The BMP-1 (Bronevaya Maschina Piekhota) was first built in the early 1960s and first seen in public in November 1967. The BMP represented a totally new concept of an armored infantry combat vehicle. It combines high mobility, effective anti-tank weapons, and armored protection for the mounted troops. The BMP is a fully armored amphibious infantry combat vehicle (AAICV). In water it is propelled by its tracks and on solid ground it has the range and speed which is needed to keep up with the fast-moving tanks in offensive operations.

An extremely flat turret which is located in the center of the vehicle mounts a 73-mm smoothbore gun with an effective range of 800 meters medium (maximum range 1,300 meters) and a 7.62-mm coaxial machine gun. The main gun is equipped with an automatic loading system. A launching rail for the AT-3 Sagger antitank guided missile is located above the gun and has a range of up to 3,000 meters. Behind the turret there are four large hatches in the roof of the troop compartment and two large exit doors in the rear. There are four firing ports for the mounted soldiers in each side of the troop compartment and one in the left rear door. The BMP has a three-man crew. When all hatches are closed, crew and passengers have NBC protection in the completely pressurized hull, which allows them to operate in contaminated environment. The BMP is equipped with an infrared searchlight, periscopes, and sights for night operations. The BMP has a rather thin armor (19 mm in the hull, 23 mm in the turret) and provides protection against .50 caliber armor-piercing rounds only at the front. The BMP-1 is very vulnerable to ATGM and tank fire. Critical areas, where penetration normally will result in a personnel kill or a total failure of the vehicle are the engine compartment, the ammunition storage area (on the right side), the fuel tanks (in the rear doors) and the troop compartment. Because of the very flat turret with its limited capability to depress the main gun, the BMP is unable to engage tanks and APCs from a hull-down position and thus has to expose itself to engage potential targets. The BMP can maintain top speed (70 km/h) for only short periods of time because of heavy vibrations and the possibility of transmission failure. Due to the complicated loading mechanism and a non-existent stabilization system, it is not possible to accurately fire the 73-mm gun or the coaxial machine gun while on the move. The BMP must also be stationary when firing and tracking the SAGGER ATGM. The SAGGER is difficult to reload and cannot be reloaded at all from the inside, thus making reloading impossible under NBC conditions.