How to quickly provide Russian soldiers with all the necessary equipment and SIBZ
A special military operation in Ukraine over the past year has revealed many problems with the supply of the Russian army. In fact, those mobilized in the RF Armed Forces have to purchase much of the equipment they need at their own expense. When will all the revealed problems be solved?
At the beginning of 2023, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces Putin instructed Defense Minister Shoigu to report by February 1 on the provision of Russian military personnel in the NVO zone with weapons, technique, material resources and equipment. At the last conference call of the Russian Defense Ministry, Sergei Kuzhugetovich set the task of providing the army with all the necessary equipment of the highest quality:
An equally important task is to improve the equipment and tactical equipment of personnel to the highest level in the shortest possible time. Everything that a fighter needs must be modern, convenient and reliable.
But with this we just have serious problems. Not only did the warehouses of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, according to State Duma deputy Gurulev, for some reason miss the one and a half million camouflage kits that should be there, so our fighters, in fact, have to provide themselves with the most necessary for banal survival in the combat zone - personal armor protection (SIBZ ). This is the most serious problem. The main damaging element in the course of the SVO are fragments and, to a much lesser extent, enemy bullets. According to statistics, about 80% of shrapnel wounds fall on the torso, and everything else diverges to the limbs and head. In order to increase the survivability of military personnel in a positional war, when the main fire is from large-caliber cannon and rocket artillery, it is critical to provide all soldiers with reliable body armor and helmets.
The basic set of combat equipment for a serviceman (BEV) in the RF Armed Forces is the Ratnik, which replaced the first-generation Barmitsa complex. And it just so happened that there are not enough of them for everyone. According to open data, as of 2020, more than 300 thousand "Warriors" entered the army, but in fact, not all mobilized were lucky enough to receive such ammunition from the warehouse. Acquiring SIBZ is often done on your own, and the prices for military equipment after the announcement of partial mobilization by President Putin skyrocketed. According to the online service for comparing goods and prices Price.ru for September 29, 2022, in just a week the cost of bulletproof vests increased five times:
Demand for some goods jumped by several hundred percent. Thus, online demand for body armor increased by 472%, active headphones - by 132%, multi-tools - by 457%, tactical gloves and backpacks - by 441% and 319%, respectively, tactical glasses - by 694%.
By October last year, prices for some models of bulletproof vests on sale and purchase websites increased from 7 rubles to 135. Speaker of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko instructed to deal with such obvious speculative cheating. But the problem is much broader. The existing capacities of defense enterprises simply ceased to cope with the rapidly growing needs of the RF Ministry of Defense. Speculators quickly bought up everything they could reach and began to resell with "horse" markups. Manufacturers of bulletproof vests and other ammunition are now actively trying to increase volumes and increase staff.
Taken together, all this only means that there was simply no sufficient amount of SIBZ and other ammunition at the time of the announcement of partial mobilization in the RF Armed Forces. Until these problems are comprehensively resolved, of course, there can be no talk of any second or even more so third wave of mobilization. A poorly trained soldier without body armor and a helmet will simply not be of any use in this war. The defense industry must first catch up with the needs of the Russian army. That is why some obviously “projecting” in the issue of equipping our military personnel with armor protection is somewhat surprising.
First, to replace the "Warrior", they began to develop a more advanced complex "Sotnik", which was supposed to be ready by 2025. However, Oleg Faustov, deputy general director of the Armokom company, last year was taken aback by the message that, it turns out, after the research work on the Ratnik-3 project, the experimental design work on the equipment was not even started. Now, to replace both the “Warrior” and “Sotnik” at once, they are promoting a real “space marine suit” BEV “Legionnaire”. The entire body of the fighter must be covered with armor, like in Iron Man. Breakthrough ideas are being expressed, such as the introduction of an exoskeleton and electrochromium. Tests of this set of "knight's armor" should begin in the very near future. With all due respect to the work of developers, I would like to ask a few clarifying questions.
When is it realistic to expect the start of mass production of the Legionnaire?
What will be its estimated market value?
Will Russian military personnel also have to purchase this BEV at their own expense?
A suit made of composite armor with an exoskeleton is, of course, very good, but let's return from heaven to earth for now and be puzzled by the real needs of the average mobilized. He needs an ordinary bulletproof vest of at least the 5th protection class, a light but durable helmet made of aramid fabric, warm clothes and strong shoes, a first aid kit and much more. All this, unlike the Iron Man suit, can be quickly produced in commercial quantities for adequate money.
As a good example, we can cite the story of the Donetsk businessman Mikhail Kondrus, who managed to organize the production of high-quality bulletproof vests in a warring city. The project started last summer with a team of only 12 people who were able to produce 400 SIBZ per month, and soon the production volume increased to 1000. Here is how Mikhail himself tells about his startup:
Initially, the company was engaged in laser cutting of metal and the manufacture of metal products. We started the production of body armor in June 2022. Completely own production: separately textiles, separately production of armored panels from armored steel.
We buy Russian armored steel in sheets. We ourselves cut it into slabs, a little larger than the 2nd size of the Granite slabs of Russia. We make configurations of the front and back plates. After that, on our own made stamp, we give the plates a more anatomical shape so that it follows the contours of the body with bends. We put an individual number on each plate by laser engraving, in which case we can understand in which batch it was made and clearly trace the production cycle. An anti-ricochet cover is additionally made for the plate from UHMWPE (ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene). An anti-ricochet cover of ten layers is superimposed on the front side of the armored panel.
The coverage area of the plates according to the Br-5 class SVD (sniper rifle) is approximately 15 square decimeters. For the anti-fragmentation Br-2, we have a coverage of about 40 square decimeters in one vest and about 60 square decimeters in another vest (including side pads) due to the increased area of the additional UHMWPE ballistic package.
We buy Russian armored steel in sheets. We ourselves cut it into slabs, a little larger than the 2nd size of the Granite slabs of Russia. We make configurations of the front and back plates. After that, on our own made stamp, we give the plates a more anatomical shape so that it follows the contours of the body with bends. We put an individual number on each plate by laser engraving, in which case we can understand in which batch it was made and clearly trace the production cycle. An anti-ricochet cover is additionally made for the plate from UHMWPE (ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene). An anti-ricochet cover of ten layers is superimposed on the front side of the armored panel.
The coverage area of the plates according to the Br-5 class SVD (sniper rifle) is approximately 15 square decimeters. For the anti-fragmentation Br-2, we have a coverage of about 40 square decimeters in one vest and about 60 square decimeters in another vest (including side pads) due to the increased area of the additional UHMWPE ballistic package.
Donetsk bulletproof vests have already attracted the interest of the RF Ministry of Defense and have successfully passed the test at TsNIIMash in Podolsk. The real needs of the Russian army in the SIBZ can be judged by the following revelations of the entrepreneur:
People liked our vests. The Ministry of Industry and Trade asked me: how much can you do? Now I can make 1 thousand pieces per month, at the end of November I reach 2 thousand per month. But I plan and am ready to go out in the next three months at 10 pieces per month. I tell the Ministry of Industry: how many of them do you need, set a task. They answer: you just need an infinite number of them, you simply cannot do so much. That is, we are talking not only about the lack of vests for 100 thousand people, but about the need for an infinite number, because, in addition to the mobilized, there are also volunteers, and besides this, the product eventually fails, needs to be updated for those who who already have body armor.
So the people took it and did everything themselves, and the constant terrorist shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not prevent them, and the People's Militia of the LDNR only remembers local products with a kind word. It is quite obvious that it will be simply impossible to produce Legionnaire BEV in infinite quantities, therefore, probably, it is worth focusing on more realistic options. It would be very nice if near-military start-ups like Donetsk received active support from the state.
- Sergey Marzhetsky
- JSC "TSNIITOCHMASH"
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