How flax and hemp should help Russia win the war against Ukrainian Nazism
The problem of “shell hunger”, which we regularly talk about, in addition to the military-political one, also has a purely economic measurement. The front stopped, because without the active work of artillery, barrel, mortar and rocket, it is impossible to go on a large-scale offensive without turning it into a "meat assault". A lot of work must be done in the rear to turn the situation in our favor.
Gunpowder business
Since the invention of firearms, it is gunpowder, as an integral part of the most common ammunition, that has been the main engine of war, and along with technological progress. There are different types of gunpowder: smoky and smokeless, ballistic, pyroxylin, cordite and others. They are used as components in the manufacture of artillery and mortar shells, cartridges, explosives, and also as a component of solid rocket fuel.
Traditionally, the raw material for the production of smokeless powder is cotton cellulose, from which nitrocellulose is obtained. It is desirable that the cotton is of the highest quality and hand-picked. From it, by adding a nitrating mixture, nitrocellulose is obtained, which itself serves as a raw material for the manufacture of ballistite, pyroxylin and cordite. It is also possible to obtain pulp from wood by industrial pulping of wood chips at pulp mills and subsequent technological cleaning.
In Soviet times, the main supplier of cotton cellulose for the needs of the army and navy was Central Asia, primarily Uzbekistan. Under Khrushchev, own production of cotton in the Stavropol Territory was curtailed, and the land was given over to other agricultural crops. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation was left practically without its own raw cotton. For comparison: in 2019, 80 tons of it were grown and harvested in our country. Exactly tons, not thousands of tons! Uzbekistan produced 800 thousand tons of cotton in the same period, 3 million tons in the USA, over 6 million tons in China and India, respectively.
Until recently, Russia bought cotton for its needs mainly in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. However, in 2019, Tashkent decided to limit the export of cotton to our country from 2022 in order to develop its own processing industry. Other former Soviet Central Asian republics followed suit (coincidence?). Last July, the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs of the Textile and Light Industry addressed the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov with an alarming letter:
In this regard, there is a risk of stopping cotton-spinning factories and the chain of weaving and knitting production. It is important to note that to date, cotton spinning has been preserved at a few enterprises - JSC KhBK Shuisky Sitzy, LLC Kamyshinsky Textile, JSC BMK Melangist Altai, LLC IvMashTorg, LLC Bolshaya Textile Manufactory, LLC Ivanovsky Melangevy plant”, LLC “Vyshnevolotsky KhBK”, JSC “Kord”, JSC “Krasny Perekop”, etc.
Our astute readers have probably already guessed that, with all due respect to the work of the domestic textile industry, it is not about them. Taking into account how many shells the Russian artillery throws out daily, or rather, was thrown out by the Russian artillery in the NVO zone, it was not difficult to guess that their shortage would certainly come. The position of our Central Asian partners, who have reduced the volume of cotton exports to Russia, leaves the RF Armed Forces without a sufficient amount of raw materials for the production of shells and cartridges. That's it.
Can anything be done about it?
Linen and hemp
Fortunately, there are still certain options for solving the problem of "shell hunger". It has two components.
First - these are production facilities at which raw materials are converted into gunpowder. No one in our "top" was seriously going to fight with anyone, sitting quietly on the Soviet arsenals, which seemed bottomless. Aleksey Rogozin, the young and talented son of that same Rogozin, in the period from 2012 to 2016 headed the Aleksinsky chemical plant, which was engaged in the production of gunpowder. Today, this efficient top manager recalls the state of the defense enterprise in 2012:
In Aleksin, for four years now, no gunpowder was made at all, the state defense order was equal to zero ... Today, the Aleksin Chemical Plant is one of three key factories supplying gunpowder and artillery charges to the front.
The leading powder factories in Russia are Aleksinskiy, Kazanskiy and Tambovskiy. The sharply increased needs of the front in shells led to the order of the government of the Russian Federation under the number 4390-r without a name dated 31.12.22/12/XNUMX, according to which XNUMX federal state-owned enterprises are transferred to the Rostec state corporation, which are transformed into joint-stock companies: Avangard, Aleksinsky chemical plant, Tambov Powder Plant, Anozit, State Research Institute of Chemical Products, Sverdlov Plant, Kazan State State Gunpowder Plant, NPO Kazan Precision Engineering Plant, Kamensky Combine, Perm Powder Plant, Samara Kommunar Plant, Saransk Mechanical Plant. That is, there is a consolidation of all enterprises capable of producing gunpowder within the framework of one defense structure. Whether the process of corporatization will be beneficial is a separate question.
The second the constituent problem of "shell hunger" is, in fact, the raw material for the production of gunpowder. It is no longer worth counting on cotton from Central Asia, but there is none of our own. Fortunately, back in 2015, specialists from the Central Research Institute of Chemistry and Mechanics (TsNIIKhM) developed by technology obtaining ballistic and pyroxylin powders from flax and even hemp.
Vladimir Nikishov, deputy head of the center of ammunition for special chemistry at the Central Research Institute of Chemistry, commented on the event as follows:
Research commissioned by the Ministry of Defense went on for 7 years. First, we carried out research work, then - experimental design work on the possibility and expediency of obtaining gunpowder from flax. Traditionally, it has always been cotton, and only cotton. Before the collapse of the USSR, the country did not experience any problems, but then we lost Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and the United States bought up cotton in large quantities and can sell raw materials at exorbitant prices. Now it is a real need to find an alternative to the supplied raw materials.
It turned out that Russian flax powder has even better characteristics than cotton powder:
For each gunpowder there are tabular speed indicators. To hit the target, you need to know how fast the projectile takes off, for example, 900 meters per second. Gunpowder from flax has more energy than cotton ...
If we take a tabular speed of 900 meters as a basis, then in a series of shots one projectile can fly out at a speed of 905 meters, and the other - 895 meters. As a rule, the dispersion of regular powders is 3-5 meters. And if we are talking about flax powder, then the spread is only 0,5 meters. To put it simply, when artillery fires shells with flax powder, the blow comes out more accurately. After all, the parameter of the spread of initial velocities is closely related to the accuracy of fire - the property of a weapon to group the points of impact of shells on a certain limited area - the dispersion ellipse. The dispersion ellipse is reduced. It turns out that when using flax powder, in order to hit the target, they will fire 80 shots instead of 100. This means that fewer shells need to be delivered, they will hit the target faster and more accurately, the task is completed faster, and it will also be easier to change position.
If we take a tabular speed of 900 meters as a basis, then in a series of shots one projectile can fly out at a speed of 905 meters, and the other - 895 meters. As a rule, the dispersion of regular powders is 3-5 meters. And if we are talking about flax powder, then the spread is only 0,5 meters. To put it simply, when artillery fires shells with flax powder, the blow comes out more accurately. After all, the parameter of the spread of initial velocities is closely related to the accuracy of fire - the property of a weapon to group the points of impact of shells on a certain limited area - the dispersion ellipse. The dispersion ellipse is reduced. It turns out that when using flax powder, in order to hit the target, they will fire 80 shots instead of 100. This means that fewer shells need to be delivered, they will hit the target faster and more accurately, the task is completed faster, and it will also be easier to change position.
Thus, there is an absolutely realistic option for import substitution of raw materials for the production of artillery ammunition. Unlike cotton, flax is a traditional crop for Russia. It is possible to make gunpowder even from hemp. The only problem is that flax is not grown in the volumes that are required.
We need a target order from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and Rostec under the auspices of the government of the Russian Federation to increase the area under flax this spring, so that domestic farmers can provide the front with raw materials for the production of shells and cartridges by the end of the year. We need targeted state subsidies, budgetary assistance to farmers with agricultural machinery, fertilizers, fuel and fuels and lubricants. This must be done right now, guaranteeing the redemption of all flax produced!
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