Troops of the russian army decided to increase the protection of their BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle by attaching some "sacks", namely soft blocks with reactive armor. Those were seen previously only on T-90M "Proryv" tanks. We can see the result thanks to the short video published by the "NMFTE" Telegram channel.
However, the footage comes from the soldiers of the Ukrainian forces who captured this vehicle with such unusual additional armor. As noted by the community, this is called "Soft Case ERA" (explosive reactive armor), and is part of the "Relikt" ERA complex.
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Even such a "handmade" variant of additional protection has its advantages. First and foremost, these "sacks" are easy to attach to the vehicle; also, they won’t damage the vehicle when triggered – unlike the conventional "Kontakt" ERA blocks that the russians thought would be a good idea to put on their BMP-2 and BTR-80. As we previously explained, those can break the thin armor of the hull no less effectively than an enemy's anti-tank missile.
On the other hand, those Relikt sacks are in deficit in the russian army, that’s why we will only be able to see similar improvements occasionally, unlikely to become a trend.
Here we should recall that in September 2022, russian "Kalashnikov" concern announced it would make a complex of reactive armor for the BMP-3 weighing 4.2 tons. This armor would be able to protect the front and armored sides of the BMP-3 from Soviet anti-tank weapons and guns in calibers 23mm and 30mm.
Still, this development exists only "on paper" yet, while the russian armed forces need them "by yesterday", considering the amount of BMP-3’s lost by the russians in Ukraine. Strict estimates of the Oryx community say that they’ve lost at least 183 vehicles of this type (out of 600 available before the invasion). 121 of them were damaged or destroyed, the other 62 became trophies for the Ukrainians.
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