I have made a mistake, the first vehicle is built on the chassis of T-72AV (plainly evident from the small Kontakt-1 ERA bricks, no variant of -B mounted K-1), not -B. I am unsure how the engineers modified the hulls to incorporate hull gunners, though. 787 and the 782 equipped vehicle date from the 1980's (between 1986-1990). They are all made by Chelyabinsk. The source is a webpage called "History of the BMPT" < http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://arsenal-otechestva.ru/k-istorii-sozdaniya-bmpt.html&usg=ALkJrhhu3yfxaJmdLDindlmBq9yvq5u0bA >. 787 had some form of unguided rockets in addition to the 30mm cannons and heavy machine guns.
The vehicles were designed from Russian experience in Afghanistan (and later, Chechnya), where vehicles such as BMP-2 and ZSU-23-4 were found exceptional effective at suppressing anti-tank missile and RPG teams.
With regards to Object 781, the last the vehicle, the ATGW chosen was indeed Kornet. Wikipedia states "six", but I believe that is only two in the image, so perhaps some launchers are missing. More likely, it is stating the missile load carried internally and not the launchers, though. It also states that 781 was chosen for further development, and it has a very clear resemblance to the modern-day BMPT in terms of armament, layout, and protection.
I'm certain the Russian members of the forum will be able to elucidate upon these AFVs far better than I, though.
tround said:
the tubes are too small for an anti tank missile .
it's not a rocket launcher because the dispersion is big so you need more than 12 rockets . (the snora oerlikon rocket weapon system has 30 tubes)
May be it's a gun boosted rocket launcher , recoilless or not ( like the javelot) .
anyway it' not an antitank weapon like the other versions .
I believe the specific rockets used were similar to or derived from RPO-A, but I do not have a source to support this.
Void said:
According to Andrei's site they are Kornet launchers. Might just be the empty holder for the actual missile tubes though.
They are too small to be Kornet. If you look at the third vehicle I posted, you can see a pair of Kornet launchers on the right turret.
RP1 said:
Would dispersion be that much of a problem if they are just being used to demolish buildings using an FAE warhead (S-8DM)?
RP1
The likely employment would be at extremely close ranges at identified RPG teams, where dispersion is arbitrary. The vehicle was probably not chosen for further development as it lacked sufficient long-range firepower to support main battle tanks in the open field against ATGW teams, and self-protection against main battle tanks.