One of the main directions for the development and improvement of special intelligence remains to increase the combat readiness of formations and military units, equip them with reconnaissance equipment and special weapons.
Over the 60 years of the history of special forces for arming and equipping units and formations, research institutions and industry have created a lot of the most diverse types of weapons, equipment and equipment. At the same time, in the Soviet Union, the industry was focused on the production of large batches of products, the special forces with their small, and sometimes even single orders were not a welcome client of the "red directors".
Nevertheless, in the 60s-70s, successful types of silent weapons were created and entered into service, such as pistols MSP, "Groza", NRS (scout shooting knife), a silent version of the Stechkin automatic pistol, as well as silent special shooting complex "Silence" (SSK-1) based on 7, 62-mm Kalashnikov assault rifle AKMS. At present, it was replaced by the "Canaryka" complex, based on the 5, 45-mm AKS 74 assault rifle.
A unique complex of mine explosives was developed with the code name "Menagerie". The complex was so nicknamed for the names of the mines and charges that make up it: "Woodpecker", "Hedgehog", "Cobra", "Jackal", etc.
It was replaced by universal shaped charges KZU-2 and UMKZ, which are still used today.
HF radio stations were created and improved for communication with the Center (R-254, R-353 l, R394 km, etc.), as well as VHF radio stations for communication within the R-352, R-392 group, R255 PP receivers, etc. A special field uniform was developed, stylized as the enemy's uniform, so that the group behind enemy lines would not immediately catch the eye. Here it would be appropriate to recall the army joke: “Nothing betrayed in him a Soviet intelligence agent-saboteur. Neither a cap with earflaps with a red star, nor a parachute dragging behind him."
The impetus for the development of special weapons and equipment was given by the war in Afghanistan. The war made it necessary to reconsider both the tasks and tactics of the actions of the special forces.
Reconnaissance tasks faded into the background, and the shock component of the special forces became more distinct. This required heavier weapons and equipment. The staff of the units of individual detachments that fought in the DRA included BMP-1, BMP-2, BTR-70. The groups included arms squads (AGS-17 and RPO). The group consisted of 6 to 4 Kalashnikov machine guns in different periods. In addition to standard heavy weapons, the special forces also mastered captured weapons, as a rule, of Chinese production.
For operational communication in the telephone mode, the KV radio station "Severok K" was developed and put into service, and for operational communication, special receivers and transmitters "Lyapis" and "Okolysh".
Subsequent armed conflicts made their own adjustments and requirements for the armament of the special forces. Military equipment and heavy weapons were returned to the detachments, which were handed over to warehouses after the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
The period of the collapse of the USSR and the subsequent permanent reform of the Armed Forces did not allow to fully provide special forces units with new equipment and weapons. This is primarily due to the tangible lag behind the spetsnaz in matters of equipment and technical security.
Despite the existing objective and subjective difficulties, research institutes and industrial enterprises still managed to develop, create and provide special forces units and formations with special weapons and equipment, albeit in volumes that did not fully meet their needs.
We will describe in some detail some types of weapons and equipment, their advantages and disadvantages.
7, 62-mm machine gun 6 P41 "Pecheneg"
Developer - TSNIITOCHMASH. The machine gun is designed to destroy enemy manpower, fire and vehicles, as well as air targets and has a better accuracy of fire compared to analogues, more than 2.5 times when firing from a bipod and more than 1.5 times when firing from a machine gun …
The design of the machine gun is based on the 7.62 mm Kalashnikov machine gun (PK / PKM). A fundamentally new is the barrel group, which ensures the shooting of at least 400 rounds without impairing the effectiveness of shooting. In addition, there was no need to equip the machine gun with a replaceable barrel. Barrel survivability is 25-30 thousand shots when firing in intensive modes. The machine gun can fire using the entire range of 7.62 mm rifle cartridges.
12, 7-mm machine gun "Kord"
Designed to combat lightly armored targets and fire weapons, destroy enemy manpower at ranges of up to 1500–2000 m and defeat air targets at slant ranges up to 1500 m. incendiary tracer bullets.
An inexperienced reader may wonder why this machine gun was created, if the NSV 12, 7 "Utes" machine gun was in service and served faithfully for the same purposes under the same cartridge? However, despite the apparent similarity of the main characteristics, the "Kord" machine gun has a number of significant advantages. When creating a machine gun, the designers managed to significantly increase the accuracy of fire from a machine gun by reducing the effect of automation mechanisms on the barrel. Thanks to the decrease in recoil, it was possible to increase the stability of the Kord machine gun and to develop its infantry version on the bipod. "Cliff" could only fire from the machine, and even then in short bursts due to recoil, or it was necessary to rigidly fix the machine to the ground.
The barrel survivability has also been significantly increased, which makes it possible to exclude the second barrel from the kit, and therefore to reduce its weight.
AGS-30 grenade launcher
The AGS-30 automatic grenade launcher was developed in the first half of the 1990s at the Tula Instrument Design Bureau as a lighter and, accordingly, more maneuverable replacement for the successful AGS-17 grenade launcher. For the first time, a new serial grenade launcher was shown to the general public in 1999, its serial production was launched at the Degtyarev plant in the city of Kovrov.
40-mm hand grenade launcher six-shot 6 G-30
The RG-6 grenade launcher (GRAU 6 G30 index) was hastily developed in 1993 at the Central Design Bureau of Sport and Hunting Weapons (Tula Central Design Bureau for Sports and Hunting Weapons) to arm the troops operating against the separatists in Chechnya. Small-scale production of the RG-6 was launched in 1994 at the Tula Arms Plant, and the grenade launcher almost immediately began to enter the troops and some units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In recent years, it was put into service, began to enter the special forces of the Armed Forces.
RPG-26 and RPG-27
The adoption in the 80s of the last century for the armament of tanks of the 3rd post-war generation, having enhanced protection due to the spreading of armor and the use of dynamic protection, forced to increase the power of the anti-tank weapons of the infantry. Soon, three new anti-tank ammunition are being adopted - the RPG-26 Aglen rocket-propelled grenades, the RPG-27 Tavolga, and a round of the PG-7 VR anti-tank grenade.
The RPG-26 grenade was adopted by the Soviet army in 1985 and is designed to combat tanks and other armored targets, destroy enemy personnel located in shelters and urban structures.
The RPG-26 launcher is a thin-walled fiberglass tube.
The RPG-26 eliminated the shortcomings that existed in the previous versions of the RPG-18 "Fly" and RPG-22 "Net" grenades. First of all, the impossibility of transferring back from the combat position to the traveling one. The RPG-26 grenade has no sliding parts, and it can be brought into a combat position and back in 2–4 seconds.
The PG-26 grenade is similar in its structure to the PG-22 grenade, but it has an increased power of action at the target due to the improved design of the shaped charge using the Okfol explosives. The armor penetration of the RPG-26 was up to 400 mm of homogeneous armor. Such armor penetration was not enough to combat modern tanks. Soon, the RPG-27 anti-tank rocket grenade with a tandem-type warhead was developed and put into service. The armor penetration of the RPG-27 was increased to 600 mm.
Given the short period of adoption of four models of rocket-propelled anti-tank grenades (RPG-18, RPG-22, RPG-26 and RPG-27), all four melee infantry anti-tank weapon systems were simultaneously in service with the troops. But only one of them could successfully fight modern tanks.
However, at the turn of the millennium, the Soviet and Russian armies fought not against a probable, but a real enemy. In a series of armed conflicts of the past two decades, the enemy of the Russian soldier was irregular armed formations (with the exception of the operation to force Georgia to peace in August 2008), and anti-tank weapons were assigned the tasks of fire support weapons. In all of them, special forces units widely used anti-tank rocket grenades RPG-18, RPG-22 and RPG-26, and during the second Chechen campaign and RPG-27. However, they were replaced by a more effective fire support weapon - assault rocket grenades.
RShG-1 and RShG-2
Modern combat operations require infantry and special forces to have powerful but mobile support weapon systems. First of all, such weapons should reliably and effectively destroy equipped firing points, crews and combat crews, lightly armored vehicles (LBT). As the experience of hostilities in Afghanistan and other hot spots has shown, the use of traditional cumulative RPG ammunition for these purposes is not effective enough.
RShG is an individual weapon of a soldier, designed to defeat enemy personnel located in shelters of the field and urban type, as well as disable unarmored and lightly armored enemy vehicles. The warhead of the RShG thermobaric equipment has a high efficiency of cumulative, high-explosive, fragmentation and incendiary action at the same time. When a grenade hits an obstacle, it collapses, forming a cloud of a volume-detonating mixture, the explosion of which causes combined damaging factors. RShG is most effective in destroying enemy personnel located in a confined confined space (dugouts, trenches, caves, buildings, armored vehicles and vehicles).
The specialists of FSUE “GNPP“Basalt”have developed the RShG-1 (105 mm caliber) and RShG-2 (73 mm caliber) rocket-propelled assault grenades. The block-modular principle of design and production most fully meets modern technologies.
A fighter who has the skills to handle the RPG-26 or RPG-27 can easily use the RShG-1 and RShG-2 on the battlefield without special retraining.
The design of the warhead is patented and has no analogues in the world.
RShG-1 is serviced by one person, the time of transfer from the traveling position (on the belt) to the combat position (shooting from the knee or standing) is calculated in several seconds.
The RShG-2 assault rocket grenade has an aimed firing range of 350 m. A characteristic feature of the RShG-2 is the ability to defeat manpower hidden in engineering structures, including those in personal body armor, even if it hits an embrasure indirectly.
Weight - 4 kg.
In the early 2000s, the RSHG-1 and RSHG-2 were effectively used by special forces in the North Caucasus region. The first samples of the RShG-1 entered service only after the completion of the active phase of the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus region. RShG in these conditions were used mainly by GRU special forces to destroy the enemy in dugouts, caches, natural and artificial caves, crevices and ravines.
Small Jet Flamethrower
Shifting the emphasis of armed struggle to combat operations in populated areas requires the infantry units of the opposing sides to have powerful firepower capable of reliably and effectively hitting an enemy hiding in buildings and fortifications. Such conditions of hostilities require equipping a soldier with a light, highly effective melee weapon. Currently, this problem is being solved by using ammunition with warheads of multifactorial damaging action, which is possessed by thermobaric charges. The RShG-1 and RShG-2 assault rocket grenades and the RPO-A and MPO flamethrowers have successfully occupied the niche of “assault” weapons. These firepower can be effectively used by infantry, reconnaissance, reconnaissance, sabotage and anti-terrorist units when they operate in isolation from armored vehicles, in the absence of artillery and air support.
Russia occupies a leading position in the world in the production of volumetric detonating melee weapon systems.
FSUE “GNPP“Basalt”has developed a small-sized jet flamethrower (MPO) with a disposable launcher in thermobaric (MPO-A), smoke (MPO-D) and smoke-incendiary equipment (MPO-DZ).
The small-sized jet flamethrower MPO-A is designed to provide fire support for assault groups, defeat enemy firing points equipped in rooms with window and door openings at a distance of up to 300 m. -DZ - for setting fire to premises.
Thanks to the original designs of the jet engine (the parameters affecting the shooter when firing are reduced - excessive pressure and thermal field), it is allowed to use MPO when firing from rooms with a limited volume (20 cubic meters). It is possible to fire at declination angles up to 90 ° and elevation angles up to 45 ° (from the upper floors down, along the upper floors, from floor to floor, etc.).
82-mm mortar 2 B14 "Tray"
With the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan, it became clear that in mountainous terrain, "light" 82-mm mortars are more effective artillery means of direct fire support for infantry.
A new lightweight 82-mm mortar 2 B14 "Tray" has passed military tests in Afghanistan. Mortar 2 B14 is arranged according to the classical scheme of an imaginary triangle. In the stowed position, the mortar is disassembled and transported or transported in three packs.
During the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, 82-mortars 2 B14 were widely used by federal forces and bandit formations. During the capture of Grozny in January 1995, federal troops suffered serious losses from enemy mortar fire. Having an extensive network of observers-spotters and informants, the bandit formations used the tactics of fire raids on the places of concentration of federal forces in the courtyards and on the streets. The 82-mm mortar has once again demonstrated its effectiveness as an artillery weapon for partisans and reconnaissance and sabotage bodies.
In the early 2000s, the 82-mm mortar 2 B14 (2 B14-1) "Tray" was adopted by individual detachments and special-purpose brigades.
The main advantages of the 82-mm mortar as a special forces weapon are high firing accuracy and the power of ammunition, the possibility of concealed firing, a high rate of fire (10–25 rounds per minute) and the mobility of this artillery weapon system.
In the second Chechen campaign, during the destruction of the bandit group of R. Gelayev in December 2003, thanks to the high professionalism of their regular mortar crew, the scouts managed to block the enemy in the gorge with fire for two days, and then support the actions of the assault groups with fire, which destroyed the main forces of the bandit group.
For firing from all domestic 82-mm mortars, fragmentation six-fins (old samples) and ten-fins mines, as well as smoke and lighting mines, are used. To increase the firing range, additional powder charges are hung on the mine (charge No. 1, 2, 3 and "long-range"). The mortar ammunition is carried by the crew in special trays of 4 mines or in packs.
Silent mortar complex 2 B25
Currently, domestic designers are developing an 82-mm silent BShMK 2 B25 mortar complex and an 82-mm mortar with an increased firing range of up to 6000 m.
Designed for special forces in order to ensure the secrecy and surprise of combat use due to noiselessness, flamelessness and smokelessness in the defeat of enemy manpower in personal body armor. The mass of the mortar is not more than 13 kg. Calculation 2 people. The effectiveness of the fragmentation mine action is at the level of a standard 82-mm mine.
About sniper weapons
The press not so long ago discussed the reason for the purchase of sniper rifles from Western manufacturers for our special forces. Moreover, we have a seemingly SV-98 sniper rifle from the Izhevsk plant, which is not inferior in its main characteristics to its western counterparts. Unfortunately, the quality of its production is very low, which is unacceptable for sniper rifles. And the good old SVD today cannot be considered a sniper's weapon at all.
"Tigers" and "Lancers" special forces
State tests of prototypes of the GAZ-2330 all-wheel drive vehicle (project "Tiger") began in early 2004. The American "Hummer" carefully studied by the designers and the engine borrowed from it made it possible to create a car that is not inferior to its foreign analogue in terms of comparable technical level coefficients. But created in the image and likeness of the "Hammer", the domestic "Tiger" is fundamentally different from its prototype.
The domestic "Tiger", in contrast to the "Hammer", a vehicle of a narrow range of combat missions, in terms of its parameters, most likely refers to light armored personnel carriers. Domestic BTR-40 and combat reconnaissance and patrol vehicle BRDM-1 were similar to it in characteristics and combat purpose.
For special purpose units, a modification of the "Tiger" - GAZ-233014 has been developed. After state tests, the serial model of the "Tiger", adopted for supplying special-purpose units as a special vehicle, was modified by about 80% of the prototype. For example, the frame has become all-metal, without seams, the turret has been modified, and the ergonomics of the troop compartment has increased.
At the same time, there are still problems with the suspension, which accounts for 60% of all failures. It does not withstand a car with a gross weight of 7200 kg when driving over rough terrain. The car sags so that the wheels rub against the wheel arches, the torsion bolts are destroyed and the suspension arm eyes fail. The electronically controlled tire pressure regulation system surprises by keeping the tires flat at the most inopportune moment. Drum brakes, which work well on armored personnel carriers, get very hot during an intense acceleration-deceleration cycle, leading to a sudden failure.
It would seem that the appearance of the armored car "Tiger" in the arsenal of the Russian special forces in no way excludes the presence of multipurpose light vehicles with all-terrain vehicles in the battle formations. For these purposes, the designers on the basis of the UAZ off-road vehicle created the Gusar combat vehicle equipped with a Toyota gasoline engine. According to its tactical and technical characteristics, according to NATO classification, it belongs to the class of light assault vehicles (Multipurpose Lightweight Vehicle). On a reinforced frame located inside the cabin, it is possible to mount 7, 62- and 12, 7-mm machine guns and a 30-mm automatic grenade launcher on the turrets. The tests of the car at the range of the 21st Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of Russia were successful. After that, the Gusar vehicles entered all special-purpose brigades, but their operation in the North Caucasus region revealed a number of shortcomings. First of all, it is a weak undercarriage, not designed for a powerful Japanese engine (after 10–12 thousand km of run, bridges and suspension assemblies "fly"), and poor controllability of the car at high speeds due to the shifted center of mass. If you can put up with the second drawback, because "Gusar" was created not for racing on highways, then the low resource of the running gear for a special forces vehicle is a serious drawback. The Gusar vehicles were removed from service.
The development of the Ulan car was carried out on the basis of the VAZ 2121 Niva car. Six prototypes were created, however, due to poor performance, the car was not accepted for service, and work on it was discontinued.
Perhaps, in order for the domestic special forces to receive a truly modern car that satisfies all needs, an absolutely new model needs to be created.
"Pear" flies, you can't eat …
A light UAV as part of a military ACS under the name "Pear" 21 E22-E is manufactured by the Izhmash - Unmanned Systems Enterprise. Small and compact UAV "Pear" refers to a small-sized UAV.
At working altitudes of 150–300 meters, it is almost invisible to the naked eye.
At present, the production model of "Pears" is equipped with a stabilized video camera, has a range of action for transmitting video in real time - 10 km, range with photo equipment - 15 km.
The disadvantages include the fact that the "Pear" flies based on the American GPS navigation system, which, if necessary, the Americans can close to others. This is due to the fact that GLONASS receivers are ten times heavier and five times larger. The images obtained from "Pear" have both rectangular coordinates and geographic ones.
At working heights, they are really not very noticeable, but at the same time, they themselves are able to see an object with a size of … 10 x 10 meters from this height.
It should also be noted that the appearance of micro-UAVs in the air is often a serious unmasking factor, signaling the sought objects about the presence in their area of responsibility of subunits or groups that pose a threat. It is no coincidence that in the United States, work began on the creation of a micro-UAV in appearance that does not differ from a bird.
The adoption of such UAVs by the ground forces is undoubtedly a positive step.
Of these developments, the parts have a small number or even samples for study. And the bulk are outdated samples.
For communication within the group by the state of the units, the P-392 is still installed. Not only is this radio station morally outdated twenty years ago, but since the park of radio stations has also not been updated in recent decades, it is outdated and worn out physically. Therefore, the radio stations are in poor condition. Officers planning a trip to the war usually dump and buy themselves VHF radio stations from foreign manufacturers, since they want to provide themselves with stable communication within the group. The same applies to reflex sights for assault rifles. Not only do not all assault rifles allow them to be mounted, so even the ones that are there are not enough sights.
The uniform from Yudashkin is not intended for service at all. Soldiers buy field uniforms themselves, as well as sleeping bags and much more.
The Georgian-Ossetian conflict assisted the special forces in providing equipment and uniforms. But he was not the impetus for new developments. We just managed to take out a sufficient number of trophies.
