In the complex mechanism of searching for advanced ideas, solutions and technologies, international exhibitions have a special role to play, since they allow creating conditions for the introduction of advanced technologies into the production of Russian weapons, as well as determining the priority directions of its development. For example, the international military-technical forum "ARMY-2017" is the third event in this cycle held by the Russian Ministry of Defense and is the main element of the organization of congress and exhibition activities by the Ministry of Defense.
Certain experience has already been gained in this new area, as well as we see interest from specialists and just visitors. Last year the Forum was attended by over half a million people.
The main program is planned to be carried out, as usual, on the basis of the Patriot Convention and Exhibition Center, using all the existing infrastructure built for the forum, as well as the Alabino training ground and the Kubinka airfield. A demonstration of the capabilities of modern Russian weapons within the framework of the forum will also be held in all military districts and in the Northern Fleet. The demonstration of modern samples of weapons, military and special equipment of the Navy is planned in St. Petersburg.
Taking into account the growing public interest and popularity of the forum, as well as the experience of "ARMY-2015" and "ARMY-2016", the dates of the "ARMY-2017" forum are determined from 22 to 27 August 2017.
ROBOTIC COMPLEXES
Today, activities to create robotic systems are being built in several directions. These are works that were initially assigned according to the requirements of the tactical and technical assignment, which is issued by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. In addition, a lot of developers offer their own initiative developments. In order to develop a unified ideology and procedure for creating military robotic complexes, reducing the type, unification, and interdepartmental coordination of work, a Commission for the Development of Military Robotic Complexes has been formed under the leadership of the Minister of Defense.
The main results of the commission's work were conceptual documents in terms of ensuring the development and implementation of advanced technologies for military, special and dual-use, the organization of broad cooperation of industrial enterprises, including when performing work on an initiative basis to create robotic systems in the interests of the RF Armed Forces.
Incoming proposals are analyzed by specialists, and on the basis of the conclusion, a decision is made on the use of the submitted samples or working models. If necessary, the developer is invited to bring certain characteristics of the development to the values determined by the military department. We are closely cooperating in this direction with the interdepartmental working group on the development of military special robotics and dual-use robotics under the leadership of a member of the Military-Industrial Commission Oleg Martyanov. The Main Directorate of Research Activities and Technological Support of Advanced Technologies (Innovative Research) of the RF Ministry of Defense closely interacts with the Advanced Research Foundation, where the Center for the Development of Robotics has also been created.
For example, the Nerekhta multifunctional robotic combat support complex capable of performing various tasks depending on the installed replaceable module.
The complex is a tracked platform on which replaceable combat and reconnaissance modules are located, an optical-electronic suppression system, a television camera, and a laser rangefinder.
Or the "Whirlwind" complex, designed for fire support during the main tactical operations, including on urbanized terrain, reconnaissance (additional reconnaissance) of enemy forces (forces) and means, destruction of manpower and lightly armored targets, breakthrough of fortified areas and destruction the most important enemy targets.
The complex is a robotic base of the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle with a combat module, four Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicles and two MRP-100 robots with engineering ammunition for making passages in enemy defenses. In the future, it is planned to place two biomorphic robots "Predator" on the basis of the complex to perform special tasks.
The capabilities of the complex allow you to independently receive and process reconnaissance data about the enemy within a radius of up to 10 km, using the installed equipment to transmit target designation and control commands in real time via secure communication channels.
"Whirlwind" is able to move on mid-rugged terrain and float on water, adapted to parachute landing and transportation by road, sea and air. Allows you to deliver up to 10 military personnel to the battlefield, evacuate up to 4 seriously wounded or up to 10 lightly wounded with weapons and can be controlled in robotic or manual mode.
In August 2016, at the "Geodesy" training ground, experimental shooting and exercises were performed to overcome artificial and natural obstacles. The complex showed good capabilities in performing fire training and driving tasks in a robotic control version.
On the maritime theme, I can cite as an example a robotic complex with autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles of the "glider" type, designed to solve problems of monitoring the World Ocean, operational provision of troops and forces with oceanographic information, relaying commands to submerged objects.
The glider (underwater glider) moves by changing the buoyancy and trim in much the same way as an air glider. It can act as a marine element of the space system, designed to collect operational oceanographic information and transmit it to an analytical center, or serve as an element of a marine information system built on a network-centric principle.
Main advantages: stealth, long-term (up to six months) autonomy. High efficiency compared to expedition ships.
There are no analogues in Russia yet. In this case, the experience of our foreign colleagues is being studied.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Within the framework of a joint project of the Main Directorate of Research Activities and Technological Support of Advanced Technologies (Innovative Research) of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Foundation for Advanced Research and the Ministry of Education at the Russian Chemical Technical University named after V. I. DI. Mendeleev developed a superstable optical memory technology for archival storage of information, resistant to extreme external influences.
The technology is based on the creation of nanogratings with specific properties by irradiating quartz crystals with a laser with specified parameters.
This approach made it possible to implement the recording of information in one cell, not one, as is customary in traditional storage media, but three bits of information.
At the current stage of the project, a technology for recording and reading information has been developed and a data carrier has been created that ensures the fulfillment of the following requirements:
- ultimate durability - preservation of physical and chemical properties and the ability to store recorded data at room temperature for an unlimited period of time - hundreds of thousands of years or more;
- resistance to high temperatures - at least 800 degrees Celsius, - high radiation and chemical resistance;
- capacity at the level of a modern Blu-Ray disc - at least 25 GB;
- Write (from 10 Mbit / s) and read (from 100 Mbit / s) speeds comparable to modern media.
The possibility of implementing ultra-dense and ultra-stable optical memory technology at an industrial level makes Russia a leader in the field of developments related to archival data storage.
The use of the developed technological solutions will allow in the future to abandon the consumption of foreign-made information storage devices.
FROM NUCLEAR MEDICINE TO BLOOD SUBSTITUTE
The medical field is quite versatile. After all, the health of a serviceman is, first of all, human health, which means that technologies and ideas are also dual-purpose developments.
Nuclear medicine is one of the priority areas. Along with the development of nuclear technologies in the military sphere, energy and production, the study of the biological effect of nuclear reactions and ionizing radiation is a rapidly developing industry today.
The classical use of nuclear technologies in medicine is known and includes primarily the use of radioactive isotopes for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases (oncology, cardiology, neurology). Also nuclear medicine includes methods of radiation therapy using gamma, neutron, proton and other types of radiation.
In addition, the effect of various sources of radiation can be used to detect hidden defects in the production and operation of equipment and weapons; for sterilization of medical instruments, special materials (dressings, sutures, surgical clothing), blood components and medicines, as well as food products, clothing and other material means.
Research in this area is of great interest for military medicine. Moreover, in contrast to the classical understanding of nuclear medicine, not only for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment in peaceful conditions, but also for the development of dual-use technologies, such as:
- disinfection and sterilization of potentially dangerous objects aimed at preventing infectious diseases during the development of emergencies;
- study of side effects of various types of ionizing radiation on biological systems and the human body.
Currently, active work is underway to assess the possibilities and prospects of creating a nuclear technology center of the RF Armed Forces, designed to comprehensively solve these problems, as well as tasks in the field of autonomous nuclear energy and protection against the effects of weapons of mass destruction.
The work on blood substitutes can also serve as an example.
Domestic and world experience of military medicine shows that the main cause of death as a result of injury is acute irreparable blood loss. The statistics are as follows: the overwhelming majority of servicemen who received combat injuries in modern armed conflicts and died at the pre-hospital stage, the cause of death is fatal blood loss.
Scientists of the Kaluga Region, within the framework of the project, accompanied by specialists from the Main Directorate of Research Activities, have developed a blood substitute - polyhemoglobin under the code name PAM-3, which has outstanding characteristics. Among them: independence from the blood group and the human Rh factor, safety in relation to the transmission of dangerous infections, as well as the ability to carry much more oxygen than existing means, and the possibility of long-term storage under normal conditions.
Polyhemoglobin provides oxygen transport to tissues and stimulates hematopoiesis in conditions of blood loss and serves as a full replacement for donor erythrocytes. In addition, it is possible to use the drug in the event of diseases associated with a violation of the formation of red blood cells, such as blood diseases, radiation sickness, burns and intoxication.
In 2016, the drug passed the first stage of clinical trials in humans.
The second stage of testing is scheduled for June 2017. The issue of conducting research on the basis of the V. I. CM. Kirov. Subject to the successful completion of the second and third stages of clinical trials, the technology for producing this drug can become a breakthrough not only in the domestic, but also in the foreign market of blood substitutes.
By the way, there are no world analogues with the properties of polyhemoglobin.
Another innovative drug that has already passed all the clinical trials required by Russian legislation and is approved for use as a medicine is a universal disinfecting wound healing gel that can be used in first aid and treatment of any mechanical damage to the skin, burns and frostbite. This gel, on the initiative of the Main Directorate of Research Activities, was included in the first aid kit of the expedition of the Ministry of Defense to the North Pole and is currently undergoing military testing in the Arctic.
The military consider any positive experience of searching for something new, not only from the point of view of practice, but also at the initial stage of the organization.
One can, for example, note the use of the advanced experience of domestic science in solving the problems of searching for innovative developments, technologies (and tools for the creation and production of world-class military and dual-use products) by issuing initial requirements not only to the final product, but also to the stages its development and production with a decomposition according to formalized features to a block (element, production process).
This makes it possible to formulate private requests for external innovations and involve not only major players in the arms market, but also other external developers, scientists and designers, regardless of their focus and main activities, in solving scientific, technical and technological problems.
In turn, the ideas, solutions and initiative proposals received form the basis for the bank of innovative solutions - the "Windows of open innovations" created in the Ministry of Defense, thereby forming, among other things, a scientific and technical reserve for the future.
Indeed, only under the condition of continuous search, scrupulous accounting, selection, implementation of innovations and advanced achievements of science and technology in the production of weapons, as well as complete overlap by scientific research and development of the list of basic and critical military technologies, timely and adequate response to new emerging types of threats, constant improving technical and technological processes in the production of weapons of warfare with the involvement of a wide range of specialists from all fields of scientific activity and at the same time forming a scientific and technical reserve for the future, our country will be able to withstand all challenges.
