MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. Mini-drones may be shortly introduced into the armament of the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), the press office of the High Precision Systems Holding Company (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) told TASS on Thursday.

"The work to introduce drones into the armament of armored vehicles is one of the tasks for specialists of SKBM [Special Design Bureau of Machine-Building] at present. Currently, draft organizational decisions and a schedule of joint work for integrating mini-UAVs into the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle are being agreed upon. Drones are planned to be introduced into the design documentation of armored vehicles after the results of type testing," the press office said in a statement.

Earlier, Rostec announced plans to integrate FPV drones into the armament of light armored vehicles. The state tech corporation did not disclose the specific types of vehicles.

The BMP-3 infantry combat vehicle was engineered by the Special Design Bureau of Machine-Building in the second half of the 1980s and is produced by Kurganmashzavod. The vehicle can carry a crew of three and seven assault personnel.

The amphibious vehicle features a 100mm gun capable of firing missiles and three 7.62mm (one coaxial and two bow) machineguns. The BMP-3 weighs 18.7 metric tons and can accelerate to 70 km/h on the road. The combat vehicle has been operational in the Russian Army since 1987.