Russia Loses 2 BMD Vehicles After Failed Paradrop

Two of Russia’s paradropped BMD infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) crashed as the parachutes failed to open on Friday during Center-2019 military exercise.

The vehicles were destroyed during a paradrop over a military range in Russia’s Orenburg region, the Russian defense ministry’s press service stated, according to local media. The defense ministry did not specify the type of parachute used in the failed paradrop.

The IFVs were being deployed from an Il-76 transport system. The vehicles were unсrewed and no injuries were reported in the September 20 incident.

The Russian military said the cause of the parachute failure was being determined. A Russian military blog earlier reported that the Center-2019 drills would see the first-ever use of a new platformless parachute system for the BMD-4M, a class of amphibious IFVs.