Conventional tactical signs: classification

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

What are conventional tactical signs? Why are they needed? In this article, we will answer these questions and more. Tactical conventional signs are graphic images used to indicate on military maps, diagrams of the position, actions and plans of one's own army and the enemy, the placement of defensive structures, military equipment, communication lines, headquarters, obstacles, airfields, logistics agencies and other things.

Plan

It is known that tactical signs are applied to the map. Today, organizing the combat operations of battalions and directing them during the battle, it is difficult for the commander to work on the ground without her.

The map with the combat (operational) situation used by the chief (commander) in the process of command and control of troops is called his working map. It is one of the basic military documents with the help of which military leaders conduct military operations.

Each commander should always work on a prepared diagram, because then tasks can be solved very quickly. Properly madea work map makes it easier for the military to work in a combat situation. By the way, such a document can be used for a very long time.

Relative symbols

Tactical signs should be known to every commander. The situation on the working map is a collection of symbols, inscriptions and abbreviations.

Conventional tactical signs and the attributes displayed with them are very important in command and control, as they reproduce the objective reality, that is, the combat situation. With the help of them, you can see the nature of the actions, the deployment of battalions (areal dimensions), the amount of means and forces, the purpose of the maneuvers and the methods for achieving them.

Therefore, when working with a map, it must be remembered that behind each conditional symbol there is a person, military vehicles of one's own army and the enemy.

Army language

Tactical signs are a kind of language of the army, legitimized by instructions and combat regulations. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly observe the unambiguity of their understanding, the clarity of application. The generally accepted system of these symbols is constantly evolving and changing. This is a natural phenomenon associated with the evolution of military equipment and methods of conducting combat operations by units and units of all types of aircraft.

Tactical signs should be simple and clear. They must ensure that technical means can be used to speed up the mapping of the situation. In addition, they should not have different content, they should not be interpreted in multiple ways.

Marking

HowHow are military tactical signs applied to the map? Linear semi-closed and closed symbols (position of troops, lines of positions of false areas, borders for various purposes, etc.) are drawn on the plan, observing the scale. In view of this, they are often called conditional scale signs.

Figured symbols of the correct geometric shape (individual tanks), as well as some conventional composite signs consisting of textures and lines (communication facilities, command posts, some engineering structures and facilities, launchers, and so on), which are point targets are called off-scale, that is, they are drawn on the map without observing the dimensions.

Point targets, marked on the diagram with similar symbols, are applied so that the center of the sign is placed at the point where the object is located on the territory. The coordinates of this object when indicating targets or orienting on the map should be provided in the center of the mark.

The command post is drawn in such a way that a straight vertical line that continues one of the sides of the geometric configuration rests with its lower end on the point of the area where the command post is located. The tactical sign "H alt" looks the same - it is drawn on the route of movement of troops, indicating the distance from the starting line.

It should be remembered that when moving or advancing to the west (or when defending the front, to the west), the CP symbol will be located to the right of the vertical line indicating its location, and vice versa.

Apply decor

Image procedure ona map or other graphic document of a special or tactical situation is called "drawing the situation", and the complex of tactical conventional symbols is called "tactical conditions".

Full application of the situation about the enemy looks like this:

• infantry, armored, motorized infantry, artillery subunits with details down to the gun, platoon;
• placement of weapons of mass destruction with details up to a rocket launcher, a separate gun;
• radiation state in the amount needed for action.

Applying the situation about your troops:

• goals set by senior executive;
• position of battalions with details two degrees below their own level (for example, the regimental commander draws the symbols of companies and battalions).

The following colors are used to indicate the situation:

• basic - blue, red, black;
• auxiliary - green, brown, yellow.

The use of other colors, as well as shades of basic or additional colors is not allowed.

Keeping the rules

Tactical signs of the RF Armed Forces are of interest to many people. In order to master the art of keeping a work card, you need to follow the accepted conditional abbreviations, inscriptions and designations. They are used to speed up the drawing of the situation on the plan and the creation of combat documents.

It is important to know these abbreviations and apply them correctly, since often an incorrectly written letter radically changes the meaning of the mark and candistort the data. For example, the briefing provides for abbreviations: tr - tank company and TP - tactical missile.

If concise indicators not prepared by edifications and statutes are used, their significance should be explained in the margins of the document or in the legend to it.

Topographical marks

Tactical signs of the Russian Federation should be known to every soldier. Studying the territory on the map, it is simultaneously considered, as it were, in two plans:

1. Imagine the features and appearance of the Earth's surface itself according to its horizontal pattern.
2. Find out the presence and nature of the area located on it.

These objects are drawn on the diagrams with conditional topographical symbols. All local objects depicted on topographic maps are divided into the following basic groups, each of which has its own system of relative marks:

• settlements;
• ground and land cover;
• hydrography;
• local isolated landmarks;
• socio-cultural, industrial and agricultural facilities;
• road network;
• administrative fences and borders.

Relative symbols adopted for different objects of the territory are indicated in special tables, which are typical. They are mandatory for all departments and ministries of the Russian Federation that produce topographic maps. For each homogeneous class of local features (for example, for roads, bridges, settlements) there is a common symbol that determines the type of item.

If this class of neighboring objects hasseveral standard versions, then the base symbol is partially supplemented or modified to display them.

Types of relative symbols

Tactical signs of the Russian Armed Forces according to their purpose and properties are divided into the following types:

• scale;
• explanatory;
• off-scale.

Scale marks

So, you already know what the classification of tactical symbols is. Outline (scale) conventional symbols are used to mark local objects, the size of which can be determined from the map. For example, areas of a swamp, a settlement, a forest.

Each relative scale symbol is composed of a contour - the boundary of the area of the given object, and filling it with uniform marks, called fill symbols.

All contours on the map are drawn exactly to scale while maintaining their similarity and orientation to actual real silhouettes on the territory. They are applied as a dotted line, if they do not coincide with other lines on the ground (roads, ditches, fences), which are drawn with other signs.

Out-of-scale signs

What are the main tactical signs, we have already found out. What are out-of-scale conditional symbols? These are signs necessary for delineating local small objects that are not embodied on the scale of the map, isolated elements, wells, houses, and so on. If you reproduced such an object on a scale, you would get a dot on the map.

The relative off-scale symbol includes this, as it were, leading dot,accurately conveying the position of the object, and with its picture indicates its essence.

There is such a paramount point:

• for symbols with a right angle at the base - at the top of the corner;
• marks of symmetrical shape (asterisk, square, circle, rectangle) - in the center of the picture;
• for symbols in the form of a figure with a wide basis - in the center of the basis;
• for characters that are a combination of several images - in the center of the lower image.

These leading points are used for accurate measurements on the map of distances between objects and when extending their coordinates.

Map measurement

Relative conditional marks include symbols of roads, streams and other local linear objects, in which only the length is expressed in scale (width cannot be measured on the map). Their exact placement on the document is guessed by the middle (longitudinal axis) of the sign. It must be remembered that local small objects (freestanding objects, trees, wells, and so on) are applied with off-scale marks, and larger ones (rivers, settlements, and so on) - depending on the range of the diagram, with off-scale and contour symbols.

Out-of-scale markers cannot indicate the size of objects or the area they occupy, so it is not possible, for example, to measure the width of a bridge on a map.

Explanatory symbols

Relative explanatory signs are used to show varieties of objects and their additional characteristics. For example, an arrow on a river shows the direction of the flow, a figure of a deciduous or coniferous tree inside the forest outline- the dominant tree species in it, and so on.

Identification marks for combat vehicles

The tactical sign in technology plays a very important role. To distinguish their military vehicles and identify their belonging to a unit, part, they are depicted with conditional numbers and identification symbols.

The tactical sign of a part (connection) is a geometric figure drawn in the form of a square, circle, rectangle, triangle, rhombus and so on. The number of variants of these signs had to be increased. Therefore, today it is allowed to draw lines inside them in different directions, letters, numbers, drawings of trees and their leaves. Sometimes one part of the label is simply painted over. Such signs of the unit (compound) are appointed by the senior commander and change periodically.

Conventional numbers are a three-digit number. For a certain period, the commander of the formation of each military unit allocates a couple of hundred numbers. For example, 200-288 or 700-555. The commander of the military unit establishes the order of numbering of combat vehicles. At the same time, for different equipment, the repetition of the same numbers is allowed.

Applying signs on equipment

The identification tactical sign is drawn on the left and right sides of the vehicle (turret sides) in front of the relative number. Due to the presence of open areas of the sides (towers), it is allowed to apply it in the direction of the military vehicle in front of the conditional number.

In summer, these marks are applied with white paint, and in winter or during operations in the desert, when military equipment has camouflage colors, they are black (red).

The numbers of the conditional number are drawn 20-40 cm high, depending on the design qualities of military equipment. Their width is two thirds of the height. The parameters of the tactical symbol must be at least two-thirds of the height of the digits of the relative number, but not more than them. The thickness of the lines of these marks is equal to one sixth of their height.

Practice

In areas where real divisions existed and where exercises were conducted, tactical recognition symbols were assigned, which, in accordance with the Charter, were geometric shapes. Each unit was assigned one specific sign, inside which numbers, letters, dots, sectors, lines were applied, indicating a separate battalion of the division, regiment.

Although the regulations did not prohibit drawing leaves inside the symbols, this did not occur in practice. After the exercises, these images remained on the equipment, turning into permanent identification marks for the soldiers. Most often, they served for several years from teaching to teaching.

The charter obliged to depict the number on both sides of the tower (on two sides) and on its rear part (stern of the car). But most often it was applied only to the so-called "shooting machines", which were used for training in firing practice. This is due to the fact that it is difficult for a maneuver leader without such a number to find out from the command tower where which car is.

But already during the Afghan war, it was necessary to remove from the armor not only the bold symbols of the Guards, Special Forces, but also ordinary signs. In the Chechen war, even on airplanes and helicopters, they painted overnumbers. Colored bright spots unmask equipment and help the enemy recognize, search for and focus fire on it.