It's no secret to anyone how important the quality of the equipment of an individual soldier is for the defense of the whole country. Comfortable form, decent means of protection, modern weapons, reliable communication - it is difficult to overestimate the importance of these components. And the heavy pea coats and kirzachs are being replaced by fundamentally new equipment designed to provide the soldier with maximum comfort and mobility.
The very concept of "Ratnik suit" in a broad sense means not only a set of high-quality military uniforms. We are talking about a complete set of equipment, including all the components necessary for a soldier to work effectively. For the development, the latest scientific achievements in the field of navigation, advanced aiming and night vision systems, a system for controlling the psychophysiological state of a fighter, the best materials for the manufacture of body armor and clothing were used.
A word about the creators
Leading experts, including FSUE TSNIITOCHMASH, NPO Special Equipment and Communications, OAO TsNII Cyclone, NPO Spetsmaterialov, and manyother. The basis was the previously developed Russian military equipment "Barmitsa".
Features
As the developers planned, the Ratnik combat suit competed with foreign analogues, even surpassing them in many ways. The equipment includes about 10 subsystems. The kit has a modular layout, and it can be used in a wide variety of combat conditions, regardless of the season and time of day.
The military suit "Warrior" was first presented to the general public at the MAKS-2011 air show. Tests of the new equipment started in December 2012, they were carried out in Alabino near Moscow. As a result, the new uniform and equipment was awarded the highest ratings by specialists.
Package
The equipment includes several systems consisting of dozens of elements:
- Jumpsuit made of a special Alutex fiber that can withstand grenade and mine fragments and not succumb to bullets at the end, in addition, it has fire resistance.
- Armor protection, the main part of which is body armor 6B43 of the sixth class or Br5 of the fifth class. Depending on the characteristics of the unit and the assigned combat missions, the Ratnik suit can be equipped with a body armor with additional protective plates.
- A layered helmet that can withstand a 9-gauge bullet from 5-10 meters away.
- The "Sagittarius" system, which includes means of communication, collection, target designation, processing,information display. The system not only allows you to analyze the received information directly to the soldier himself, but also transmits the necessary data to the command post.
- Communicator connected to GLONASS and GPS systems for solving problems related to terrain orientation, target designation, correction and other applied calculations.
- Power supply devices.
- Water filters.
- Tactical anti-fragmentation goggles.
- Independent heat sources.
- Special knee and elbow pads.
- Small arms (automatic, machine gun, rifle) equipped with an appropriate night vision sight for large-caliber weapons, normal surveillance or reconnaissance.
- Video module for firing from cover, consisting of a thermal imaging sight, a helmet-mounted display with a control system.
- Shaheen thermal imaging sight, integrated directly on the weapon and providing detection, recognition and aimed fire.
- Reflex sight "Krechet". Optional - other optical devices.
- Various backpacks, camouflage kits, foldable thermal mat, ventilated T-shirt, removable winter insulation, vest with pockets and pouches for ammunition, mat, raincoat, hat, balaclava, mosquito net.
- Sleeping bag and tent.
- Frost-resistant battery for electronic devices.
- Active headphones.
- Knife "Bumblebee".
- Sensor "friend or foe" with an electronic card, allowingdetermine their own location, as well as the location of friendly and enemy forces. Group commanders are equipped with tablets with advanced features.
Benefits
Despite the unity of the general concept, the Ratnik protective suit has many varieties corresponding to the branches of the military. For example, marine body armor is also endowed with the properties of a life jacket.
The modular system allows you to complete the vest according to the needs and convenience of each fighter. Communication systems allow the group not only to receive up-to-date information, shoot, transmit data to the command post, but also act as a single mechanism.
Weapons
For the right to arm the soldier of the future, two domestic weapons giants fought at once - the Kalashnikov concern and TsNIITOCHMASH. The Kord submachine gun was quite worthy competition for the AK-12, but the latter won. In addition to the assault rifle, which took center stage in the development, about 30 more types of weapons were upgraded, including machine guns of various calibers, sniper systems, disposable and reusable hand grenade launchers.
Prospects
Protective suit "Warrior" has successfully passed all planned military tests. Currently, the Izhmash plant has launched mass production of the AK-12. The first samples in the amount of 50 thousand pieces have already entered service with some special forces units of the Russian army. Constructors are notstopped there - the improvement of equipment continues to this day. Currently, a number of countries have expressed a desire to purchase the Ratnik suit for their own armed forces, the price of which will depend on the configuration and execution (unfortunately, there is no reliable information about the cost of new uniforms), but Rosoboronexport is in no hurry to equip foreign military personnel with the latest technology. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation aims to fully equip all units with new equipment by 2020.
