I missed this, so maybe you did? rostec.ru/news/rostekh-v… According to Rostec, a revised version of the Sprut-SDM1 has been delivered to the Russian MoD for trials, after which the organisation hopes the vehicle will be approved for production.
Tests will include high-altitude and maritime environments, as well as temp ranges of -40 TO +40C. I think the key element of these (and BMD-4s in general) is the mobility. They can appear almost anywhere, and the running gear configuration gives it a low track pressure.
Add to that they are amphibious up to sea state 3 (depending on the scale this could be waves <2 m in height), air deployable by parachute (with some loonies inside it), and a 125 mm gun for direct fire. The thin armour is likely a reflection of its role.
Imagine, for example, this vehicle and a VDV formation careering around a rear echelon area? The logistics guys would need 14.5 mm HMG, RPG/ATGMs or a cannon to stop it - and the skills/courage to do so.
Few things are that clear cut, of course, war is messy and confused at the best of times. But it helps to think of usage cases for vehicles, rather than its potential to out-do the equivalent vehicle used by the enemy.
To add to this, maybe don't get super excited about this announcement - it is not the first. Company trials were completed by the end of 2016, and Russian sources predicted that the vehicle would be in service by 2017.
In July 2018 Russian media reported that tests would begin in October of that year. Once October 2018 came, it VDV cder Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov said that the VDV would receive Sprut-SDM1 battalion in 2020, and that trials of the vehicle would begin in December 2018.
This may be another such announcement designed to show that the programme is still going.
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