The needs of the war have taken so much to Ukraine as Russia to stretch its arsenals to the fullest, including vehicles and weapons of the Soviet era, such as the calls Frankensamor, what is more unusual, prototypes that would otherwise be stored. The latter is the case of BMP-55 heavy infantry combat vehicle, based on the Soviet tank T-55. Originally developed in the first decade of this century by the Morozov Design Officethe project never reached the serial production phase and had not had news of it since 2009. 16 years later, The only prototype that is known has been photographed again in Ukraine in the open field.
The published images, originally published in Telegram by Military Informant, according to The War Zone, were taken in winter. Details such as location or current state are unknown of the prototype of the BMP-55 that, otherwise, seems without damage. Also if you are participating in combat operations, although it is reasonable to wait for it.
New Pictures of BMP-55 Has Appeared. https://t.co/p8zssggsyapic.twitter.com/6vaobf4dt9
-T-90K (@t_90AK) April 22, 2025
This is the BMP-55 heavy infantry combat vehicle
The development of BMP-55 began in the year 2000 with two main objectives: create a vehicle that offered a High infantry protection and reuse obsolete T-55 tanks that no longer met the requirements of the modern war.
To convert the T-55 into the BMP-55, the original turret was removed and mounted A new armored carriage carriage of troops in the tank chassis. The engine was relocated to the front of the vehicle, rear space in the rear section for an infantry compartment with capacity to 8 soldiers. Vehicle crew was formed by 3 people.
The BMP-55, without armament in its base version, had a weight of 28.5 tons. The offensive equipment included a remote control station equipped with A 12.7 mm NSVT heavy machine gun and two anti -tank -guided missile pitchers mounted on the left side of the helmet. In older images of the prototype you can see both elements. In the most recent it lacks the NSVT, but Keep anti -tank missile launchers.
The front armor of the vehicle was designed to resist direct impacts of automatic cannons 25 to 30 mm. The lateral armor could stop shots of heavy machine guns from 14.5 mmand the lower part was reinforced to support the detonation of an anti -tank mine TM-57. If the BMP-55 has been improved on its original characteristics, it is unknown.
The prototype tests began in 2009, but it was never learned of subsequent advances or was adopted by the Ukrainian Armed Forces for the service. Yes the War Zone points to the possibility that Ukraine is resorting to t-54/55 tanks captured to Russia to reuse them as a heavy infantry combat vehiclesomething that already has experience. The BMP-64 of its army, for example, are units of the main battle tank T-64 converted.