Death statistics
The modern battlefield is saturated with a huge number of weapons designed to defeat the enemy. Barrel and rocket artillery, aircraft weapons, guided missiles, mortars, easel and hand grenade launchers. It would seem that under these conditions the role of small arms as a means of engaging enemy soldiers should be minimized. And such an opinion takes place, which affects the specific attitude towards this type of weapon: they say, if necessary, more than enough Kalash and other similar small arms of caliber 5, 45x39 mm, 7, 62x39 mm and 7, 62x54R. In warehouses, such weapons are stocked in quantities that will be enough for several world wars, respectively, you need to spend funds only on ultra-modern weapons: ships, armored vehicles, aviation.
However, in reality, things are a little different. Based on the available statistics posted in various sources on the Internet, in all military conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries, on average, small arms account for from 30 to 50 percent or more of all killed and wounded.
The main damaging factors during hostilities are as follows:
- defeat by bullets;
- defeat by fragments of exploded high-explosive fragmentation ammunition;
- defeat by ready-made striking elements (GGE) of the corresponding ammunition;
- defeat by a shock wave from high-explosive ammunition and their combined options;
- defeat by a shock wave of volume-detonating ammunition.
There is conflicting information on the effects on various parts of the body. Some sources suggest assessing the likelihood of injury based on the relative surface area of the relevant body parts. The head makes up about 7% of the total body area, the neck - 1.5%, the chest - 15%, the abdomen and lower back - 11.8%, the lower limbs - 44%, the upper ones - 20.7%, but this technique can hardly be considered fully justified due to the influence of the terrain and the unequal mobility of different parts of the human body.
The distribution of wounds by body parts can be viewed using information from the manual for doctors "Military field surgery of local wars and armed conflicts", but it reflects all wounds, regardless of whether they are bullet or fragmentation. And this is a very critical question, since fragments from the warhead of a missile, projectile, grenade or mines are distributed conditionally evenly, but the bullets are fired aimingly, at the conditional center of the target (human body).
If we talk about a shock wave, then, despite the fact that its effect is carried out on the entire human body, damage is primarily caused to the most vulnerable organs: hearing organs and lungs. Secondly, these are other cavity organs and then, depending on the intensity of the impact of the shock wave.
Fragments of different types of ammunition can vary greatly in size and weight. Some products, such as grenades for under-barrel or automatic grenade launchers, some hand grenades, have a warhead with fragments of a deliberately small mass. Accordingly, the more fragments the missile / shell / grenade / mine warhead gives, the higher the probability of their hitting the target.
The medical data that indicate the effectiveness of light fragments primarily indicate that light fragments are more likely to hit the target. It is logical, because if there is no hit, there is no injury / death, which is actually reflected in medical sources.
How can personal body armor (NIB) affect the effectiveness of small arms? Will they reduce its effectiveness or increase it?
NIB against …
In the article Armor of God: technologies for promising personal body armor, we examined promising technologies that can radically increase the security of fighters and make them obsolete, i.e. significantly reduce the effectiveness of most of the existing small arms. It would seem that the effectiveness of small arms should inevitably decrease. If you do not develop new weapons and ammunition, then it will be so. But the effectiveness of all other types of weapons will also decrease - warheads of missiles, shells, mines, grenades.
The effectiveness of which weapons will decrease the most? If you look at the tables above, you can see that the greatest losses are caused by light high-speed fragments, which tend to quickly lose speed with increasing distance. Such fragments give ammunition of the VOG-17 / 17M type for automatic easel grenade launchers of the AGS-17/30 type, VOG-25 / VOG-25P ammunition for under-barrel grenade launchers, 30x165 mm rounds of small-caliber automatic guns of the 2A42 type, and RGN-type grenades.
Protecting a fighter from a bullet, especially one with a heavy armor-piercing core, is much more difficult than from a small-caliber shrapnel, which, according to medical sources, often has a kinetic energy of about 100 J when it hits the body (this is the initial energy of a.22 "small" cartridge). Thus, to protect against such fragments, it may be sufficient not only to use armor plates made of existing and promising materials, but also solutions based on flexible materials that can cover the maximum surface area of a soldier's body.
Accordingly, the widespread introduction of promising NIBs can lead to a significant decrease in the characteristics of these types of ammunition, if not to abandon them. In the compact dimensions of the ammunition of the indicated calibers (30-40 mm), it is impossible to accommodate a sufficiently large amount of material for large fragments or ready-made destructive elements (GGE) capable of penetrating promising NIB. And if you place a smaller number, then the likelihood of shrapnel or GGE hitting the target will be significantly reduced. The high-explosive effect of small-caliber projectiles is deliberately small, however, additional protection can be provided against it. This problem - the need to increase the mass and size of a fragment or ready-made striking elements will also be relevant for larger calibers, promising 45-57 mm automatic cannons, 60 mm mortar ammunition. The lower probability of hitting a large fragment or GGE will have to be compensated for by an increase in the accuracy of aiming the projectile at the target, that is, most likely by the active introduction of guided munitions, which are already being developed for these calibers, as we considered in the article 30-mm automatic cannons: sunset or a new stage of development?
As for even larger ammunition, such as shells, mines, missile warheads, then their effectiveness will significantly decrease. If we recall the distribution of the probability of being hit by various types of fragments, taken from the book "Military Field Surgery of Local Wars and Armed Conflicts", then small fragments (less than 0.5 g) account for 66.6% of targets hit, medium (0.5- 10 g) 26, 7% and for heavy (more than 10 g) 6, 7%. In this case, medium and heavy fragments account for 27, 4% of the mass of all fragments formed during the explosion of the projectile. The need for programmed fragmentation of the projectile body only into medium and large fragments, or the use of only projectiles with GGE, will lead to a decrease in the likelihood of a single fragment or GGE hitting the target, which in turn will necessitate increased ammunition consumption or the wider use of expensive guided munitions.
From body armor to armored suit
In the recent developments of the NIB, there has been a tendency to create equipment that completely covers not only the body, but also the head of the fighter. A helmet that has existed as an item of equipment for more than 100 years can be transformed into a fully closed armored helmet. How important is this piece of equipment?
It is much more difficult to protect the fighter's head than the torso, since, firstly, the severity of the protection literally falls on the fighter's neck, and secondly, even if the ammunition with high kinetic energy does not penetrate the armor of the helmet / helmet, it may well break the fighter spine. Thus, it will be possible to protect the head from automatic / rifle bullets and massive high-speed fragments only in solutions based on an exoskeleton, which is a separate topic for discussion.
But even a helmet that does not provide protection against automatic and rifle bullets can be in great demand. First of all, we are again talking about light and, possibly, partly medium fragments. By protecting the face and neck from them, you can significantly increase the survivability of soldiers on the battlefield. Also, a closed helmet will effectively protect the hearing organs and lungs from high-explosive action, and additional protection will be provided against the thermal effects of explosions.
A relatively simple breathing system with a compact power supply can force air through a filter. On the one hand, this will clear the incoming air from dust particles and fumes, on the other hand, a slight excess pressure will provide the fighter with an additional portion of oxygen and prevent unfiltered air from entering the helmet. The transparent visor of the helmet protects the face and eyes from shrapnel and temperature exposure.
Armored helmets are currently under development. There are some problems, such as the penetration of the shock wave into the helmet and its re-reflection from the inner surface, but they will be solved one way or another.
In addition to the armor helmet, an active frame can be implemented in promising NIB. In its normal state, it can be flexible, not hindering movement, but when a shock wave is recognized (for example, by thermal sensors of an explosion flash), it instantly becomes fixed, providing protection for the lungs and other cavity organs.
RUNOS: subsystems of reconnaissance, control, navigation, identification, communication
It would seem that such elements of equipment as reconnaissance, control, navigation, identification and communication systems do not directly affect the probability of hitting a soldier with various types of weapons? However, upon closer inspection, this is not the case. It is the improvement of navigation subsystems, identification and communication of promising ground fighter equipment that will make it possible to split large units into small ones, without prejudice to ensuring their joint actions. Moving apart - hitting together. The supply of such units can be carried out by ground and air drones, containers on guided parachute systems dropped from inconspicuous transport aircraft, including unmanned ones.
Where it leads? Moreover, classic military operations will become more reminiscent of a high-intensity guerrilla war, in which the place of men in earflaps with three-line caps will be taken by professional fighters equipped with the latest technology. In fact, this is confirmed by the existing realities, when in military conflicts around the world more and more armed clashes take place with the participation of special operations forces operating in small, well-armed and organized groups.
In the context of the issue under consideration, this means a decrease in the effectiveness of heavy equipment, providing fire damage to enemy forces due to the destruction of area targets, since it is ineffective to spend wagons of missiles and shells for a unit of 6-10 fighters, and the priority in this case will again go to more expensive high-precision ammunition.
Output
In all military conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries, small arms are one of the most important instruments of war, ensuring the defeat of 30 to 50 percent of the enemy's manpower.
The introduction of NIB made of promising materials with an active frame, armored helmets that completely cover the head, and the transition to tactics of using small groups, acting on the principle of "move apart - beat together", will lead to an increase in the value of personal weapons of ground soldiers, which, of course, includes small arms weapon. In this regard, we can expect a relative increase in combat losses inflicted on the enemy, precisely by small arms, which confirms the expediency of carrying out developments in this direction and creating promising weapon-cartridge complexes at the modern technological level.
