At a recent meeting of the General Staff, a positive decision was made to leave the bayonet-knife in service with the army. Questions about how to write off this type of cold weapon began to be considered after the American defense department made a landmark decision to abandon the use of a bayonet-knife.
The idea of leaving the bayonet-knife in the "ranks" was expressed by many of the active military and those in the reserve or on a well-deserved rest. Someone stated that the bayonet-knife is a truly formidable weapon that can always save a soldier, even if the cartridges are out. In addition, the bayonet-knife, according to his supporters, is indispensable in close combat, even when the enemy is equipped with a bulletproof vest. A bayonet can easily find places that are not protected: a fighter's neck, arms and legs. Adherents of the idea that even a new machine gun, which will replace the greatest creation of weaponry - the AK-74 machine gun, be equipped with a bayonet-knife, remind that this cold weapon also has a scabbard, in combination with which it can turn into wire cutters, and into the saw, and into the hammer. You can also set fire to matches with the help of a knife bayonet! And how easy it is to open a can of stewed meat at a halt with its help …
However, in our country there are also many opponents of the idea of extending the service life of the bayonet knife. These people claim that in modern combat, where digital technology comes first, the use of advanced combat weapons and other technical innovations. In this situation, the bayonet-knife becomes more like a kind of amulet from the times of the last century, which is unlikely to be able to provide real practical help.
In general, as is usually the case, the decision was made at the highest level, and this decision has pitfalls.
Of course, the bayonet-knife can be called a real symbol of the army of recent years, a kind of artifact that every self-respecting soldier treated and treats with real piety. However, one should not forget that time has the ability to run, and along with time, a person changes, his life activity, views of the world, ways to protect himself.
In a situation with disputes over the bayonet-knife, we can say that he became a hostage of his time. If you try to "transfer" even the closest to your heart samples of weapons from one era to another, then on the battlefields the Russian army still has to move exclusively in horse and foot formations.
However, the decision in Russia regarding rearmament, as often happens, was made somewhat half-hearted: AK-74, they say, we have too many, and we will not use them, but we will leave the bayonets-knives - they will come in handy. The logic, at least, is strange!
There were disputes overseas about whether or not to leave the bayonet-knife. The Americans decided that bayonets-knives would not be useful to their soldiers and supplied the firearm with an additional rapid-firing five-shot grenade launcher. But American fighters are also taught not to forget about hand-to-hand combat. Since the spring of this year, after the US military had to abandon the bayonet-knife, the soldiers have been trained in close combat using everything that is at hand: stones, sticks and other things.
However, the Marines did not express a desire to abandon the bayonet, although they used this type of cold weapon for the last time in the American-Vietnamese war. Representatives of the command of the Marine Corps say that the ability to handle a bayonet can be useful to soldiers in the current wars - in Afghanistan, for example.
In new American military history, there are cases when, for the skillful use of a bayonet, Captain Millett was awarded the Medal of Honor for destroying an enemy firing point at altitude 180.
It should be recalled that the bayonet-knife for the AK-74 (product "6x5") has been used in the Russian army over the past 22 years. During this time, its new modification for the Nikonov assault rifle (bayonet-knife with horizontal attachment to the AN-94 barrel) managed to appear. Russian fighters continue to be trained in hand-to-hand combat using a bayonet-knife and an assault rifle butt. For general physical training, this is not bad. But whether a bayonet-knife is needed in all army units without exception today is an open question.
