In 1969, the Ministry of National Defense ordered the development of a new generation of infantry fighting vehicles to replace the old BK-2. In 1971, the first prototype was produced, codenamed VZS-1103.6, which later became the BK-71. Its forward-thinking emphasis on modular systems provided the basis for subsequent modernization and informatization modifications, and made the BK-71 the evergreen of infantry fighting vehicles, with the Ministry of Defense declaring that it would not retire all BK-71 models before 2034. The BK-71 has a maximum road speed of 77 km / h with a crew of 11 people (three crew members and eight crew members), and is also capable of amphibious operations.