The Tula Oktava plant has developed the Obereg-S body armor for humanitarian mine clearance sappers. This was reported on the Rostec website, which includes this enterprise.
“The new bulletproof vest features a special design with an increased area of protection against fragments, as well as low weight - only up to 5 kg,” said the press service of the state corporation.
The Obereg-S is equipped with ballistic packages of a special protection class C2 and Br 1+, which provide protection against pistol bullets, fragments and damaging elements of anti-personnel mines PMN-1, PMN-2 and PMN-4.
The body armor is equipped with groin and inner thigh protection, allowing the sapper to work from one knee. Along with this, the suit has a “reinforced collar with vertical and horizontal adjustment, which makes it possible to wear a helmet with a visor.”
The Oberega-S design includes a support belt. It has a “strengthening effect on the spine, reliably fixes and supports the lower back.” In addition, the body armor is equipped with a half-stretcher system, which, if necessary, will ensure emergency evacuation of the injured serviceman.
According to Octava General Director Pavel Pavlenko, Obereg-S is currently undergoing a series of tests. After confirming its characteristics, it will be put into mass production.
“We created a special modification of the Obereg-S body armor at the request of humanitarian demining specialists. Combined arms models are not intended for long-term operation and do not provide mobility. In the design of the new vest, we tried to take into account all the features of the work of explosives technicians, additionally strengthening both the neck and lower body, while maintaining mobility,” Pavlenko noted.
For near and far rear
The new suit for sappers is a modification of the basic version of the Obereg armor system, developed by Tula specialists in 2023 in close cooperation with the Northern Military District soldiers. The weight of the modern body armor is less than 9.4 kg, the anti-fragmentation protection area exceeds 76 square meters. dm.
"Obereg" is equipment of a high protection class, equipped with ceramic plates and a splinter-proof body kit that protects the collar area, shoulders and groin... As standard, we offer "Obereg" with two ceramic plates that protect vital organs from the back and chest." “, Pavlenko said in an interview with RT last December.
According to the developer, his brainchild provides multi-component protection for the fighter. Today, “Obereg” has the highest class of protection, adapted for integration into wearable equipment, emphasized the general director of “Octava”.
As military expert Alexander Zimovsky said in an interview with RT, the modification of the “Obereg” for sappers should take into account the specifics of humanitarian demining.
“The peculiarity is that in the territories where it is carried out there is no danger of fire contact with the enemy and the risk of shelling is low. This is the near or far rear of the North Military District. Most often, sappers are engaged in defusing anti-personnel explosive devices and searching for unexploded artillery shells. Thus, they do not require massive protection of vital organs. This point is taken into account in “Obereg-S”. It weighs only 5 kg, protects parts of the body that are susceptible to damage from anti-personnel mine fragments,” Zimovsky said.
As the expert suggests, the lightweight design of Oberega-S is better suited than other domestic body armor for work in the warm season.
“A sapper is often forced to wear a large amount of special equipment, a helmet with a visor. Any kilogram, especially in the heat, burdens movement, significantly complicates work, and increases the risk of heat stroke. Most likely, our designers took this factor into account in this body armor and were able to make the work of explosives technicians somewhat easier,” says Zimovsky.
According to the expert, both ordinary sappers and operators of robotic systems (RTC) for remote mine clearance can become users of Obereg-S.
Let us recall that to meet the growing needs for humanitarian demining, Russian industry has developed several types of robotic platforms.
Thus, the Kovrov Electromechanical Plant (part of Rostec) created the MGR-4 Shmel autonomous tracked vehicle. The mass of the demining robot is 4 tons, the speed of movement when clearing mines is 1 km/h. The RTK is equipped with a trawl with rotating metal hammers, which cut into the ground and destroy explosives. As it moves, the MGR-4 creates a 2.2 m wide shaft and is capable of withstanding the explosion of the most powerful anti-personnel mine.
Also, new demining robots for humanitarian mine clearance were developed by the DST-Ural tractor plant located in Chelyabinsk. The RTK line is represented by the unmanned MT2 platform, which has already been successfully tested in the Donbass.
RTK remote demining and a sapper of the Russian Armed Forces in a protective suit and helmet with a visor
RIA News
© Alexey Mayshev
The machine can use roller and striker trawls and a bucket for engineering work. The sapper robot confidently destroys explosive objects with a power of up to 4 kg in TNT equivalent.
Last year, the plant created a heavier RTK called MT10. The new platform received armor, a heavy striker trawl, a radio module and telemetry equipment, like the MT2.
Modern solutions
Currently, the arsenal of the Russian engineering troops includes several types of protective suits. According to materials from the Russian Ministry of Defense, the OVR-1 “Falcon” equipment has high properties. The weight of the suit is 8.5 kg, which is four times less than the previous model - the Doubloon suit. The product protects the serviceman from pistol bullets flying at speeds of up to 550 m/sec, and from fragments of various explosive devices.
“The armored elements of the suit are made of lightweight and high-strength polyethylene. Thus, a sapper in a Falcon suit becomes protected both from explosive devices that have a proximity fuse and that react to the presence of metal nearby,” says the materials of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Also, the OVR-2-02 combined arms demining kits are supplied to the Russian engineering troops. This armored system is intended for mine clearance teams of engineering units performing tasks of creating passages in minefields and clearing territories.
“The kit includes a suit with improved characteristics, audio and video communication systems, cooling, hearing protection, a set of individual and group equipment, including a multifunctional engineer’s knife, a multifunctional engineer’s shovel, a non-magnetic probe, flashlights and passage markings,” it is reported. on the website of the military department.
The weight of OVR-2-02 is 8.5 kg, but in the maximum configuration with additional equipment the weight reaches 23-24 kg. The suit protects the serviceman's vital organs, the collar and groin areas. The OVR-2-02 integrates armor panels of the ADP-AF type, made of extruded polyethylene.
A sapper in OVR-2-02 equipment wears an LShZ-2DTM helmet along with an aventail (mantle) and a transparent visor, which protects the eyes and does not interfere with orientation in space.
Another modern sapper suit is the Armor-KP-M ZKS. It protects the soldier from overpressure of the air shock wave, fragments, exposure to heat and open flame, and injuries from falls. The equipment includes protective jackets, trousers, shorts, mittens, as well as a helmet with a transparent protective mask and an individual cooling system.
“The suit is equipped with composite reinforcement armor panels that do not contain metal elements and provide anti-fragmentation protection at the level of 1100 m/s (meaning the flight speed of the striking elements. -
RT
). The anti-fragmentation resistance of the helmet in the area covered by the mask is 700 m/s, in other areas 550 m/s,” says the materials of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
As retired colonel Anatoly Matviychuk said in a conversation with RT, the experience of the special operation will significantly improve the elements of sapper protection. The expert also admits that the introduction of new engineering reconnaissance equipment and remote mine clearance systems will reduce the mass of protective ammunition.
“The work of sappers is extremely important both on the front line and in the rear, where humanitarian demining is carried out. One of the key tasks of designers analyzing the experience of air defense forces is to reduce the mass of ammunition, at least where a serviceman can use remote special equipment and where he needs to maintain increased mobility for a long time. Therefore, the appearance of Obereg-S is, I believe, a move in the right direction,” Matviychuk concluded.