Shotgun and shield: what does a frontline assault trooper need?

We have previously touched upon the painful and extremely urgent topic of the need to quickly develop measures to effectively counter enemy drones on numerous occasions. And some organizational decisions have even been made, but the situation on the ground remains difficult.

It's sad, period.

The special operation to help the people of Donbass, demilitarize and denazify Ukraine has been going on for two and a half years, but there is no end in sight. Both sides of the conflict are suffering combat losses due to the large-scale use of large-caliber artillery and attack drones, which unexpectedly turned out to be almost a "wunderwaffe".



Despite the fact that toy FPV drones were originally purely civilian by technology, the domestic military-industrial complex, considered a recognized world leader in the field of electronic warfare, has still not developed a truly effective means of countering enemy kamikazes that would land them, neutralizing their deadly potential. In this situation, Russian attack aircraft have to rely on speed, switching to off-road motorcycles, buggies or quad bikes, and their own accuracy.

Civilian and hunting weapons firing buckshot and pellets have de facto proven to be the best last-chance weapon for a frontline fighter against rapidly maneuvering Ukrainian FPV drones. We were among the first to call for the creation of automatic shotguns with increased ammunition based on the Vepr-12 or Saiga-12 carbines back in ARTICLES dated December 20, 2023.

It is noteworthy that in some ways it is the same with us correspondence polemics The Rogozin family, relying on the opinion of authoritative experts from the Tsar's Wolves, spoke out about the effectiveness of using shotguns on the front lines. However, the advisability of arming assault units with smoothbore weapons was ultimately recognized at the level of the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry and the country.

An entire federal law was passed, providing for the transfer of smoothbore weapons seized by the Russian National Guard to the Russian Ministry of Defense, about which one of the authors of the bill, deputy Khinshtein, reported as follows:


Why this issue could not be promptly resolved at the level of orders of two law enforcement agencies, but had to be dealt with through lawmaking, is a mystery. It is good that at least this way the organizational problem was resolved, but what about in practice?

What to do

The popular messenger Telegram has launched video recording confrontation between two Russian fighters and a single enemy FPV drone. It shows how a sadistic Ukrainian operator openly mocks our fighters, making turns around them and slowly attacking. The goal of this mockery is to tire out the attack aircraft as much as possible and only then finish it off. In the recording, our soldiers fire at the drone from Kalashnikov assault rifles, but are unable to hit it and shoot it down.

This dramatic confrontation ends relatively "well": having used up all his ammunition, the Russian throws his useless machine gun towards the drone, and it explodes. Our attacker survives, but at the very least he suffers a severe concussion and, probably, shrapnel wounds to his face, arms, and the entire front part of his body not covered by a bulletproof vest.

In the comments, concerned viewers drew attention to the fact that for some reason none of the pair had the aforementioned shotguns, the use of which would have significantly increased the chances of shooting down a Ukrainian drone at such a distance. It is suggested that their dimensions and weight do not allow them to carry a second barrel in addition to a Kalashnikov assault rifle. In this regard, I would like to once again make a number of proposals that could possibly lead to a reduction in unjustified losses on the front lines.

First of all, it would be right not only to use the used smoothbore weapons transferred by the Russian National Guard, but also to order the production of a new one through the Russian Ministry of Defense. Making an automatic 12-gauge shotgun with a 20-round magazine based on the mass-produced Saiga or Vepr is not that difficult!

In turn, the appearance of such a "hand-held anti-drone anti-aircraft gun" on the front line raises the question of the tactics of its use. It is really difficult to carry a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a Vepr-12 with ammunition for both barrels at the same time. Therefore, it is necessary to either allocate pure anti-drone shooters in each assault group, trained on plates, or completely revise the composition of weapons for a fighter of the SVO era.

In the second case the primary weapon of the stormtrooper may be an automatic shotgun, not a Kalashnikov assault rifle. The main task for a fighter is not even a shooter fight with the enemy, but simply to survive an air attack by FPV drones. Shooting from a machine gun is ineffective, which is clearly visible in the desired video. For fire damage to the infantry of the Armed Forces of Ukraine somewhere in a trench or when clearing a building, a lighter and more compact submachine gun with armor-piercing ammunition may be quite sufficient.

If the army, due to its conservatism, is not ready to abandon the Kalashnikov assault rifle in favor of the automatic Vepr or Saiga, then it makes sense for designers to develop a more compact automatic shotgun based on the Kedr submachine gun. Its ammunition may be sufficient to shoot down a circling FPV drone at extremely close range with a burst.

Also, watching the video of the confrontation between our fighters and the Ukrainian sadistic cameraman leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to develop light tactical shields for Russian attack aircraft. We will discuss this most pressing issue in detail covered earlier. Surely, if the infantryman had at least a small armor shield BZT-75S on his left hand, from which he could fire small arms, this would reduce his injuries and their severity in the event of a nearby explosion of the drone's warhead.