"prp-3 bmp- son counterbattery question?" Topic

the prp-3 is a version of the bmp-1 ifv fitted with a battlefield radar ,some sources i see online says it can be used in the counterbattery role ,other sources says it can not
does any one know for definite, can it be used for tracking artillery and mortars?
can someone give me a definite date for when the prp-3 bmp-son entered serviced ,i know it was updated to prp-4 later but i am not interested in this model ,although i would be interested in finding out if there is a visual difference between the two of them ?

Hmmm, sorry, don't know.

I was under the impression that the radar included with it was more like a battlefield radar used to locate enemy forces in a recon unit – vehicles and troops.

Try Wikipedia which might provide the info you seek:

link

BRM-1 radar can be track vehicles to 7,000m and infantry to 2,000m by the radar.

Some were assigned to artillery units, so perhaps they were used in that mode. Ah yes, read a bit more closely and yes, it is used in that mode, with a range of 20 kms. for the unit you are inquiring about.

"Artillery reconnaissance

PRP-3 "Val" (Ob'yekt 767, 1ZhZ) (PRP stands for podvizhnoy razvedyvatel'niy punkt – mobile reconnaissance post) – Is a BMP-1 converted into an artillery reconnaissance vehicle. It entered service with the Soviet Army in 1970 (production started in 1972 at the Kurgan Engineering Works and in 1979 at the Rubtsovsk Engineering Works). The vehicle was fitted with two R-123M or R-108 radios and optical devices which enabled it to function in the artillery/guided missile target indication, fire adjustment and/or artillery/mortar locating roles. It was armed with one PKT machine gun in a ball mount in front of the new, bigger, two-man turret which was positioned further back than in a normal BMP-1. The turret had two single-piece hatches which opened forward. Both hatches had periscopes for observation and a large optical device in front of each hatch. A shuttered housing held an optical device on the right hand side of the turret.

It had a rectangular folding antenna for the 1RL126 "Small Fred" counterbattery/surveillance radar mounted in a circular hatch cover on the left of the rear of the turret which operated in the J-band and had a detection range of 20 km and a tracking range of 7 km.

It also had 1V44/1G13M/1G25-1 navigational systems, a 1D6/D6M1 laser rangefinder, a 10P79 vision device, a 1PN29 night vision device and a 90 mm 2P130-1 launcher with 20 9M41 illumination missiles. The crew was increased from 3 to 5 men. One PRP was assigned to an artillery/guided missile battalion (towed or self-propelled) and to the target acquisition battery of an artillery regiment. It was also known as BMP-SON. NATO gave it the designation BMP M1975.[1][3][4]"