Turkish defense manufacturer FNSS Savunma Sistemleri, which specializes in armored vehicles and is known for the Kaplan light tank and PARS wheeled AFV, has committed to modernize a large batch of BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles for the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces in partnership with local company EDGE Group.
According to the FNSS statement, the agreement was signed during the IDEX-2025 exhibition, held in Abu Dhabi this February, although at this stage, only a memorandum of understanding was signed and it has yet to turn into a firm contract. Notably, nothing is said about the participation of russian companies despite the vehicles in question originating from the russian federation.
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Another interesting detail is that the FNSS mentioned the UAE operates about 615 BMP-3s. Before, the country was known to have only purchased 390 vehicles back in 1992–1997. Subsequently, they were all gradually withdrawn from the Emirati ground forces and replaced with Rabdan wheeled armored vehicles from EDGE Group.
The planned modernization will focus on improving the mechanical, electrical and electronic systems of the BMP-3, in other words, it will affect basically all components of the russian armored vehicle. FNSS has quite a lot of experience in modernizing armor: for example, its portfolio includes a large-scale overhaul of the M113.
Needless to say, FNSS will evaluate the real combat experiences of using these vehicles during the russian invasion of Ukraine. Most likely, the armament will be swapped for a weapon more fitting for its weight category because, during the war in Ukraine, the fatal outcomes of the idea by Soviet engineers to accommodate landing troops in a lightly armored hull directly on top of 100mm ammunition stock have become quite notorious.
Earlier Defense Express pointed out how russians even prefer to use their BMP-3s as "assault guns" precisely because of the problems with protection and poor internal layout.
Therefore, we can expect that the BMP-3 from the UAE will be equipped with a new turret, quite possibly from the Teber family designed by FNSS in two variants: unmanned or with seats for two people. This turret is equipped with a 30- or 40-mm automatic cannon, an ATGM, an additional machine gun weapon station — simultaneously playing the role of a commander's panoramic sight, — and a set of sensors. Optionally, it can be equipped with an active protection system. The declared combat weight of the turret is under 3 tons.
BMP-3 could also benefit from an armor upgrade although it may require replacing the russian 500 hp UTD-29 engine with a more powerful one. But an important issue is that the engine is located in the aft part of the BMP-3 and has a low profile. Therefore, the Turks may try to completely reconfigure this Soviet vehicle, should they receive carte blanche from the customer.
In any case, observing FNSS's decisions along the way will be quite interesting because usually the modernization of weapons is implemented by its developer and logically develops the creator's own vision, while this will be a rethinking of the BMP-3 functionality and role. In particular, in russia, the only attempts to modernize the BMP-3 known so far boil down to installing various cage armor configurations against top-down attacks and ATGMs.
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