Breaking news
Russian Military begin field tests of Ratnik future combat gear in December.
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Defence & Security News - Russia |
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| Wednesday, October 1, 2014 02:34 PM | |||
| Russian Military to begin field tests of Ratnik future combat gear in December | |||
Field
tests of cutting-edge combat gear for Russian soldiers will begin in December,
Russian Land Force commander-in-chief Col. Gen. Oleg Salyukov told RIA
Novosti on Wednesday, October 1st. "The combat kit is currently
undergoing the final stage of state trials. In December, field tests will
begin in units of the Ground Forces, the Airborne Forces and the Marine
infantry of the Navy," he said. |
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 Russian Ratnik comprises more than 40 components, including firearms, body armor and optical, communication and navigation devices, as well as life support and power supply systems |
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When
asked about the effectiveness of the new gear, Salyukov said, "Objective
conclusions about the effectiveness of the Ratnik combat kit can be made
based on the results of the field test." He noted that apart from upgrading bulletproof vests and improving the effectiveness of small arms, the weight of the full combat kit has been reduced from 34 kilograms (75 pounds) to 24. The new Ratnik gear allows military personnel to carry out combat missions at any time of day and under different weather conditions. According to Salyukov, equipping units with the new kit could increase the probability of combat missions being successfully executed by 1.5 to 2 times. The Ratnik (Warrior) kit comprises more than 40 components, including firearms, body armor and optical, communication and navigation devices, as well as life support and power supply systems. The number of items carried at all times by military personnel is constantly increasing under modern combat conditions, Salyukov said. Combat experience and results of comparative tests of foreign and domestic military equipment was taken into account when developing the Ratnik kit. The gear is suitable for use by regular infantry, paratroopers, rocket launcher operators, machine gunners, drivers and scouts. Other countries have similar futuristic combat gear kits, including the United States’ Land Warrior, Germany's IdZ, Britain's FIST, Spain's ComFut, Switzerland’s IMESS and France's FELIN. |
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