BWP Borsuk

Borsuk (Polish for Badger) is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle produced by Huta Stalowa Wola, a part of PGZ (Polish Armaments Group), designed to replace the fleet of obsolete BWP-1 (Polish designation for the BMP-1).

Though often referred to as BWP Borsuk, ''BWP'' is not a part of the name, but Polish abbreviation of ''Bojowy Wóz Piechoty'' - infantry fighting vehicle.

Development history

Borsuk IFV is being developed under the NBPWP Borsuk (Nowy Bojowy, Pływający Wóz Piechoty Borsuk - New Infantry Amphibious Fighting Vehicle Borsuk) program since October 24, 2014 when a contract (no. DOB-BiO5/001/05/2014) was signed between NCBR and the consortium consisting of Huta Stalowa Wola S.A. (leader), Ośrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy Urządzeń Mechanicznych OBRUM Sp. z o.o., Rosomak S.A., Wojskowe Zakłady Elektroniczne S.A., Wojskowe Zakłady Inżynieryjne S.A. (currently HSW), Wojskowe Zakłady Motoryzacyjne S.A., National Defense University (currently War Studies University), Military University of Technology, Wojskowy Instytut Techniki Pancernej i Samochodowej and Warsaw University of Technology. The value of the contract was 75 million PLN, of which 62 million PLN (22.6 and 18.68 million USD respectively at the exchange rate of the time) was a grant from NCBR.

The vehicle is equipped with the ZSSW-30 unmanned turret developed under its own program by the consortium of HSW and WB Group.

The first technology demonstrator of the Borsuk was displayed at the MSPO 2017 exhibition, with a refined version being shown a year later. The 2018 variant differed from the original demonstrator by having side skirts, appliqué armor on the sides and composite rubber tracks (CRT) instead of steel link tracks.

In 2018 the prototype underwent the first set of factory trials, which resulted in numerous changes being implemented into the vehicle. The version presented at MSPO 2019 had a redesigned trim vane (it now rises from the top of the hull instead of from the front like before), new headlights, different add-on armor and mounting points for mobile multispectral camouflage.

In 2020 the prototype started the initial state trials and the technical documentation of the vehicle was being prepared. In September 2020 Borsuk underwent the first series of state trials at the Drawsko Training Ground, where a series of tests were successfully conducted, for example firing tests.

Construction of four additional prototypes was commissioned by NCBR on April 27, 2022, which raised the development cost to 262.06 million PLN, of which 242.2 million PLN (58.7 and 54.3 million USD respectively at the exchange rate of the time) was financed by NCBR.

On November 14, 2022, a presentation and familiarization tests of the Borsuk took place at the Orzysz Training Ground in the presence of the Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, HSW officials and media. During the presentation it was announced that qualification trials are expected to be completed by mid-2023 and that the first user of the vehicle will be the 16th Mechanised Division. It was also announced that other types of ATGMs are to be integrated with the ZSSW-30 turret and that it is planned to build other vehicle variants based on Borsuk's chassis.

Technical description

Mobility

Borsuk is powered by a powerpack consisting of a 720 hp (530 kW) MTU 8V199 TE20 turbo diesel engine, which drives a six gear (four forward and two reverse gears) Perkins X300 automatic transmission. The running gear consists of six dual rubber-lined road wheels, with two return rollers on each side. The hydropneumatic suspension is designed specifically for the Borsuk and consists of six independent in-arm units on each side. Borsuk is able to use different type of tracks - it was presented on different occasions outfitted with steel tracks or composite rubber tracks (CRT).

The vehicle is amphibious without preparation - crossing a body of water only requires raising the trim vane, which can be done without leaving the vehicle, from the drivers seat. In water, Borsuk is propelled by two water jets with rotating nozzles to provide steering in the water.

Borsuk's maximum speed is 65 km/h on road and 8 km/h in water, while its operational range is 550 km.

Armament

ZSSW-30

Borsuk is fitted with the ZSSW-30 remote control turret armed with the 30 mm Mk44S Bushmaster II chain gun and a coaxial 7.62 mm UKM-2000C machine gun. Additionally, the turret features two Spike-LR anti-tank guided missiles in a launch container on the right side. ZSSW-30 provides one of the biggest first stage ammunition racks among the comparable systems, at around 300 autocannon rounds (including over 200 ABM rounds) and 250 machine gun rounds ready to use. The usage of a separate ATGM launch container as opposed to the more popular systems with the launcher extending from an internal compartment of the turret has some advantages, mainly the separation of the missiles from the rest of the turret and the ability to quickly replace the damaged or destroyed container in the field. Both the autocannon and the machine gun can be reloaded and operated from the inside of the turret, and the ATGMs can be reloaded from the hatch in the rear of the vehicle without the need to get out of the vehicle (the same way as in the Bradley IFV).

The autocannon fires at a rate of 200 RPM for standard ammunition and 120 RPM for ABM and has elevation angles of -9° to +60°, while the ATGMs can hit armored at ranges from 200 meters to 4 kilometers when guided manually and up to 4.5 kilometers in the fire and forget mode.

Protection

Chassis

Borsuk's chassis is made out of welded Armox 500T steel plates of varying thickness arranged so that they function as spaced armor. This, according to official sources, gives the chassis STANAG 4569 level IV protection from the front and level III from the sides and rear against ballistic threats, as well as level lIla and IIlb against mine blast. Unofficial sources however claim that Borsuk is better armored; its chassis being able to stop Russian 30mm 3UBR6 and 3U8R8 rounds (with the latter likely to damage the engine block) from the frontal arc (±30° from the centerline) and 12.7mm and 14.5mm from the sides.

Turret

The armor protection of the ZSSW-30 turret isn't stated by the manufacturer, but according to the unofficial sources the armor consists of a thin layer of polyethylene fabric sandwiched between two steel plates and an additional piece of ceramic composite armor (two steel plates with alumina tiles in between) on the ATGM container, which provides level III protection for its main structure and the missile container as well as level II protection for the external parts (such as commanders sight).

Active protection

In addition to armor, Borsuk is also protected by the Obra-3 soft kill active protection system. This system consists of four laser detector sets (each one consisting of three detectors), control unit and eight smoke grenade dischargers. The detectors work in 360° azimuth and in elevation from -6° to +30° and can detect light in the wavelength spectrum from 0.6 to 11 µm as well as distinguish between different laser sources (such as laser rangefinders or target designators). Obra-3 can work in different modes: manual, semi-automatic and automatic. In automatic mode the grenades are launched automatically when the turret is rotated (also automatically) to the direction of an incoming laser beam. The system is currently using the GAk-81 phosphorus multispectral smoke grenades.

Situational awareness

Sights

The commander's GOD-1 "Iris" sight provides 360° field of view with elevation angles from -20° to 60° and is equipped with an eye-safe laser rangefinder and two optical channels: daytime, with a light intensity sensor and thermal. The sight can rotate with the angular velocity of 1 rad/s (57 °/s). The sight is mounted on top of the turret in an armored cover that provides level II of ballistic protection and can turn independently from the sight. This allows it to cover the sight by rotating 180°.

Daytime camera has two fields of view: wide (10.7° × 8°) and narrow (3.3° × 2.5°) which provide 5500 m detection, 1800 m recognition and 900 m identification ranges for the wide FoV and 12500 m detection, 4800 m recognition and 2500 m identification ranges for the narrow one.

Night vision camera has a French 3rd generation (640 × 512 px) image sensor which works in the wavelength spectrum of 8 to 12 µm and provides a wide FoV of 10° × 8° with 5500 m detection, 1800 m recognition and 900 m identification ranges and a narrow one of 3.1° × 2.5° with 13500 m detection, 5700 m recognition and 2800 m identification ranges.
Rangefinder uses the 1.54 µm laser and can measure the range from 100 to 10000 meters with the margin of error of 5 meters.

The gunners GOC-1 "Nike" sight provides elevation angles from -10° to 60° and is equipped with an eye-safe laser rangefinder and two optical channels: daytime, with a light intensity sensor and thermal. The sight is mounted on the left side of the turret and can be covered by an armored door.

Daytime camera and laser rangefinder are identical to those used in the commanders sight.

Night vision camera has a French 3rd generation (640 × 512 px) image sensor which works in the wavelength spectrum of 3 to 5 µm and provides a wide FoV of 10° × 8° with 4950 m detection, 1600 m recognition and 800 m identification ranges and a narrow one of 3.1° × 2.5° with 11500 m detection, 4800 m recognition and 2400 m identification ranges.

ZSSW-30 is also equipped with an auxiliary optical sight which is not integrated with the FCS and is meant to be used in emergency situations from inside of the turret. It is located to the right of the gunners primary sight behind an armored cover.

Fire control system

ZSSW-30's fire control system is made by WB Group and provides full hunter-killer and killer-killer capabilities and superb accuracy while driving and against moving targets - according to unofficial sources ZSSW-30 can engage moving targets at 2 kilometers more accurately than the Leopard 2A5. It also allows shooting in every position of the turret relative to the hull in all three axis, which is not a common feature among similar systems. Both gunner and commander have an auto-tracker integrated into the FCS, which greatly automates the firing process. ZSSW-30's FCS is also net-centric as it can transfer information between different turrets or from UAVs, which greatly increases vehicle's situational awareness.

See also

* Rosomak
* T-15 Armata
* Kurganets-25
* Puma
* Tulpar
* M2 Bradley
* BMP-3
* ZBD-04
* Combat Vehicle 90
* BMD-4
* VPK-7829 Bumerang
* Makran

References

Military equipment of Poland

{{ModernPOLAFVsNav, style=wide
Amphibious infantry fighting vehicles
Tracked infantry fighting vehicles
Armoured fighting vehicles of the post–Cold War period