OREANDA-NEWS. The crew of Ilyushin test-pilots under the command of Honoured test-pilot of the Russian Federation, Hero of Russia, Nikolai Dmitrievich Kuimov, participated in the trials of advanced military equipment models of the Airborne forces - 4th generation airborne assault vehicles BMD-4M.

Successful trials proved that the main aircraft of the Russian Air Force military transport aviation Il-76MD can transport and perform airborne inserts of the upgraded airborne assault vehicles BMD-4M.

The first airdrop of the BMD-4M from the Il-76MD was performed on July 15, 2014 on “Zhitovo” landing ground in Ryazan Oblast, and on July 17, 2014, two upgraded 4th generation airborne assault vehicles and one armoured personnel carrier BTR-D were airdropped in the same area. The BMD-4M were fitted with the new improved platformless parachute systems “Bakhcha-U-PDS”, and the BTR-D used P-7 parachute platform.

The drop was performed with “TsUG” method, in which the pull-out parachute system of every next vehicle is connected to the parachute frame of the previous one. It allows to reduce the length of the landing zone by half.

Combat vehicles separated from the aircraft (first - the heavier BMD-4M, then the BTR-D), and the parachute systems were activated on time. During the drop and landing all the systems worked in normal mode and allowed the airborne assault vehicles to land precisely in the designated area. For the drop of the airborne assault vehicles BMD-4M there was used an 11-dome parachute system, the area of each dome in this system is 350 square metres.

After landing all the dropped objects were set into firing position and marched to the equipment drop zone.

BMD-4M is an upgraded 4th generation airborne assault vehicle. It is a modernized version of BMD-4 with new body, engine, running gear and other units. BMD-4M is fitted with combat unit “Bakhcha-U”, designed in JSC "KBP", which is almost completely unified with armament of the BMP-3. BMD-4M armament includes 100-mm gun 2A70, 30-mm automatic gun 2A72, coaxial 7.62-mm PKT, antitank guided missile “Arkan”. At the present day the Airborne forces hold field trials for 10 BMD-4M, the results of which will determine the acceptance of these machines for service.