-17 wheeled infantry fighting vehicle, TASS reports.
“The K-17 infantry fighting vehicle’s baseline version is outfitted with the Epokha combat module with a 30 mm automatic gun and a coaxial 7.62 mm machine-gun and the Kornet anti-tank missile system. The K-16 armored personnel carrier is armed with a combat module with a 12.7 mm machine-gun,” TASS reports.
As an adaptation or upgrade to existing technology, it would seem unlikely that a new Russian Infantry Fighting Vehicle could truly rival the yet-to-emerge U.S. Army Bradley replacement, the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle. While in its nascent phase, the emerging OMFV is now the focus of a current U.S.-Army led competition among industry vendors to engineer a capable armored combat vehicle with a wide sphere of new technical attributes to include an ability to launch drones, deliver infantry under hostile file, conduct forward surveillance, network with robots and operate either manned or unmanned as dictated by mission requirements.
While much of the technological specifics of the Army’s new OMFV are yet to be determined as the Army is now evaluating industry proposals and preparing for the next phase in an ongoing competition among vehicle-builders to make prototypes and offer new technologies to the Army.
