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Apr 26, 2024 19 tweets 6 min read Read on X
1/ Updated BMD count. Let's how the Russian airborne IFVs in storage are looking after more than two years of peer warfare. Image
2/ First, the actual figures. After recounting prewar stocks, @HighMarsed and I found 637 BMDs or BMD-based support vehicles in Russian military depots. Now the number has been reduced to just 244 units, just over a third of the initial number, of which at least 58 are not actual combat vehicles.Image
3/ Two months ago I did a BMD thread where, will not disclosing numbers, I did provide some useful data. I recommend checking that one, as it already contains a lot of info also published in this thread:
4/ With that said, let's talk about the subject at hand. Only two storage bases hold actual BMDs: the 2544th and the 3018th/6018th. Image
5/ Let's see first the 2544th, as most BMDs were and still are stored there: in 2021 there were 514 BMDs there, mostly BMD-1s but possibly also some BTR-Ds (footage is too blurry to tell them apart).
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6/ Now only 139 remain, possibly some are broken but I can't tell from @Vishun_military's footage. Unfortunately, I can't post pictures of said footage as I don't own it, so you'll have to believe me. Some could be broken too, but I can't prove it.
7/ Then there's the 3018/6018th. There were 65 BMD-1s there in 2021. Here too it's possible that there were also other types of BMDs, but I also can't tell for sure. Image
8/ Again, unfortunately I can't post Vishun's footage as the 6018th also didn't feature in their recent article. However, there are just 47 BMDs left, of which at least 8 are visually broken. Image
9/ Finally, while not actual AFVs, @ModernMicroArmy recently found 58 BMD 1V119 artillery fire command vehicles at the 120th arsenal while looking at a picture from HighmMarsed's thread on SPM 2S9 Nonas in storage.
10/ It makes sense that they're stored alongside 2S9s, considering they're designed to direct fire from said self-propelled mortars. And they also have been occasionally used in Ukraine by Russian forces.
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11/ My reasoning to include them in the BMD count.
12/ Anyway, back to the main topic, stored BMDs were mostly BMD-1s, the oldest type which, according to TMB2021, most had been retired and there were mostly in storage. They probably have been slowly refurbished to BMD-2s, mostly at the 144th BTRZ.
14/ It's also worth noting that, although it looks like BMDs will also go extinct in storage by this year, BMD-4s and BTR-MDMs are in active production, manufactured by Kurganmashzavod, that also produces other armored vehicles such as BMP-3s. Image
15/ Vishun's estimates on their recent BMP article that the rate of production and refurbishment of BMDs in probably close to 150-300 units per year nowadays. Image
16/ So, in conclusion, considering that the VDV left their vulnerable airdroppable IFVs long ago for more conventional armor such as BMPs and tanks, the probable reduction in BMDs in the field once stocks are depleted and refurbishment is deduced from production lines, it won't be felt in the battlefield.Image
17/ IMHO for at least one year BMDs are actually delivered to cannon fodder formations that don't require survivable armor to carry out their assaults. Image
18/ And that's it from BMDs, hopefully I can deliver another thread today!

Also hopefully this time links actually show up, unlike in the MT-LB thread.
/19 As usual I always have to make a typo, the date of the 2544th footage is 02.12.2023.

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More from @Jonpy99

Jun 26
1/ Time for the second BTRZ thread! This time we’ll take a look into the state of BMP refurbishment and production rate. Image
2/ Here’s the first thread about BTRZs:
3/ So, before taking a look into the facilities and their capabilities, we have to consider that for the last year Russia has decisively switched tactics to infantry and light vehicles intensive ones.
Read 59 tweets
Jun 25
1/ Time to review Russian Armor Repair Plants (BTRZs)! Been a long time since the last time we checked them, and they’re crucial to the Russian war machine. Image
2/ Before starting, first I recommend watching @CovertCabal's video on BTRZs:
3/ Here you have the numbers we arrived at: Image
Read 41 tweets
Jun 15
1/ Bit of a long-delayed update, but after all the recent footage I wanted to focus on showing the changes on the smaller storage bases for a change, not the major ones everyone has heard about. Image
2/ I talked about the different types of storage bases in depth on the attached thread, but I'll focus on the former MESRBs:
3/ These are brigade-sized storage facilities with equipment ready-to-go to refit movilized units or quickly replace material losses. As expected, they're long gone for the most part by now. Image
Image
Read 23 tweets
Jun 10
Talk about bad luck. The 349th was just updated a tiny bit on Google Earth: Image
And then there'e even more infuriating instances like the 2141st artillery storage base, without an update since late 2022 with pretty bad blurry footage and recently missed by a single kilometer: Image
Of course Google Earth had to update the 769th just one week after I buy my first ever satellite image, precisely of that base. @CovertCabal I feel you now. Image
Read 5 tweets
Jun 2
This is the image I recently bought: the 769th as of May 30th 2025. I won't bother couting it because it's too grainy and numbers appears to remain more or less the same as last time. But that's not the interesting part. Image
You probably noticed already that the local junkyard has been cleaned up. They most likely are sorting and cannibalizing those hulls for any useful part to send to BTRZs to repair other stored BMPs. Image
Image
That's also why some previously emptied spots have been refilled, with those cannibalized hulls moved there to not confuse them with unchecked hulls. Image
Image
Read 7 tweets
Apr 27
1/ @aXielMeMer9432 and @waffentraeger just found a lot of updated images boht on Google and Livingatlas. Among these, there are several major storage bases, and as usual, the pattern is them becoming depleted. Let's see a few of them. Image
2/ Before going deeper, I want to make clear I haven't yet counted any equipment left at these. Still, just a look at them shows that they're not much left.
3/ First of all, the 6018th Central Tank Reserve Base. This one was included in @Vishun_military's recent report, but now it's available for all to see that last September most remaining useful equipment was gone. Image
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Read 12 tweets

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