On November 13, the military personnel of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops (RHBZ) of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation celebrate their professional holiday.
On this day, the results of the activities of the RChBZ troops for the year in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper were summed up by their chief, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov.
RChBZ against coronavirus
According to him, in 2020, the RChBZ troops are taking an active part in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
In particular, servicemen are disinfecting newly built medical centers of the Russian Ministry of Defense, enterprises of the military-industrial complex, as well as socially significant civilian infrastructure.
For these purposes, the RKhBZ troops use the latest technology: the UTM-80M universal heat pump, the ARS-14KM auto-filling station, the KDA set and the MCA PBA disinfection complex.
According to Igor Kirillov, in total, the Ministry of Defense has attracted more than 10 thousand RHBZ servicemen and over 3.5 thousand units of special equipment to fight the infection.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, about 113 thousand objects with a total area of more than 25 million square meters have been disinfected.
m, about 200 aircraft and at least 19 thousand units of equipment.
“I can say with full confidence that the participation of the RCB protection troops in the fight against COVID not only confirmed their readiness to perform tasks as intended, but also proved their high professionalism, which made it possible to coherently and efficiently solve tasks as part of an inter-service grouping of troops and to maximize the possibilities of combat potential ...
To confirm these words, I will cite the fact that at the end of the year, about 40 subunits were presented in the RCB protection troops for inclusion in the list of shock troops, ”Kirillov noted.
At the same time, in the first half of the year, when the situation with the spread of infection in the world was the most difficult, the RChBZ troops helped to fight the pandemic and abroad.
“Specialists of radiation, chemical and biological protection in the detachments, let me remind you, took part in preventing the spread of a new coronavirus infection in Italy, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Abkhazia, as well as in South Ossetia,” Kirillov explained.
According to him, first of all, disinfection measures were carried out in nursing homes for the elderly, since "it is this category of the population that was exposed to the greatest danger."
In addition, disinfection was carried out in hospitals, hospitals and other socially significant institutions, Kirillov noted.
In total, more than 500 objects were disinfected in 140 settlements.
Russian military specialist disinfects a home for the elderly in Italy
RIA News
© Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
“Processed over 3 million square meters.
m of surfaces of buildings and structures and about 990 thousand square meters.
m of squares and roads, more than 14 thousand items of equipment for medical institutions, more than 300 pieces of equipment, "- said the head of the RChBZ troops.
He also noted that the experience of dealing with the pandemic influenced the formation of the curriculum for the training of NBC specialists.
“The curriculum for training cadets of an engineering profile has already included a new academic discipline“ Basics of Biological Defense ”.
Changes have also been made to the program aimed at the qualitative development of new equipment entering the troops, which is widely and successfully used by units in the fight against the spread of the new coronavirus infection, ”Kirillov said.
In addition to disinfection, the RChBZ is also working on the creation of effective means of combating coronavirus.
So, together with the Moscow research and production company "Syntol", specialists from research organizations of the RChBZ troops have developed a set of reagents for detecting COVID-19.
As Kirillov specified, they have already been admitted to circulation on the territory of Russia.
In addition, together with the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology named after Honorary Academician N.F.
New technique
In addition, Igor Kirillov spoke about the new equipment that is being supplied to the RChBZ troops.
In particular, now the servicemen are carrying out trial operation of the latest flamethrower complexes TOS-2 ("Tosochka").
Recall that "Tosochka" was successfully tested at the strategic command-staff exercises "Kavkaz-2020" that took place in September.
“At the Kavkaz-2020 command and control squadron, the TOS-2 heavy flamethrower system confirmed the requirements for it.
The decision to further improve this model will be made based on the results of trial operation in the troops, "Kirillov said.
"Tosochka" is a new generation of Russian flamethrower systems of the TOS family.
Its predecessor can be considered the TOS-1A "Solntsepёk" system, which, in turn, is a deep modernization of the TOS-1 "Buratino".
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, "Solntsepёk" can fire rockets in thermobaric and smoke-inducing equipment.
This installation is designed to "set fire to and destroy structures and buildings, disable light armored and enemy vehicles."
At the same time, the RChBZ troops intend to continue using the already well-proven TOS-1A systems.
"At the same time, industrial enterprises are working to modernize the existing heavy flamethrower system TOS-1A to increase the security of crews, increase the range and accuracy of fire, the power of the ammunition and reduce the time for preparing and completing tasks," Kirillov said.
TOS-2 "Tosochka"
© Vitaly Kuzmin
In addition to flamethrower systems, this year hundreds of samples of other special equipment have entered the RChBZ troops, Kirillov said.
In particular, we are talking about RChB reconnaissance vehicles RHM-6-01, equipment for special processing of CDA and smoke machines TDA-3.
“Taking this into account, in 2020 the share of modern designs will exceed 70%,” Kirillov said.
Daily tasks
In addition to the fight against the coronavirus, the RChBZ troops continue to fulfill their daily duties.
Thus, servicemen are involved in organizing various mass sports events, international political and economic forums, where they ensure control of the radiation, chemical and biological situation.
Servicemen of the RChBZ units of the ZVO tank army
© Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
RChBZ troops are also monitoring the situation in Syria, where terrorists can use toxic chemicals and biological weapons.
“This is one of the most important tasks of the RCBZ units along with the elimination of the consequences of man-made disasters.
If you look at the Army forum-exhibition in Kubinka near Moscow, it is easy to understand how much funds the Ministry of Defense allocates for the creation of promising models of equipment so that the units of radiation, chemical and biological protection can respond to any threat, "he said in an interview with RT Dmitry Litovkin, editor of the newspaper "Independent Military Review".
The expert also highly appreciated the work of the RChBZ troops in a pandemic.
According to Litovkin, the military acted "extremely efficiently and harmoniously."
“Nobody was ready for a pandemic.
However, the great experience gained in the past years in the fight against infectious diseases helped the Ministry of Defense organize not only monitoring, but also treatment of the sick.
By the way, the vaccine against COVID-19 was created with the participation of military specialists, ”Litovkin said.
Expert of the Bureau of Military-Political Analysis Nikolai Kostikin, in a conversation with RT, also noted the worthy training of the military of the NBC.
“Our troops have structures that are in a state of constant readiness to eliminate such challenges.
The situation with the coronavirus showed a high degree of preparation.
They not only coped with these tasks in Russia, but also helped carry out disinfection in Serbia and Italy, ”Kostikin said in an interview with RT.
He added that these units "are equipped with the most modern weapons and special equipment."