Equipment of the German paratroopers. Airborne uniform, history from a leather helmet to a blue beret

In 1979, the Afghan war began. She became a test not only for Soviet technology, weapons and tactics, but also for equipment.
It immediately became clear that Soviet equipment was not very suitable for this war.

Work began on its improvement. But before we look at what came out of it, I will share some thoughts.

The Soviet army was preparing for big war with NATO in Europe, like World War II. Everything was sharpened for this task - weapons, equipment, tactics and, of course, equipment. It looked something like this - the soldiers are taken to the front line in infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, or at least on trucks, and after an air strike or artillery preparation, they run into enemy positions. Well, or they are sitting in the trenches, reflecting the oncoming NATO. For these conditions, Soviet equipment was, in principle, sufficient.

All property was transported on vehicles, and four stores in the pouch should have been enough for a fight.

The Afghan war turned out to be completely different. Here, the soldiers had to walk a lot on terrain impassable for vehicles, and all the property - food, water, warm clothes, sleeping bags, appliances - as well as ammunition, drag on their own hump.

The Americans in Vietnam found themselves in a similar situation, and to their credit, they quickly adapted the equipment. There were incredibly successful jungle boots, tropical uniforms, equipment made of nylon that did not rot in the damp heat, large backpacks and much more. We've been doing worse...

The equipment and armament of any army depends primarily on the concept of warfare by this army, and weapons and equipment of a fighter are created for this. The USSR, starting in 1945, was preparing for one type of war: a war in the European theater of operations with mobile formations under conditions of limited use of tactical nuclear weapons.

Those. the main type of hostilities is maneuvering with masses of armored vehicles, and not counter-guerrilla actions (such as sitting in a field, or at checkpoints in order to control as much territory as possible).

The USSR planned to achieve victory in such a war in 2-3 weeks, after the start of hostilities.

As for Afghanistan, there the army had to wage a counter-guerrilla war, for which it was not very prepared, both in terms of tactics and strategy, and in terms of equipment.

The US Army found itself in similar conditions a little earlier (Vietnam), therefore, by the 80s, their point of view on soldier equipment was different from the Soviet one, i.e. they assumed that their army in the future would wage not only the 3rd World War, but also local wars in which soldiers long time will have to be carried out in field conditions(in fact, live in the field!), And not just in the barracks and on the march.

The photographs show the images of Soviet paratroopers in the DRA

Images of fighters 154 separate detachment special purpose Main Intelligence Directorate USSR General Staff

First set: reconnaissance detachment SpN GRU GSH

Jump suit for special forces of the first type (Mabuta 1) with a cap
Vest
kimra sneakers
RD-54 without pouches

Airborne command watch)

Second set: reconnaissance detachment SpN GRU GSH
KLMK "Birch"
Mabuta cap
Jump boots for special forces
RD-54 without pouches
chi-com (in the HP-2 pouch sticks out)
AKS-74 with PGO-7V2, harness and IPP
plastic flask in a case
district R-126
Holster for PB

Third set: reconnaissance detachment of the Special Forces of the GRU General Staff in mountain uniforms.

Mountain-storm suit (USSR) of the second type
Army mountain boots with triconi
Soviet olympic
Mabuta cap (balaclava + NS-3 goggles)
RD-54 without pouches
raincoat tent army
chi-com
AKS-74 with PGO-7V2, harness and IPP

Fourth set: reconnaissance detachment SpN GRU GSH

KZS (Protective Mesh Suit)
Cap from the set of the Field uniform of the sample of 1984 ("Afghan").
Stomil sneakers (Polish People's Republic)
Unloading vest "Belt-A".
Portable, knapsack, simplex VHF FM radio station "R-126"
AKMS assault rifle with silent and flameless firing device "PBS-1"

Scout knife "NR-2
Compass "Andrianova"

Army plastic flask 1.5 liters

Fifth set: reconnaissance detachment SpN GRU GSH

KLMK jumpsuit with a pattern of early releases (until the mid-70s)
Cap from the set of "jumping suit for special forces" ("mabuta")
Sneakers "Stomil" (Polish People's Republic)
Unloading vest "Belt-A"
Landing backpack "RD-54"
Portable, knapsack, simplex VHF FM radio station "R-126"
AKMS assault rifle with silent and flameless firing device "PBS-1"
IPP - individual dressing package
Rubber hemostatic tourniquet
Scout knife "NR-2"
Compass "Andrianova"
Army aluminum flask 0.75 liters

154 OOSPN before flying to combat

The equipment of the Russian and Soviet soldiers is actually a "parable of the town". Who just didn’t kick our highest command and rear bodies, who adopted certain items of equipment, equipment and everyday life into service with the Russian, Soviet and again Russian army.

True, I have not the slightest desire to develop and supplement this topic, so below I will only focus on items of equipment used during my service (including in Afghanistan and the Transcaucasus), like Soviet troops and so does our adversary. I will try my best to illustrate all of the following.

Let's start, as usual, with a hat - everyone saw a winter headdress, but I remind you - a soldier's hat with earflaps was made of artificial cheburashka, it looked like this

The officer's was from tsigeika and looked like this

A variant with a cockade of the Airborne Forces is presented, but in Afghanistan often both soldiers and officers wore on their hats the insignia they were not supposed to wear according to the Rules for wearing military uniforms, but an ordinary green field star from panama (caps) or a star from the field shoulder straps of senior officers

However, it also happened - ensign Yevgeny Lutsky in a soldier's hat with an asterisk

or a field cockade from a cap for officers

officers Suvorov, Kolodkin and a number. (future foreman) Oleksyuk Yu. Photo by Evgeny Lutsky

here is a mountain sweater and a mask. The mountain sweater was part of the mountain uniform (it is interesting that there are people who claim that the sweater in the mountain set was similar to the camel wool diving sweater, see the comments to the article), here is a late sample of it, since the trousers are without a valve. Dated 1988.

And this is my jacket, transferred at the request of the leadership on 04/07/2014 to the museum of the Omsk Cadet Corps (former "alma mater" - Omsk VOKU)

The sweater, since it is in the photo, is from a mountain outfit, and the masks were often used as ordinary ski hats. But back to headwear. In the summer in Afghanistan, the Soviet army used two main similar items - a cap and panama.

There were no pilots, more precisely, they appeared on the input, and then on the output in 1988 - it was a semi-anecdotal story! In connection with the withdrawal of troops from the Republic of Armenia, fighters from the Central Asian training camps began to be sent to Germany. But then separate groups were nevertheless sent to their destination. One of these teams, suitably equipped, arrived at our airfield. And then one boychila in a cap, staring at the distant mountains, asked the airfield natives: “How far is it to Berlin?” Everyone lay down with laughter...

A whole set of exotic headwear for Afghanistan - two caps and a jump helmet. 1980 year (186th regiment, then - 66th brigade). Photo by Sergey Pavlov. Provided by Christenzen Yuri.

But I will continue Panama

of course, it was more effective due to the presence of fields, but, in general, both headdresses were almost equivalent.

Below is a cap with a green field star, which fighters almost always attached to a winter hat.

Border camouflage", i.e. summer and winter uniforms of the KGB PV of the USSR:

border panama

in my opinion, this headgear was much more convenient and rational than combined arms. Panama was camouflaged, however, like almost everything in Soviet army- only two-color colors, but it had wider fields, and on the right side there was a button for fastening half of the field if it became necessary to "attach" to the machine

The stigma on panama hats, as well as on the bulk of the uniforms going to provide OKSVA, was the factory named after Akhunbabaev in Tashkent.

There were also such mold manufacturers:

"Ahmadshakhovka" or "Pashtunka", as well as "dushmanka", "pancake" or even "two pancakes" (officially this is a Pashtun headdress called "pakkul", "pakol" or "chitarli"), the spirits did not differ much from the usual headdress headdress, and here is a turban! I would like to sing a hymn to this modest item of oriental clothing! This headdress is wound around a traditional Pashtun skullcap - kulo, kule (possibly from "gul" - pointed embarrassed Persian hat, new-Persian kūlah hat, helmet) - below is an image of Kandahari "with a cutout in the frontal part in the form of a curly bracket , decorated with rhinestones, beads and sewn-in mirrors

And the turban itself is made of translucent silk or raincoat-type fabric, with which you can wrap your face, leaving only a slit for your eyes and thereby protect your nasopharynx from the abundant dust raised in deserts and semi-deserts by the movement of troops and caterpillars of armored vehicles. This headdress has several more functions - it is used as a cape from dust and rain due to its large size - about one and a half by three meters, and also instead of a shroud when a person needs to be buried. As they say, "I carry everything with me"! Officers went to combat reviews with such items. There is even a list of mandatory items for a drill review

However, they rarely took on log bags. The presence of an artillery circle betrays that this bag belonged to some kind of "God of War"!

True, there is no MPL-50 line, apparently, they wore it in boots at reviews))) On the "combat" they also wore cotton uniforms (HB), of which there were several types in Afghanistan, and half-woolen (PSH), some took special forces for war, mountain and even the old dress uniform, as well as KZSs

KZSs, as well as border camouflage, as well as protective combined-arms overalls, were two-tone - on a rather light green background there were gray or light green spots, similar in shape to oak leaves drawn on a computer (a characteristic structure consisting of squares, i.e. pixels), although there were problems with computers at the time it was created. The tricolor camouflage, which is now used everywhere, in Afghanistan was only worn by "feathered" pilots and sometimes technical staff Air force. Personally, I almost never wore all of the above uniforms - my choice was the special forces "sand", and the very first sample - with patched chest pockets and without amplifiers on trousers produced by the Klepikovskaya garment factory (Ryazan region), here it is, now it is also called Mabuta- 1:

This is what she looked like in 1988. And this is how she looks now:

When her knees were worn out, I was forced to sew on amplifiers as on the more “fresh” “sands” of 1981 (there were no amplifiers on the old uniform of 1973 with open buttons shown in the photo) Medical kit. Around 1986, except for the plastic orange "individual first aid kits" (AI) that looked like this

in which each warrior should ideally have a few handfuls of pills and two or three syringes, other first-aid kits appeared.

In this piece of equipment, if such a desire arose, it was possible to put several IPPs - individual dressing bags, as well as a rubber tourniquet (if desired), since most often it was wound around the butt of a machine gun

But these first aid kits also did not take root, although I still managed to photograph one of them. Basically, all the fighters and commanders carried their contents in their pockets.

after the dam, we are talking about these fighting text here, so as not to be confused later, signed this IPP and always took it with me to the fighting, as exceptionally happy. I never had to use it, even there were never any wounded in my units. Truly a precious relic! We usually cut the harnesses from a car inner tube - the vulcanized "self-propelled gun" did not decompose in the sun as much as the delicate factory-made harnesses made of multi-colored rubber and equipped with touching white polyethylene "pegs". In addition, in some incomprehensible way, in addition to the usual medical tube that I carried with me instead of a tourniquet, interesting pills were preserved

These are "Puritabs", English, an analogue of our "Akvasept" with "Pantacid" (the same vile chlorine taste), "Oxacillin sodium salt" - an antibiotic. There were also some pills, I don’t remember the names, designed to not want to sleep - perhaps sydnocarb (a very dangerous thing) there is also a psychotropic drug in the photo - the tranquilizer Trioxazine. All the pills usually lay in this case

This metal box is actually from the MS-4 mine, I remember that someone “rolled” the case for me from it and exactly for medications. A very remarkable thing is presented here

an ingenious invention of Japanese technical thought. You can shoot even with a broken finger. However, the little thought gnaws latently - maybe the samurai also copied it from Science and Life and subsequently patented it, like one brilliant Japanese businessman who made a fortune on this magazine? And here

another subject is presented, and approximately from the same opera. I had to take all sorts of syringes on caravans, but I liked the Danish ones most of all, from the Pharma-Plast company, for some reason there were more of these - for three "cubes", with an elastic band on the piston and with a screw-on needle, I didn’t happen to see anywhere after the war

Soviet syringes with a case for carrying and sterilizing them looked like this

And this is a box from the same Soviet one, so healthy for 20 cubes (with the manufacturer):

The soldier's equipment included, in addition: personal weapons, equipment, as well as ammunition in pouches or a Chinese or Iranian bib. Chinese were of two types: "Type - 58" and "Type-63" during Vietnam War they were called "Chi-Kom" - Chinese Communist. "Type-58" differed from "Type-63" in the absence of pockets for grenades, otherwise these samples were identical. They were sewn from a poisonous green tarpaulin, fastened with wooden clasps (lugs). Iranian ones were similar to Chinese ones, but without a rubber base. There were also Soviet "bras" at the final stage of the war.

The photo shows the "belt - A sample of 1987", i.е. "brassiere" Soviet-made. There were three versions of it - with toggles, open buttons and closed buttons. In addition, among the belongings of my predecessor, Lieutenant Andrei Dorokhin, who was killed in action in April 1988, I happened to see the Soviet "unloading" - a rather "stunted" vest made of raincoat - tent fabric with pockets for magazines, grenades, signal smoke and lights. According to Commander Tolstov, this piece of experimental equipment did not take root in our company from the first day - that is, from the moment the battalion units entered the very first operation where it was used. And here he is - photo courtesy of Viktor Rudenko - the deputy editor of the Voronezh "Commune" is called this sample "BVD" - combat display paratrooper - below is a memo on caring for her.

Each soldier had two one and a half - liter polyethylene flasks with water

characteristic only for those hot regions, but for "combat" operations in technology, they usually took only one plastic or eight-hundred-gram aluminum one. Here's one -

In some units, units, as well as individual soldiers and sergeants, there were bowler flasks -

The armament of all servicemen of the Soviet army consisted of a machine gun, or an SVD rifle (I never had a chance to see the SV in Afghanistan as part of the Soviet troops) or a RPK machine gun, but more often a PK. snipers, like sniper rifles SVD, there were three in the platoon. Although the division had a non-standard, "consolidated" sniper company, our best shooters who had completed "training" in this specialty or were already assigned to this position in the unit were in the platoon. Although, in principle, the "sniper war" in the form in which it was conducted during the Great Patriotic War was not particularly practiced either by us or by our enemy. Maybe between management opposing sides Was there some kind of "gentleman's agreement" about this?

Machine guns, and they could be AK74, AKS74, AKM or AKS74U, were considered personal weapons, and all military personnel were armed with them, including often those who had to carry light machine guns, pistols and RPG-7 grenade launchers, including NSV and AGS crews . There were few light machine guns in the units, for example, in my platoon - only one, which was complete with the NSPU night device, and RPG-7 were absent at all, once upon a time they were handed over to the warehouse and were no longer received, and occasionally instead they were taken to combat disposable RPG-18 "Fly". Grenade launchers, both "22" and "26" were never seen in Afghanistan, and therefore the only grenade launcher that was widely used by military personnel was the GP-25 "Koster". Our troops also almost constantly used the automatic AGS-17 "Flame"

Of the "pocket artillery", the F-1 defensive grenade was the most popular, the offensive RGD-5 was used less frequently, and the RG-O and RG-N, although they were used, were not very willing, and were replaced by "efks" at the slightest opportunity. I don’t know what it was connected with, with me, these quite modern grenades with an instantaneous fuse never had a single failure. Perhaps they were not liked because they could be thrown at their feet to blow themselves up along with the enemies and avoid capture with only some assumptions, such as a mandatory flight for 2 seconds. True, we actually threw them almost exclusively "vice versa", that is, with a fuse not up in the hand, but down - towards us. These grenades had a built-in remote fuse of a special design, so they could mine anything also only with reservations. In the set of RG-O and RG-N there were disgusting performance (poorly opened) plastic caps for 4 fuses each.

On the left - capping for four fuses to RG-O (RG-N), on the right - capping for 10 UZRGM. I adapted the first one for storing any small things back in Afghanistan. And I didn’t manage to see the offensive RG-42 “beyond the river” at all, which was strange, since this grenade was much more powerful and “long-range” RGD-5 and in the GSVG I once observed the case of a soldier being hit by such a grenade at a distance of two hundred meters, and a fragment hit him right in the eye. On operations, except when they acted on foot, they never took pistols: neither the PM, nor the APS, nor the PB or APB (AO-44) were popular due to the small firing range, and for silent fire, an automatic machine was mainly used AKM with "US" cartridges and PBS silent and flameless firing device. The photo shows only the former French F-1 hand grenade most beloved by our troops.

The magazine for the machine, perhaps, is depicted as "post-Afghan", but on the other hand, the adored "forty-five" from light machine gun. And here -

- a pure Afghan version, however, with certain "perversions" like cut sides to monitor the consumption of ammunition. All these stores were stacked together with grenades and signal, as well as lighting cartridges and ground smoke and lights.

Ground fire-smoke PSND, used in aviation both in "regular" and in such trophy pouches -

They were called differently everywhere. In our regiment, this pouch was called a "bra", in the 70th brigade it was called a "bib", and spirits were called "sinegi" with an accent on the last syllable. And here is a trophy spiritual butter dish -

I don’t remember what it was from and under what circumstances I got it. Isn't it from "Oerlikon"?

Shoes were presented quite widely, mainly either with boots with high berets of various modifications - yuft

hopping model 1973 (GOST 19137-73 in the photo on the right, left - sample 1989 - GOST 19137-89)

mountainous

(as a rule, with tricones removed - i.e. metal spikes), Czechoslovak for the Afghan army model M1960

These boots in Czechoslovakia itself were called "Canadian". The fact is that at the turn of the 20th century, the company BAT`A (read "dad") appeared, founded by Tomas Batya in Zlín. After the communists came to power in this country, its owners moved to the USA, they moved the company's headquarters to Canada (Toronto), where it is still located, and the design center and most of the factories have since settled in Italy. So in any case, this is the Czech-Slovak-Italian-Canadian company Bata, in Czechoslovakia the company created on its basis was called Sevo (“chebo” from České boty), and immediately after nationalization in 1945 - Svit (This is how the company founded to this day is called Tomas Batya is a city in Slovakia). Now the empire of this company consists of 40 shoe companies in 26 countries, Bata Shoe Co. sells over 300 million pairs of shoes annually...

04/07/2014 I donated the Italian version of this shoe to the museum of the Omsk Cadet Corps Or with ordinary boots. Most quoted were "experimental" boots (produced in Kyiv and Torzhok, Kalinin region), truly weightless and with corrugated soles.

"Experimental" boots with molded polyurethane soles made in the USSR

"Experimental" boots with a molded polyurethane sole made in the USSR with a different tread pattern. Both options had to be seen in Afghanistan, but this one was much less common Socks shown below are trophy

To be more precise - American. Not a bad weight, and most importantly, these items in everyday wear had a sufficient margin of safety, and the brand on them after the first couple of washes disappeared forever

According to the testimony of a specialist (speaking under the nickname 05Bravo2S) and individual servicemen of the American army, such socks were adopted by the American army back in the First world war and to this day they are practically unchanged in its arsenal.

American winter underwear. For 50 percent of wool and cotton We slept during the hostilities, who, on what. One of the options -

- an American polyurethane mattress that I got from some enemy hospital. The inscription "RR" has been preserved, which undoubtedly means something like "resuscitation rums", that is, "resuscitation". In some units, mainly spetsnaz, there were special raincoats SPP-1 "Rain". When unfolded and inflated, it looks like this -

The same raincoat, folded and folded -

There were several types of their colors: either one side is light green, the other is yellow, or dark green with yellow, or light green on both sides. The "Rain" variant for the European theater of operations is dark green and with white reverse side, as well as a special cape in Afghanistan have never seen. All these items were packed or attached to duffel bags - the descendants in the Enza generation of ordinary Russian peasant "sidors", as well as a bag of the 1869 model for the Turkestan linear battalions (the type of the latter was regulated by the order of the Military Department of 1869? 149 and of 1914? 596) , as well as backpacks, etc. In addition, they usually loaded a lot of cartridges, grenades, ground lights and smoke, signal, incendiary and smoke and lighting cartridges.

Incendiary smoke cartridge ZDP. Device.
It looked like a 50-mm ZDP. If you pull the cord located on the side of the steel cup, the charge will fly away like an ordinary RSP or ROP, and, falling to the ground at 300-400 meters, it will smoke, and if you pull the cord from the opposite side (where the cardboard cup is located in the photo) and throw it into target with your hand - set it on fire. In the first case, you need to use the machine to stop and you can’t keep your hand on a paper square pasted on a steel glass at the time of the shot - it will burn your hand! Plus up to 1000 rounds of 5.45X39. In any case, such a small capacity as a troop backpack of the 1954 model of the year (RD-54)

prepared for action on foot in the mountains, and packed to capacity with ammunition, weighed about forty kilograms. Dry rations, introduced in 1941, we no longer found in the 80s (In the Red Army, the norms of daily allowance for dry rations per day per person were approved by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks No. 1357-551ss of 15.05.1941 and Order NKO USSR No. 208 dated May 24, 1941. Introduced on June 1, 1941 and amounted to: Rye crackers - 600 g (black bread) Concentrated millet porridge - 200 g Concentrated pea soup-puree - 75 g Semi-smoked sausage "Minskaya" - 100 g - or dried/smoked vobla - 150 g - or feta cheese - 150 g - or dried fish fillet - 100 g - or canned meat - 113 g - or salted herring - 200 g Sugar - 35 g Tea - 2 g Salt - 10 d) Therefore, they used what was supposed to be at that time, i.e. "standards" (1 or 2) - ordinary army (400 gr. crackers or biscuits from wholemeal flour, 1 can of canned meat 250 gr. (or even 338 grams, as in the photo).

2 cans of porridge with meat, 250 g each, refined sugar, tea),

This is how he looked. Cans of porridge, however, was not one, but two. Here is another photo of Etalon-1 - although the photo shows a combined hodgepodge from standard 1 and mountain rations, but both cans of porridge are clearly visible. In addition, the label is separate.

Photo by Alexander Solntsev from the 56th dshbr.

So, the quote: “In the Armed Forces of the USSR in the eighties, dry rations were used, which consisted of a can of canned meat 250 g, two cans of “canned meat and vegetable” (buckwheat, pearl barley or rice porrige with meat) 250 g each, packs of black crackers, several tea bags and 135 grams of sugar"

Usually there was "Aeroflotovsky" - the one in the middle.

But it could be any of these. The package contained 2 pieces of sugar with a total weight of 15 grams. Either mountain-summer or mountain-winter, here is the composition of the first (provided by Vladimir Grigorievich Ivanov):

This is how they looked. Major Dzugaev presents a prize (gp) to Ramil Faskhutdinov for victory in a strength exercise or the so-called standard-5 - the last one is shown in the photo below

the instruction was taken from the website of the 35th infantry brigade (the former "Osh" regiment of the 105th airborne division). As well as a can opener (“can opener”) from the last two (mountain or Etalon5), as well as a similar one from capping F-1 grenades (RGD-5, RG-42)

The composition of the mountain ration, enclosed in a solid cardboard box plus polyethylene, included (I am writing from memory): a 100-gram can of canned meat, the same can of sausage pate and the same liver pate, also a 110-gram can of condensed milk, three packs of flour biscuits wallpaper, one small cellophane bag of biscuits made from premium flour, a 140-gram can of apple-grape juice, a 350-gram can of fruit soup with rice - in fact it was dried fruit compote with boiled rice, dry fuel, salt, sugar, tea in sachets and enclosed paper with the composition of soldering and matches. Presented below (photo courtesy of Alexander Beshkarev)

I already wrote about the knife. The mountain-winter one differed from the mountain-summer one in that the jar with “compote” in it was replaced by a jar of semi-finished borscht with meat of a similar size, but in principle it could be eaten in the presented form

The composition of the experimental mountain-winter ration (from the album of V. Velin from Zaporozhye)

Such a ration was issued to the special forces of the GRU General Staff

But let's get back to what it was all about. In our battalion reconnaissance platoon, "spiritual" backpacks were special - all in belts, and below is a completely different copy.

- a sample, altered and improved by local craftsmen. I got this copy from the "spirit" who carried RPG ammunition in it, but exactly the same ones, according to the stories of Captain Shalkin, were taken by a company on a caravan. Below is a tag from it.

And the other side

The straps, however, are either AGS or mortar (felt sewn into cotton fabric), and the chest strap is from RD. With the help of it, by the way, if the shoulders began to "fall off", this bag could be reloaded onto the belt - for this it was only necessary to fasten the chest strap with a carabiner to the waist. The eyelets, by the way, were also transferred to the bag from the old landing backpack, since there are no external laces and belts so beloved by us, designed for attaching items of equipment, except for the only one - to change the volume of the top of the bag, on this brainchild of the American-Chinese "military industry" was not in sight.

In addition, in the duffel bags of military personnel were often available:

- this is famous almost from the Great Patriotic War case for ten blasting caps? 8, and these are electric detonators -

Certain stocks of explosives were also placed there - either tola or plastite. Soviet "clay", as I recall, was yellow color, and the American one is green. And they burned on an open fire very, very intensely, leaving neither soot nor soot - we often used them when heating canned food instead of dry alcohol. And here is the last one - dry Soviet fuel:

Below it are matches - this time from the Bundeswehr. And with the help of this crap, everyone who was across the river had to drink water. The smell and taste after passing through this "adapt" was very "ssspytsfysssky":

The items of shoes for hands presented below, and everyone who served, perhaps, saw them and wore them on their upper (or maybe lower?) Limbs.

These vests were sometimes sold in a military store on the territory of Afghanistan - the label has not been preserved, but I remember that the material is 100 percent viscose

enlarged fragment

Interestingly, she was pale blue only again. As it was worn, the color changed to a more saturated one, and when this item was already to be thrown away, the vest was quite bright blue (with a greenish tint) in color. This is already from the 56th odshbr - cotton vest

summer and autumn, these garments were also in Afghanistan, but mostly "snotty" viscose was present. View of the landing vests from below -

i.e., the label

- but this is a legend - umm ... a Marykan down sleeping bag (mountain M-49), which stood out as a "GI" from the Vietnam War and until very recently. In such a standard army sleeping bag, often very greasy, tattered, inherited, I also had to sleep. Sometimes, right in the snow. It was warm, however, in it ... The brand on it -

And finally, a photo almost in full growth -

Veshchi, the warmest memories! True, it’s heavy ... One of ours former compatriot, who recently served in the US Army, said about him: “I managed to use such a sleeping bag before new systems were adopted a couple of years ago. Now these are three bags ... The first is waterproof. The second is lightweight, like summer, and the third - downy winter.

And here is what the specialist writes about this: “The current modular ECWS sleeping bags are three-layer. Outside, a gore-tex cover, then the so-called patrol sleeping bag with a comfort mode of up to minus 10 and the third layer is a new ICW, up to minus 20. All this is assembled and makes up ECWS - up to minus 20, this is verified. The manufacturer claims that it is minus 40. The insulation is polar there ... A wonderful thing ... You can sleep in a puddle in the winter under wet snow and rain and wake up dry and warm. Before that, from the late 70s to In the late 90s, Americans had a system of two sleeping bags - ICWS for moderately cold and ECWS for extremely cold climates.There is some kind of synthetic insulation.They all have the same disadvantages - [large] volume.

No wonder backpacks, starting with the CFP-90, have huge compartments for a sleeping bag. Early sleeping bags also cake and warm worse. "And here is not an item of equipment, or rather not quite an item, but it is somehow preserved in the annals of history -

Plates from body armor Zh-81 are presented, as far as I remember according to the performance characteristics - "... titanium, thickness 1.25 mm" (in fact, the brand was ADU-605-80, the titanium brand was VT-14). The four-kilogram body armor Zh81 (6B2) itself -

the bulk of which, with very rare exceptions, in any case, in our regiment were very shabby looking and almost devoid of titanium plates. One of them with the tag of our 4th MSR medical officer, Sergeant Khrapov, was issued from the clothing warehouse to my platoon in 1990 in front of Baku. And he conscientiously, "for the enetsy" time, saved the life of our soldier - this time a soldier of the 56th brigade. By the way, contrary to popular misconception, a bullet or a fragment in a body armor is not stopped by a titanium or ceramic plate at all - they are intended only for the initial decrease in the speed of the projectile and its partial destruction, as well as the detention of stiletto-shaped objects of destruction such as an awl.

The fact is that a package of 30 layers of SVM-J fabric (ballistic fabric “special high-modulus”, art. 56319) is pierced by cold weapons very, very easily - the density of the fabric is low, and it is synthetic, and therefore its fibers easily diverge into sides! But after the armor plate has done its initial work, the further load to completely stop metal objects thirsty for warm human blood is carried by a package of SVM fabric, the Amyrykan analogue - "Kevlar" (or vice versa - the analogue of "Kevlar" - SVM fabric, however, these are all legends - both SVM and Kevlar are completely independent developments).

With a sufficient number of layers of tissue, they will completely extinguish the translational energy of the projectile, transforming it, however, into a huge "black eye" on the body of the defended. A fighter can even die from pain shock or cardiac arrest, but all this is very individual and is the flip side of the process of saving his priceless life. By the way, the ceramic plate presented here

from the "heaviest" Soviet body armor of the Afghan war (6B4) holds the impact of two 5.45 bullets fired in a burst from about 3-4 meters - I personally conducted this "test" in the village of Nuvadi in Armenia in early March 1990, in order to to demonstrate to our fighters the reliability of our personal protective equipment. The most interesting thing was that in Afghanistan the factor that the SVM fabric when wet (that is, even from sweat) greatly reduces its "armor-protective" qualities was not taken into account at all. Therefore, subsequently, all fabric packages (usually 20-30 layers) of bulletproof vests began to be enclosed in sealed polyethylene, and before that (6B2, 6B3, 6B4) they were simply sewn into the nbsp; system. And below is a bulletproof vest 6B5 - further development 6B3 and 6B4:

I'm wrapping up on this for the time being. If anyone has photos that are not in the article - you are welcome to participate ...

http://artofwar.ru/m/maa/text_0400.shtml - link

Form: straight-cut breeches with a tunic on FOUR buttons, as well as a panama with boots with high tops (as they were called by the foremen) were in SAVO, TurkVO, ZabVO and EMNIP in a couple more districts. In general, Panama can be seen from the end of the thirties. See photos from Khalkhin Gol.

Bulletproof vests in Afghanistan were different, it seems that there were more than 50 varieties of them. In many parts there were aviation armor, which closed only in front of the fragments.

They were characterized by a “Spanish collar” (whoever sees in the photo will not be mistaken). Then heavier armor was introduced (for some reason we called them Czech). They were of two types and then began to be considered tank.

1st view - armor plates of the order of 8-10mm in front and behind. 2nd view is all the same, but behind the plates 3mm. when you are buttoned up as expected, the weight was not felt.

The summer form was the same in cut. It differed only in HB and glass. The glass was of two colors: the color of diarrhea, i.e. something brown and about the color of grass, ie. green, but more green than HB. In the middle of winter 85-86. an experimental form appeared (it was called a form with thirteen pockets).

Subsequently, i.e. from the 86th year, it began to be called the field uniform of the new sample. Despite a bunch of pockets, including, such as for shops, shops, it is impossible to wear there. To get in, they get in and out without problems, BUT it is impossible to walk with them, not to mention running.

One of the most recognizable things of that war is the new uniform. She was supplied primarily by troops stationed in Afghanistan, so in the Union she was nicknamed "Afghan", and in Afghanistan itself - "experimental". Compared with the form arr. 1969, it was not even a step, but a giant leap forward. Flat plastic buttons closed with a placket so that they do not come off when crawling. Lots of pockets including handy sleeve pockets. Drawstring at the waist, giving reason to think that this form was designed to be worn without a waist belt. Alas, monkey traditions won again, and the belt was worn until 2010, until they switched to a new “number” form. Finally, a modern design that doesn't make the soldiers look like aliens from the forties.
The winter version of the "Afghan" is a warm jacket and trousers with a cotton lining. The jacket had a faux fur collar. Heavy but very warm.

Despite the fact that, in terms of convenience and thoughtfulness, it did not reach the then most modern American BDU form at that time, in general, the form turned out to be quite successful. Of the shortcomings, I note the narrow legs and sleeves.

The only detail of the "Afghan" that infuriates me is the stitched arrows on the pants in front. Why the hell did they need to be done - a person with a normal psyche cannot understand.
This cut, with minor changes, was adopted in our army until 2010, when the soldiers were dressed in a new pixel camouflage.

She began to appear in the army in 83-84. It was sewn from cotton fabric in at least three different shades - greenish, light sand (almost yellow) and universal khaki, suitable for both the Afghan mountains and the middle lane.

Shades of "Afghan" and "Oak"

In the second half of the eighties, camouflage uniforms began to appear in the Airborne Forces and the Marine Corps. The camouflage pattern is now referred to online as "oak" or "butane" after the R&D code "Butane" that developed the pattern. A later form (late 80s - early 90s) is found in different shades, as can be seen in the photo. There is such a joke - the shade of Russian camouflage depends on how much and what kind of paint was stolen from the factory.

Whether such a variety was caused by gouging in factories, or whether these were different options for different areas - I do not know.

Early "oaks" were very good quality- did not shed when worn and washed. According to rumors, either the fabric or the dyes were of Czech production, so another slang name for this form is “Czech”.

Afghan woman and Marine "oak"

The uniform for the marines cut did not differ from the Afghan. The uniform for the Airborne Forces had some differences.
The option for the Airborne Forces involved wearing a tunic tucked into trousers.

A story about uniforms would be incomplete without a description of such a legendary thing as a “hill”, or a mountain suit. Like "mabuta", it deserves a separate article, but I will limit myself general information. "Gorka" consists of a jacket and trousers made of tent fabric such as a thin tarpaulin, and, according to one version, originated from similar clothing of German mountain shooters during World War II. In summer, of course, it is a little hot in it, but in autumn and winter it protects well from moisture and wind. Before the advent of modern high-tech materials such as membranes and softshells, the “hill” was one of the most successful uniforms not only in the USSR, but, perhaps, throughout the world. It was worn mainly by special forces, it was not supposed to be for ordinary motorized riflemen.

"Hill", jacket

Gorka, pants

"Gorka" of the Soviet sample, Dagestan-1999

Soviet-style "hills" were also worn in the first Chechen war, but the first half of the 2000s became a truly high point for it. Then commercial manufacturers began to sew many modern versions of the "slide" and put them on the free market. "Gorka" was loved not only by the military, who bought equipment for business trips to Chechnya, but also by hunters, military lovers and other civilians who go out into nature. "Gorka" has become a visiting card Russian special forces, although there is already a trend towards more high-tech clothing. But in my opinion, the popularity of the "hill" will not decline soon.

The Afghan war also had an impact on soldiers' shoes. Jumping over mountains and deserts in boots turned out to be inconvenient. For the first time, high ankle boots began to appear en masse in the troops.

There were several models of berets. How comfortable they were, I don't know. The only thing I can say is that I wore the standard berets of the Russian army of the 2009 model (manufactured by KosFD), which are hardly different from those of that time, and they were uncomfortable. You go home from the forest - your feet are tired from the shoes, and you want to quickly take off these shitty dogs. I had no problems with other berets. The inconvenience of regular shoes is confirmed by the fact that the soldiers massively changed their shoes into sneakers and sneakers.

sneakers

Soldiers in sneakers.

In Afghanistan, body armor began to be introduced. There were also several models, which I will not undertake to describe. I can only say that they were introduced en masse, and not only in Afghanistan, but throughout the Soviet army.

In the Soviet army, except for duffel bags and RD-54, there were no backpacks. At all. Maybe the infantry doesn't really need them, but the scouts and special forces had to somehow get out. They sewed together two RD-54s, wore tourist and trophy backpacks.

Modified RD-54

Civilian tourist backpack, aka "Abalakovskiy", aka "kolobok"

But the biggest problems for our soldiers were with unloading systems, that is, equipment designed to carry ammunition.

Homemade unloading vest. 1983.

Homemade unloading vest. 1983. The seams made by hand are clearly visible.

Regular pouches were inconvenient, so it bloomed in a riotous color " folk art". For example, they did unloading from life jackets that were included in the kit for armored vehicles. Pieces of foam were thrown out of them and magazines were worn instead. In the above photos of 1983, we see home-made unloading vests, presumably made from a large-sized field jacket of the 1969 model (so that it fits on the armor). We tear off the sleeves and sew on the bottom pockets for magazines - the unloading is ready.

http://encyclopedia.mil.ru/images/military/military/photo/iv-oksv00-11.jpg

Probably the most ingenious soldier's invention is unloading from a duffel bag, described on the airsoftgun.ru forum: http://airsoftgun.ru/phpBB/viewtopic.ph p?f=109&t=29636&start=100

We take a duffel bag, unzip it to get a strip of fabric. We cut a hole for the head and bend the "hem" in front and behind, stitch it - we got pockets for magazines. From scraps of straps we make valves for pockets and ties from the sides. This thing is put on over the head, like a bulletproof vest, fastened from the sides.

In fairness, I note that the person who described this homemade saw it not in Afghanistan, but already in the early 90s. When I first read this description, I was just in shock. It’s not even porridge from an ax, it’s literally “make candy out of shit”.

In the late 80s, such a design as the BVD appeared in the Airborne Forces - the paratrooper's combat display.

But she was not very successful, and there were few of them.

But the most popular unloadings were bibs made of thin tarpaulin, on army jargon called "bras". The bra can be called one of the symbols of the Afghan war, along with mountains, Kalashnikovs and Mi-24 helicopters.

Such unloading was invented, apparently, by the Chinese in the 60s or even 50s. And this invention was, I'm not afraid of the word, brilliant. This is like a Kalashnikov assault rifle in the world of equipment, an ideal in terms of price-quality ratio. It is quite convenient and at the same time very cheap and simple in design. Vietnamese guerrillas, Arab terrorists, and all kinds of African fighters could afford it - all those who could not be called rich and well-supplied. If a global catastrophe happens and civilization collapses, then a handful of survivors will climb the post-apocalyptic ruins and fight for the remnants of food. And they will sew themselves bras from randomly found rags. In a way, just an ode to the bra turned out.

So our soldiers, like post-apocalyptic fighters, had to somehow get their bras. They sewed themselves from raincoats. They sewed together pouches from RD-54 or ordinary infantry pouches. Officers, leaving on vacation, took samples and ordered from the studio. Captured trophies. To be honest, it doesn’t fit in my head: the warriors of a superpower that conquered half the world, sending ships to the moon, are forced to rob bare-assed savages, because their homeland did not bother to supply them with normal human equipment.

In the late 80s, Soviet bras of industrial production began to appear. They were called Belt-A. There was also a Belt-B, which was attached to the belt-A from below and served to carry shots to an underbarrel grenade launcher.

Homemade from infantry pouches

Homemade pouches RD-54

Factory belt-A and belt-B

Belt-A and belt-B

But these unloadings did not become massive. The mysterious Russian soul... There are more tanks to rivet than in all of Europe - please. It is easy to equip helicopters with Stinger protection in the shortest possible time. To dress the entire army in bulletproof vests (and they are not cheap) - yes, for God's sake. But to give a soldier a penny bra so that it would be at least a little easier for him - fuck you. Keep your grandfather's pouch and fuck with him how you want. And you can’t say that they didn’t care about the soldier - the same bulletproof vests saved more than one life. But there was almost no convenient equipment.

Perhaps, over time, the Soviet soldier would have received normal equipment. But the USSR collapsed, and there was no time for equipment. As the Strugatskys so aptly put it, "there was nothing at all." And the uniform and equipment of the Russian army is a completely different story.

PS. Photos used in the article:
from the albums of Alexander Mageramov http://artofwar.ru/m/maa/;
from the albums of the representative of the firm "Soyuzspetsosnaschenie"
http://photo.qip.ru/users/nabludatel70/ ;
photo from the site www.WW2.ru;
and many others.
I express my gratitude to the authors and owners of the photo.

Soviet army in Afghanistan

Special Forces of the GRU General Staff in Afghanistan

Afghan army

"Spirits" and their accomplices

The clothing and equipment of the landing groups must meet the basic requirements, it must not only be comfortable, but also ensure the fulfillment of the assigned combat missions.

First of all, the equipment should:

do not restrict movement;
ensure life;
meet all the parameters of reliability.

The equipment of the paratrooper depends on the tasks that he faces. The landing troops are equipped with fighters of various orientations. Basically, the airborne units serve: flamethrowers, snipers, machine gunners, submachine gunners and sappers. Depending on the military specialty, each fighter has his own combat equipment.

In addition to the basic attributes of a paratrooper, a flamethrower's mandatory set of equipment includes a light flamethrower. The machine gunner cannot do without a weapon capable of providing a flurry of fire and stopping the enemy. Sappers are equipped with new mine detectors capable of detecting shells even behind a concrete wall.

Backpack

A mandatory attribute of an airborne fighter is his equipment. The backpack of the paratrooper RD-54 was specially designed for airborne troops army of the USSR. It was widely used during the Afghan war in 1979-89. This backpack was successfully used during the war in Chechnya and Ossetia, but even now it can be found in the troops.

There are many varieties of such backpacks, but the most common ones are:

Soviet canvas;
Russian membrane in flora colors;
Russian in coloring figure.

The backpack is a multifunctional system with three compartments for various items. The backpack of the paratrooper RD-54 is worn on the shoulders in the same way as a regular tourist backpack. There is a clasp in the form of a carabiner on the chest. The set includes three additional compartments, which are attached separately to the belt. One compartment is intended for a sapper shovel.

In the shoulder area there is a compartment for a knife, and on the opposite side there is a place for two grenades. On the right side there is a pouch for two stores of a Kalashnikov assault rifle.

The main compartment of the backpack closes with two buttons. Inside the backpack is placed an army dry ration and the necessary things. On the sides there are compartments closed with buttons, where you can place a bottle or a combat smoke bomb.

There is another type of RD-98 paratrooper backpack. It is significantly larger than its predecessor, but is not designed for parachute jumps. But in some situations this is not required. It has a place to store grenades and all necessary ammunition.

Laying the backpack RD-54

It is possible to stack various equipment and equipment in the RD (paratrooper's backpack). Consider the most common type of styling.

Find out: How to sew and attach shoulder straps to a shirt

We put a bag with a gas mask. To do this, you need to unzip the satchel and put a bag with a gas mask inside.
Kalashnikov assault rifle magazines in the amount of 4 pieces are placed on the bag.
Smoke bombs are placed in the side compartments.
In the left side compartment, you can put a cape.
Finally, the backpack should be laced and fastened.
In the pouch we place stores for the machine in the amount of 2 pieces.
Grenades fit into a separate grenade pouch. Before landing, grenades and a fuse are placed in different compartments in it.
A sapper shovel is placed in a special pouch. It unfolds with a concave side to the body and is placed in a special compartment for it.

In order to collect all the necessary pouches, you should use a belt. First, a bayonet-knife in the cabure is threaded into it, and then all the details of the RD-54 system are alternately located. Loops are provided on each pouch so that it can be freely put on a belt.

An interesting feature of this backpack is the ability to throw it over your head and get required item. To do this, unfasten the side carabiners and throw it over your head. Get the necessary items and without unfastening return it to its original position.

Equipment needed for landing

Such a combat maneuver as the landing of airborne units serves to suddenly land behind enemy lines and start hostilities. The outcome of the military operation will depend on how quickly and smoothly this action is carried out. Not the last role in this is played by suitable equipment for a paratrooper paratrooper.

When landing personnel, each paratrooper must have a certain list of mandatory equipment. It includes the following items:

The main and reserve parachute system assigned to the military. If necessary, an insurance device is issued. When performing landing from low altitudes, this is not required.
IN winter conditions overalls and a warm jacket are required. The form should be well adjusted so that there is no restriction of movement. Gloves or three-fingered mittens are mandatory on hands.
On the head, in addition to the hat, there must be a hard helmet and goggles.
On the feet should be shoes that fit well to the size of the foot. In winter, felt boots or high fur boots are allowed.
A sling knife must be attached to the knapsack. This item is vital for every skydiver.
When landing on water, the use of life-saving equipment is provided. Each case has its own equipment.
When making jumps from a height of more than 4000 meters, each skydiver must be equipped with oxygen equipment.

Find out: What tattoos do the representatives of the Marine Corps apply to themselves

The parachute comes with a special bag in which it folds after landing. This must be done quickly, especially in combat conditions.
Depending on the performance of certain combat missions, all the necessary equipment is parachuted along with the paratrooper, it can be:

personal protective equipment;
personal means of communication;
weapons and ammunition for it;
food;
shooting kit;
special equipment depending on the combat specialty.

New uniforms and uniforms for paratroopers

With the introduction of a new form in the ranks of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, the changes also affected the airborne troops. Only the paratrooper's blue beret remained unchanged. The entire paratrooper field uniform fits easily into a backpack and consists of 16 items. The winter kit includes a special paratrooper vest. Airborne epaulettes on field uniform made of fabric and put on the form in the area of the shoulders.

Modern landing units are equipped in accordance with the new developments of the Ministry of Defense. For landing, such modern parachute systems as Arbalet-2 and D-10 are now used. These types of parachute systems are safer and more manageable than previous systems.

The mandatory equipment, in addition to the satchel of a paratrooper, usually includes an AK-74M assault rifle. For snipers and machine gunners, the appropriate types of small arms and automatic weapons are used. Sappers are equipped with advanced mine detectors capable of detecting mines at a great distance.

In 2014, a new complicated suit of combat equipment for the paratrooper "Warrior" was put into operation, which is used in some units of the Airborne Forces. It is a modular system of 40 components that can be changed depending on the combat situation.

This equipment was tested during military operations in Syria, and proved to be the best side. The equipment "Warrior" is characterized by increased wear resistance and is made of a special type of fabric that can withstand increased loads. The fiber from which the fabric is made easily withstands high temperatures and is difficult to burn.

At the beginning of June of this year, the location peacekeeping 31st Airborne Assault Brigade of the Airborne Forces in Ulyanovsk for the first time visited by a delegation of member states of the Treaty on collective security(CSTO). The guests were shown weapons that had been available for a long time and had just come into the possession of a military unit. We will talk about how Russian paratroopers are equipped and armed today.

Equipment and weapons

Parachutes

Airborne units use parachute systems of two types: D-10 complete with a reserve parachute and more modern system special purpose "Crossbow-2", received by the Airborne Forces in 2012. The last piece of equipment intelligence units brigades.

The D-10 system, used for mass operations, allows landing from a height of up to 4 km. This system provides a vertical sink rate of up to 5 m/s, as well as a slight horizontal slip. Unlike the D-10, the Arbalet-2 special-purpose system, with the same landing height, allows planning for a distance of up to ten kilometers. It comes with a container that can hold up to 50 kg of cargo.

Ulyanovsk paratroopers have already tested the Arbalet-2 at two large-scale exercises - in Belarus, as well as on Kotelny Island (the archipelago of the New Siberian Islands in Yakutia), as part of the Airborne Forces formation.

« At Kotelny, we were given the task of capturing the enemy airfield during the landing. There was a strong wind with gusts up to 20 m/s, the temperature was minus 32 degrees. However, the parachute system allows you to make a safe landing in such weather conditions. We completed the task, everything went without injuries and any complications.", - said the reconnaissance machine gunner of the special forces company, senior lieutenant Ilya Shilov.

According to the paratrooper, Arbalet-2 is a very convenient, well-controlled system compared to the previous generation. With this system, Ilya Shilov made 52 jumps.

« You get used to a lot of weight (the system itself is 17 kg, plus up to 50 kg of a cargo container). In comparison with the D-10, using the Arbalet-2 is like driving a Formula 1 car instead of a regular car.", - the scout-machine gunner notes.

Firearms

The main weapon of the paratroopers is the AK-74M assault rifle. The “old reliable”, as the military themselves say, the PKM machine gun was replaced by a manual one, the maximum length of a continuous burst of which is about 600 rounds. For all samples small arms received new optics, guidance devices, both night and day.

After the formation of the 31 brigade of the reconnaissance battalion, a lot of special silent weapons appeared. This is the Val assault rifle, which fires special 9-mm subsonic cartridges SP-5 and SP-6, which pierce body armor, or a 6-mm steel sheet at a distance of 100 meters, as well as a PB pistol. To everyone special weapons there are also different optics options.

In addition, the brigade entered service 12.7 mm NSV machine gun on a new machine, which allows you to fire not only at ground targets and armored vehicles of the enemy, but also at aircraft (it is most effective against helicopters). This weapon is convenient for use in the mountains, in an equipped stationary position.

The paratroopers' arsenal includes a 30-mm automatic grenade launcher on the AGS-17 Plamya mount, designed for combat operations outside shelters, in open trenches and behind natural terrain, a lighter version of the AGS-30 and an RPG-7D3 hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, which has How cumulative ammunition, and high-explosive fragmentation action.

« We also have latest weapons, working on the principle of "fire and forget". So, unlike the 9P135M launcher, which was in service with us earlier, it has a more powerful missile and better armor penetration. In addition, the Kornet controls the rocket via a laser channel, and the previous model, in the old fashioned way, with a wired system. Thus, the range of anti-tank missile system limited only by main engine power”, - explains the deputy commander of the 31st brigade of the Airborne Forces for armaments, Guard Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Anokhin.

Steel arms

One of the most interesting specimens -. It can be used traditionally as a combat blade. In addition, the knife can make one shot with a special cartridge, which is located in the handle: for this you need to cock the trigger and remove the safety. The distance at which the enemy can be hit is from 5 to 10 meters. The sheath can be used for cutting wire, stripping wires.

A non-shooting scout knife is used as a combat blade, including for throwing. In addition, the Klen knives, which are part of the survival complex, have recently appeared in the brigade. This is a military weapon, with a well-sharpened powerful blade. The scabbard has a compass, can cut wire; they are adapted for sharpening the blade and have additional special blades - a saw and an awl.

In addition, there is a survival capsule in the handle, which contains an antacid, needles, a pin, a device for extracting fragments, hooks, matches, fishing line - everything you need to survive in difficult conditions until the paratrooper is found, or he will not save itself.

Equipment

Equipment depends on the tasks assigned to the paratrooper. So, the main weapon of the flamethrower is light infantry flamethrower LPO with a whole range of different ammunition: from light-noise to thermobaric, high-explosive fragmentation, smoke, aerosol. When there is no need to use a flamethrower, the warrior performs tasks as an infantryman - for this he has an AK-74M assault rifle.

There are two types of snipers in the 31st brigade. There is a special sniper unit in the reconnaissance battalion: servicemen are trained in courses, they have personalized weapons. In the arsenal of such a sniper - special knives, a sniper machine and rifles operating at different ranges (from a kilometer and more), a pistol, rangefinders, a weather station. As well as a camouflage complex, the appearance of which varies depending on the area.

Sniper, which operates in the battle line of paratroopers or air assault units, is armed with a folding butt, which was created specifically for landing, with a day and night optical sight; silent pistol.

Machine gunner has a machine gun PKP "Pecheneg", which replaced the PKM machine guns, with a combined optical device that helps to fire both day and night. This is a weapon to destroy both infantry and lightly armored vehicles. In a short period of time, a machine gunner can create a flurry of fire on the site, stop the enemy, give the commander an opportunity to orient himself, and regroup his comrades.

submachine gunner- this is a "classic" paratrooper who has cold weapons, an AK-74M assault rifle, an aiming device 1P29 "Tulip", which allows you to observe the battlefield with a multiplicity during the day, set aiming ranges when firing, work in active mode at night. In his arsenal - grenade launcher, binoculars.

In addition, all soldiers have tactical goggles, gloves, special pads for knees and elbows, a radio station that allows you to keep in constant contact with the squad leader.

sappers brigades received new mine detectors to search for non-contact mines "Korshun" (this device is capable of detecting explosive devices at a sufficiently large distance, behind concrete and brick walls, barbed wire and metal mesh fences, under asphalt, and so on). In addition, the brigade received modern compact IMP2-S mine detectors with settings for anti-personnel, anti-tank mines and any other object.

New lightweight but more durable sapper suits keep the explosion close to the anti-personnel mine. A helmet with special glass can withstand a point-blank shot from a 9mm PM.

Military equipment

Airborne combat vehicle BMD-2

Tracked, amphibious, airborne from military transport aircraft by parachute-jet method fighting machine has a weight of 8.2 tons, a cruising range of up to 500 km, speeds up to 63 km / h on land and up to 10 km / h on water (the BMD-2 can also swim backwards, but much slower - at a speed of 1.5 km/h). It has a variable ground clearance, which makes it possible to parachute from aircraft, and also improves the vehicle's capabilities during camouflage on the ground.

The BMD-2 is armed with a 30mm 2A42 automatic cannon, which was designed to destroy manpower, lightly armored vehicles and low-flying airborne targets. A 7.62 mm machine gun is paired with it. In addition, to combat armored enemy targets, the BMD-2 has an anti-tank guided system.

The combat vehicle has an awning for shelter and a camouflage net fixed on its sides (white in winter and green in summer). The Ulyanovsk paratroopers have finalized the BMD: marching kits are fixed on both sides of each vehicle. These are the drawers where there is a supply of the most necessary things that a squad suddenly raised on alarm may need. The NZ includes a set of firewood, a stove, a gas stove, a tent, candles, batteries, a supply of ropes, a entrenching tool, shovels, picks. All so that the paratroopers do not waste time on training, but jump on the car and go to complete the task.

Armored personnel carrier BTR-D

Unified vehicle of the airborne troops. In addition to the fact that personnel are transported on it, it can be used to transport any cargo, mount almost any weaponry.

The Ulyanovsk brigade has at least three variants of the BTR-D. The first - with a machine-gun-grenade launcher mounted on it. The paratroopers made their own changes here too: they came up with a system for attaching a heavy machine gun and an AGS heavy grenade launcher, consisting of cables. This allows soldiers on the move to fire at the same time from two guns at once.

The second version, which is in service with anti-tank units - BTR-RD - has two launchers 9P135M1 (or 9K111-1 "Competition"). In the case when the armored personnel carrier is armed with the "Competition", it is capable of destroying up to ten tanks. Ground "fighter" strikes targets at a distance of up to four kilometers.

On the third version - BTR-3D - the ZU-23 anti-aircraft artillery installation was mounted. There is an option when a crew with a 9K38 Igla portable anti-aircraft missile system is transported in the vehicle, which is capable of firing at air targets flying at speeds up to 320 m / s, and also if the enemy uses false thermal interference.

The base of all tracked vehicles is unified (the only difference is that armored personnel carriers have one more roller). Spare parts that may be needed for repair or restoration are the same.

On the basis of the BTR-D, a reconnaissance and fire control point for the artillery division (battery) of the Airborne Forces 1V119 was also designed. Its task is communication with the Nona-S self-propelled artillery gun and fire control, so these two vehicles are usually on the battlefield together.

self-propelled artillery piece"Nona-S"

The 120-mm self-propelled artillery gun 2S9-1M "Nona-S" is a unique artillery system even for today, combining the properties of guns different types. Its purpose is direct fire support of airborne units on the battlefield.

"Nona-S" is capable of hitting not only manpower and destroying the enemy's defensive fortifications, but also to fight tanks. Special high-explosive fragmentation artillery shells can fire at a distance of up to 8.8 km. Their effectiveness is similar to 152mm howitzer shells. HEAT shells are also used to combat armored vehicles.

The machine develops speed up to 60 km/h on land and up to 9 km/h afloat. It is equipped with a special system that makes independent calculations and provides data that must be entered for accurate shooting.

BTR-80

Among the three vehicles that entered the 31st brigade after the deployment of a reconnaissance battalion in it is the BTR-80, which in the near future will be replaced by a more modern one, adopted for service Russian army last year. The amphibious armored personnel carrier has an eight-wheel base and a cruising range of up to 500 km. It is more mobile than the BMD - on the highway it reaches speeds of up to 80 km / h.

The main armament of the BTR-80 is a 14.5 mm Vladimirov heavy machine gun. The BTR-82A has a 30mm automatic cannon paired with a 7.62mm machine gun.

Electronic warfare complex "Infauna"

The RB-531B multifunctional electronic warfare complex is designed to protect armored vehicles and personnel from being hit by radio-controlled mine explosive devices and melee weapons. "Infauna" in automatic mode conducts radio suppression of means of undermining radio-controlled mine devices within a radius of up to 150 meters. That is, the complex is capable of covering an entire company of armored vehicles.

In addition, Infauna has cameras with triggers that automatically detect a shot from an anti-tank or hand grenade launcher and shoot aerosol ammunition. For two seconds, they cover the paratroopers with a curtain.

The complex develops speed up to 80 km/h. A big plus is that it can operate both as part of an electronic warfare unit and engineering and sapper units. The Infauna has a mode that allows you to accompany sappers who clear mines. The machine follows them and, in close proximity, conducts radio suppression.

Jamming complex "Leer-2"

The Leer-2 mobile automated complex for technical control of electronic imitation and jamming of electronic means was created on the basis of the GAZ-233114 armored vehicle (Tigr-M). This is a high-tech machine that conducts comprehensive technical control and assessment of the electronic situation.

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