Dvukhsredny friend spetsnaz
The product of the Tula Instrument Design Bureau OJSC, which is part of the High-Precision Complexes Holding, will be the star of the DEFEXPO India 2014 exhibition
The Russian holding company OAO NPO Vysokotochny Komplektsy successfully produces not only high-tech weapon systems, but also a unique rifle weapon. At 8-th International Exhibition of Land and Naval Weapons, which will be held as part of Defexpo India 2014 from 6 to 9 this February in New Delhi, the holding presents a unique two-medium-sized automaton ADS capable of hitting targets both under water and on land .
In February of this year, one of the leading production associations of the Russian military-industrial complex - the holding company NPO High-Precision Complexes - marks its fifth anniversary. Over the years, VK products have earned high marks both among the Russian military and law enforcement agencies, as well as abroad. The Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile cannon system protects not only the S-300 and S-400 air defense systems of the Russian Armed Forces, but also strategically important targets in almost ten countries of the world. Anti-tank guided complexes "Cornet" became the stars of arms exhibitions around the world. Hezbollah operators during the second Lebanon war successfully hit them considered one of the most protected Israeli Tanks Merkava.
Last year, another NPO NPK Vysokietochny Komplektsy OJSC JSC NPK Engineering Design Bureau, the operational-tactical Iskander missile system, caused a political crisis in Europe after the German media declared that the Armed Forces of Russia placed several launchers of these OTRK in Kaliningrad.
Held every two years under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry, Defexpo India is one of the most significant foreign exhibition sites of the military-industrial sector. Subjects - weapons and military equipment for the ground forces and naval forces, communication systems, electronic warfare, air defense, etc. Dual-use products are also presented. The exhibition will bring together leading military manufacturers from Russia, the USA, France, and the UK - only around 32 countries.
For Russian enterprises of the military-industrial complex Defexpo India is one of the priorities. Russian-Indian cooperation in the military-technical field lasts for more than four decades and forms the basis of a strategic partnership between Russia and India. This year, representatives of almost 40 Russian defense enterprises will arrive in New Delhi. Thus, there is nothing surprising in the fact that it is this representative international exhibition of armaments that has become a platform for the presentation of the unique two-medium-sized automatic ATC.
The reasons for the lack of world analogues
ADF, that is, a two-medium special automaton, is the only one in the world capable of striking targets both under water and on land.
“In the West, a fighter uses special weapons such as the German submarine pistol P-11 from Heckler und Koch under water, and on land - the usual full-time small arms,” says Maxim Popenker, editor-in-chief of the World Guns Internet project.
Ordinary submachine guns and underwater pistols are ineffective, since the bullet will pass only two or three meters, and the ammunition of the special weapons such as 5,66-mm MPS cartridge from the APS underwater submachine gun or the SPP-1 pistol in the air is unstable - it will be very difficult to hit the target. But a fighter acting underwater with an aqualung, or a diver, when every gram of equipment counts, it is inconvenient to haul two machine guns at once - special and ordinary, and even ammunition to them.
“APS is a regular weapon of my unit,” the former officer of the intelligence department of the USSR / Russian Navy, now a diving instructor, said on condition of anonymity. - It is very convenient under water. Good accuracy, accuracy and firing range. But it is only under water. On land there is no benefit from it. ” According to our anonymous interlocutor, his former subordinates went to the depth either with an APS machine gun or with an SPP-1 pistol, and in a special sealed bag lay a regular small arms.
“If a fighter has a machine gun or a sniper rifle,” explains the former intelligence officer, “then the second weapon was given an SPP-1 pistol, and ordinary submachine gunners — the APS. During the exercises, we landed on the territory of the conditional enemy, dug in wetsuits, scuba diving, etc. We also did with underwater weapons. In theory, we had to carry it with us, because these are very expensive “toys”. Who needs extra weight? Fortunately, these are teachings and then we dug out the MTA and SPP. But in a real war, we would do that, too. The situation when you climb to storm the ship or the ship of the "enemy" is even worse - the APS dangles, interferes. Where to go? Do not throw out the same ... "
Our interlocutor also noted that at the end of the 80-s, the Main Intelligence Directorate, whose subordination consisted of naval special forces, had formulated a requirement for small arms developers to create an armament complex that could be used both on land and under water with minimal replacement. “It was believed,” he says, “that we need a two-medium pistol and an automatic rifle. Pistols would act as a second weapon for snipers and machine gunners. But later, the two-medium gun was abandoned. On land, we used only special pistols with a silencer, and then rarely. And the underwater SPP-1 is frankly weak compared to the MPS. We did not like him. All the same, the anti-sabotage subunits of the probable enemy did not have analogues of the APS. And now no. Even if not the whole unit is armed with two-medium weapons, we could always fight back. ”
After the collapse of the USSR, only the end of the 90s - the beginning of the 2000s - was able to return to the creation of two-medium weapons, when the Instrument Engineering Design Bureau and the Central Design Research Bureau of sporting and hunting weapons in 2003 started to work on the two-medium special machine .
The developers came to the conclusion that a two-medium product can be achieved by simply replacing the cartridges, when on land the machine guns with ordinary cartridges and under water with special ones. The arrow needs only to quickly change the magazine with one type of ammo to another. Moreover, the experience of using the APS underwater submachine gun in anti-sabotage units and special-purpose units of the USSR / Russian Navy showed that there are no large-scale battles under water and a swimmer can easily manage with one special ammunition store.
On the approaches to the creation
The designers of the Tula Instrument Engineering Design Bureau, having begun to design a two-medium-sized machine gun, understood right away that it was necessary to refuse 5,66-mm underwater cartridges.
According to Maxim Popenker, in the 2005 year, this design bureau developed a special underwater cartridge in the dimensions of a conventional millimeter cartridge 5,45x39 and using its same sleeve. The new cartridge has a carbide bullet weighing 16 grams with an initial speed of about 330 meters per second. According to the expert, it can be attributed to the category of armor-piercing.
“In the water, the stabilization of the bullet and the decrease in resistance are due to the cavitation cavity created by the flat pad in the nose when moving. The effective firing range of the SRP chuck under water is approximately 25 meters at a depth of five meters and up to 18 meters at a depth of 20 meters. When firing under water, the PSP cartridge exceeds the 5,66-mm MPS and MPST cartridges from the automatic fire alarm system in combat effectiveness. Due to their size, 5.45 PSP cartridges can be used from standard magazines from AK-74 machines, ”says Popenker.
It was decided to create an automatic grenade launcher complex A-91М, which had received positive feedback from the special forces, on the basis of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Interior Forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed for armament. The reason for this choice is simple: A-91M is designed according to the bullpup scheme, when the trigger is brought forward and is located in front of the magazine and the percussion mechanism.
“The underwater APS, even despite the folding butt, was not always convenient for the swimmer when leaving the carrier or moving weapons under water,” the editor-in-chief of the Internet project World Guns said. According to him, the bullpup scheme was chosen for reasons of compactness and minimizing the size of the machine. The dimensions of the ADS turned out to be rather small compared to the APS, but the machine gun has good ballistics due to the sufficient length of the barrel.
“It’s convenient to get out of the water and leave the carriers with ADF using the bullpup scheme,” says Popenker. “The main thing is that there is no need to tinker with a folding butt, as on the MTA.”
The work on the new underwater automat that lasted two years was completed in 2007. The ADF was immediately created as a rifle-and-grenade launcher complex with an installed grenade launcher GP-25. Considering the high aggressiveness of the salty sea water and the desire not to increase the weight of the two-medium automaton, the designers minimized the use of a specially treated corrosion-resistant metal, replacing it with plastic. Such a decision not only protected the machine, but also made it easy enough for action both on land and under water. Subjected to refinement and gas outlet, received two modes of operation - "water / land." The shooter selects the mode depending on the environment in which it operates.
The main problem of small arms, developed according to the “bullpup” scheme, is its use by left-handers (the case flies right into the person who shoots). We have to refine the "trunk" to throw the sleeve in a safe direction for left-handed people. In the ADF, the spent cartridges are reflected forward when the automation box is closed, which reduces gas pollution in the face of the shooter, eliminates the possibility of injury by the cartridge when working as a group, and also (unlike side reflection) ensures that the weapon is adapted for left-handed and right-handed people without a bulkhead of the machine.
In the course of the work, a new two-medium machine gun was equipped with fastenings for optical, collimator and holographic sights, tactical flashlights, laser sightings, as well as CBs (silent firing devices), i.e. silencers.
The development of the machine to customer requirements dragged on for almost six years. The uniqueness of the work itself and the tasks assigned to the designers affected it. The Tula Instrument Design Bureau and the High Precision Complexes holding company passed this test with flying colors and at the end of 2012 - the beginning of 2013, the new two-medium special machine went into trial operation for both special purpose and anti-sabotage operations of the Naval fleet.
According to Dmitry Konoplev, managing director of Instrument Design Bureau, OJSC, and Alexander Denisov, General Director of High-Precision Complexes, OAO, ADF earned only positive personnel reviews during military operations. 13 of August of last year, by a decree of the government of the Russian Federation, a two-medium special automatic was adopted by the Russian army.
The first open presentation of ADF took place during the Sea Salon, held last year in St. Petersburg. Then dvuhsredny automatic caused a keen interest among specialists and foreign military. The uniqueness of both the ADS machine itself and the technical solutions applied in it is obvious. The Russian Navy received a shooting complex with a special high performance underwater cartridge.
Challenges and export potential
“In 1950 – 1960, the USSR Navy began to create its own special formations for sabotage against ships and targets of a potential enemy. Such formations in domestic military terminology are called maritime intelligence points (MRI). According to their status and the number of personnel, the MRP can be equated to a special-purpose squad. Now there are five such groups in the Russian Navy, ”says the military historian, author of stories Navy of the USSR / Russia Dmitry Boltenkov.
According to him, after the catastrophe with the battleship Novorossiysk, the command of the Soviet Navy to protect its ships, nuclear submarines and infrastructure created special units to combat underwater sabotage forces and means. Such a detachment in status and number of personnel can be equated with a company. Now in the Russian Navy 12 detachments PDSS. Formations like them are also in the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
“Today there is an active re-equipment of the special purpose naval units and PDSS,” emphasizes Boltenkov. - New anti-sabotage boats “Rooks”, watercrafts for delivery, evacuation and fire support of saboteurs on the coast are being purchased. There are new scuba gears, hydro and diving suits, communications equipment, night vision devices, etc. ”
As world experience in the use of reconnaissance and sabotage units and subunits, such as the American SEAL (widely known “seals”), the British SBS (special boat service), the French maritime commandos of the Hubert team, shows that their use is multifunctional. Combat swimmers have ceased to be only an "anti-ship weapon", like the legendary Italian saboteurs of the "black prince" Valerio Borghese during the Second World War. Now the units of the marine special forces not only carry out sabotage under water in enemy ports, protect their waters from enemy saboteurs, but also act like ordinary reconnaissance saboteurs. If you look at the map of Afghanistan, you will not find either ports or large bodies of water, but the ISAF has on a permanent basis at least 200 – 300 American “seals” and their British counterparts from the Special Marine Service of the Royal Marine Corps.
Restless and on the seas. In recent years, piracy in the waters of Somalia and certain areas of the South China Sea has become an international problem. Combat swimmers were brought several times to release captured ships and their crews. An example is the seizure of the American container ship "Maersk Alabama" in April 2009, when captain Richard Phillips was released as a result of the operation of American "seals" from DEVGRU. True, the release did without an assault, and the pirates were destroyed by sniper fire. Participant in the operation to free Captain Phillips, Mark Owen, in his memoirs “Not an Easy Day” (No Easy Day), claims that the DEVGRU command considered one of the options for a night storming of a rescue boat scuba divers, where they held the hostage. Another US military general, Karl Steener, who commanded the United States Special Operations Command (JSOC) in 80 – 90-s, described in his memoirs “Shadow Warriors” preparations for the release of the Akila Laura passenger liner "In October 1985, claims that two attack options were considered - assault from helicopters and the invisible penetration of combat swimmers into the ship.
So there are enough tasks on the sea for ADF. But the newest two-medium machine will find its application on land.
“My office is familiar with ADF. Shot from it, assorted. Weapons difficult for professionals. Not for ordinary conscripts. But on land, a two-medium automatic will be very useful, ”the intelligence officer of the military district headquarters admits. According to him, several dozen automata are needed for special purpose brigades subordinate to the command of the district. “There are enough rivers, lakes and other bodies of water on the Bolshoi Land,” said our interlocutor. - It is often more effective to lead a group to the object of attack or intelligence, not by parachute or helicopter, but on the water surface. Not without reason, diving training has now returned to the brigades. The Americans in Iraq deployed whole flotilla of river forces, which not only patrolled rivers and lakes, but also carried out sudden raids.
As part of each “saber” squadron of the legendary SAS regiment (special aviation service) of the armed forces of Great Britain, considered one of the most professional special forces units in the world, there is a platoon of watercraft operating on rivers and lakes, as well as coastal waters on boats, canoes and scuba gear. There are the same units in the 13th Dragoon Regiment of the French Army, also engaged in deep reconnaissance, and the American Green Berets undergo combat divers courses for operation in closed reservoirs and rivers.
ADF will also be useful for servicemen of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia guarding important state facilities.
“We are practically the same subdivision of the counter-sabotage struggle as the navy. We only work for the most part in reservoirs and artificial reservoirs. When patrolling, it sometimes becomes necessary to get out of the water in order to check technical facilities and structures, ”explains a former officer-diver of the internal troops.
According to the interlocutor of the publication, his former colleagues not only fight against unauthorized access to the protected territory, but if necessary are ready to fight back terrorists and prepared saboteurs of a potential enemy.
“Modern terrorists are armed and equipped no worse than elite special forces. Can get advanced scuba gear and even underwater weapons. With ADF, military personnel will not be at risk of being killed when they inspect all kinds of plums, valves, etc. on land, ”the officer of the internal troops notes.
We can safely say that ADF will be in demand on the international arms market. The two-medium special machine gun will find its buyer, taking a worthy place in the list of weapons of the elite special forces of the world. Moreover, in the modern market of armaments so far he has no competitors, and all special underwater armaments are very expensive. Not every state can afford to equip a fighter with a conventional and underwater submachine gun.
Undoubtedly, the product line of the High-Precision Complexes holding company has been replenished with a unique product demanded by the domestic military and possessing a large export potential. It remains to wish the management and employees of OAO NPO High-Precision Complexes not to stop on their achievements in their jubilee and continue to produce competitive products.
The Russian holding company OAO NPO Vysokotochny Komplektsy successfully produces not only high-tech weapon systems, but also a unique rifle weapon. At 8-th International Exhibition of Land and Naval Weapons, which will be held as part of Defexpo India 2014 from 6 to 9 this February in New Delhi, the holding presents a unique two-medium-sized automaton ADS capable of hitting targets both under water and on land .
In February of this year, one of the leading production associations of the Russian military-industrial complex - the holding company NPO High-Precision Complexes - marks its fifth anniversary. Over the years, VK products have earned high marks both among the Russian military and law enforcement agencies, as well as abroad. The Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile cannon system protects not only the S-300 and S-400 air defense systems of the Russian Armed Forces, but also strategically important targets in almost ten countries of the world. Anti-tank guided complexes "Cornet" became the stars of arms exhibitions around the world. Hezbollah operators during the second Lebanon war successfully hit them considered one of the most protected Israeli Tanks Merkava.
Last year, another NPO NPK Vysokietochny Komplektsy OJSC JSC NPK Engineering Design Bureau, the operational-tactical Iskander missile system, caused a political crisis in Europe after the German media declared that the Armed Forces of Russia placed several launchers of these OTRK in Kaliningrad.
Held every two years under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense of India and the Confederation of Indian Industry, Defexpo India is one of the most significant foreign exhibition sites of the military-industrial sector. Subjects - weapons and military equipment for the ground forces and naval forces, communication systems, electronic warfare, air defense, etc. Dual-use products are also presented. The exhibition will bring together leading military manufacturers from Russia, the USA, France, and the UK - only around 32 countries.
For Russian enterprises of the military-industrial complex Defexpo India is one of the priorities. Russian-Indian cooperation in the military-technical field lasts for more than four decades and forms the basis of a strategic partnership between Russia and India. This year, representatives of almost 40 Russian defense enterprises will arrive in New Delhi. Thus, there is nothing surprising in the fact that it is this representative international exhibition of armaments that has become a platform for the presentation of the unique two-medium-sized automatic ATC.
The reasons for the lack of world analogues
ADF, that is, a two-medium special automaton, is the only one in the world capable of striking targets both under water and on land.
“In the West, a fighter uses special weapons such as the German submarine pistol P-11 from Heckler und Koch under water, and on land - the usual full-time small arms,” says Maxim Popenker, editor-in-chief of the World Guns Internet project.
Ordinary submachine guns and underwater pistols are ineffective, since the bullet will pass only two or three meters, and the ammunition of the special weapons such as 5,66-mm MPS cartridge from the APS underwater submachine gun or the SPP-1 pistol in the air is unstable - it will be very difficult to hit the target. But a fighter acting underwater with an aqualung, or a diver, when every gram of equipment counts, it is inconvenient to haul two machine guns at once - special and ordinary, and even ammunition to them.“APS is a regular weapon of my unit,” the former officer of the intelligence department of the USSR / Russian Navy, now a diving instructor, said on condition of anonymity. - It is very convenient under water. Good accuracy, accuracy and firing range. But it is only under water. On land there is no benefit from it. ” According to our anonymous interlocutor, his former subordinates went to the depth either with an APS machine gun or with an SPP-1 pistol, and in a special sealed bag lay a regular small arms.
“If a fighter has a machine gun or a sniper rifle,” explains the former intelligence officer, “then the second weapon was given an SPP-1 pistol, and ordinary submachine gunners — the APS. During the exercises, we landed on the territory of the conditional enemy, dug in wetsuits, scuba diving, etc. We also did with underwater weapons. In theory, we had to carry it with us, because these are very expensive “toys”. Who needs extra weight? Fortunately, these are teachings and then we dug out the MTA and SPP. But in a real war, we would do that, too. The situation when you climb to storm the ship or the ship of the "enemy" is even worse - the APS dangles, interferes. Where to go? Do not throw out the same ... "
Our interlocutor also noted that at the end of the 80-s, the Main Intelligence Directorate, whose subordination consisted of naval special forces, had formulated a requirement for small arms developers to create an armament complex that could be used both on land and under water with minimal replacement. “It was believed,” he says, “that we need a two-medium pistol and an automatic rifle. Pistols would act as a second weapon for snipers and machine gunners. But later, the two-medium gun was abandoned. On land, we used only special pistols with a silencer, and then rarely. And the underwater SPP-1 is frankly weak compared to the MPS. We did not like him. All the same, the anti-sabotage subunits of the probable enemy did not have analogues of the APS. And now no. Even if not the whole unit is armed with two-medium weapons, we could always fight back. ”
After the collapse of the USSR, only the end of the 90s - the beginning of the 2000s - was able to return to the creation of two-medium weapons, when the Instrument Engineering Design Bureau and the Central Design Research Bureau of sporting and hunting weapons in 2003 started to work on the two-medium special machine .
The developers came to the conclusion that a two-medium product can be achieved by simply replacing the cartridges, when on land the machine guns with ordinary cartridges and under water with special ones. The arrow needs only to quickly change the magazine with one type of ammo to another. Moreover, the experience of using the APS underwater submachine gun in anti-sabotage units and special-purpose units of the USSR / Russian Navy showed that there are no large-scale battles under water and a swimmer can easily manage with one special ammunition store.
On the approaches to the creation
The designers of the Tula Instrument Engineering Design Bureau, having begun to design a two-medium-sized machine gun, understood right away that it was necessary to refuse 5,66-mm underwater cartridges.
According to Maxim Popenker, in the 2005 year, this design bureau developed a special underwater cartridge in the dimensions of a conventional millimeter cartridge 5,45x39 and using its same sleeve. The new cartridge has a carbide bullet weighing 16 grams with an initial speed of about 330 meters per second. According to the expert, it can be attributed to the category of armor-piercing.
“In the water, the stabilization of the bullet and the decrease in resistance are due to the cavitation cavity created by the flat pad in the nose when moving. The effective firing range of the SRP chuck under water is approximately 25 meters at a depth of five meters and up to 18 meters at a depth of 20 meters. When firing under water, the PSP cartridge exceeds the 5,66-mm MPS and MPST cartridges from the automatic fire alarm system in combat effectiveness. Due to their size, 5.45 PSP cartridges can be used from standard magazines from AK-74 machines, ”says Popenker.It was decided to create an automatic grenade launcher complex A-91М, which had received positive feedback from the special forces, on the basis of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Interior Forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs proposed for armament. The reason for this choice is simple: A-91M is designed according to the bullpup scheme, when the trigger is brought forward and is located in front of the magazine and the percussion mechanism.
“The underwater APS, even despite the folding butt, was not always convenient for the swimmer when leaving the carrier or moving weapons under water,” the editor-in-chief of the Internet project World Guns said. According to him, the bullpup scheme was chosen for reasons of compactness and minimizing the size of the machine. The dimensions of the ADS turned out to be rather small compared to the APS, but the machine gun has good ballistics due to the sufficient length of the barrel.
“It’s convenient to get out of the water and leave the carriers with ADF using the bullpup scheme,” says Popenker. “The main thing is that there is no need to tinker with a folding butt, as on the MTA.”
The work on the new underwater automat that lasted two years was completed in 2007. The ADF was immediately created as a rifle-and-grenade launcher complex with an installed grenade launcher GP-25. Considering the high aggressiveness of the salty sea water and the desire not to increase the weight of the two-medium automaton, the designers minimized the use of a specially treated corrosion-resistant metal, replacing it with plastic. Such a decision not only protected the machine, but also made it easy enough for action both on land and under water. Subjected to refinement and gas outlet, received two modes of operation - "water / land." The shooter selects the mode depending on the environment in which it operates.
The main problem of small arms, developed according to the “bullpup” scheme, is its use by left-handers (the case flies right into the person who shoots). We have to refine the "trunk" to throw the sleeve in a safe direction for left-handed people. In the ADF, the spent cartridges are reflected forward when the automation box is closed, which reduces gas pollution in the face of the shooter, eliminates the possibility of injury by the cartridge when working as a group, and also (unlike side reflection) ensures that the weapon is adapted for left-handed and right-handed people without a bulkhead of the machine.
In the course of the work, a new two-medium machine gun was equipped with fastenings for optical, collimator and holographic sights, tactical flashlights, laser sightings, as well as CBs (silent firing devices), i.e. silencers.
The development of the machine to customer requirements dragged on for almost six years. The uniqueness of the work itself and the tasks assigned to the designers affected it. The Tula Instrument Design Bureau and the High Precision Complexes holding company passed this test with flying colors and at the end of 2012 - the beginning of 2013, the new two-medium special machine went into trial operation for both special purpose and anti-sabotage operations of the Naval fleet.
According to Dmitry Konoplev, managing director of Instrument Design Bureau, OJSC, and Alexander Denisov, General Director of High-Precision Complexes, OAO, ADF earned only positive personnel reviews during military operations. 13 of August of last year, by a decree of the government of the Russian Federation, a two-medium special automatic was adopted by the Russian army.
The first open presentation of ADF took place during the Sea Salon, held last year in St. Petersburg. Then dvuhsredny automatic caused a keen interest among specialists and foreign military. The uniqueness of both the ADS machine itself and the technical solutions applied in it is obvious. The Russian Navy received a shooting complex with a special high performance underwater cartridge.
Challenges and export potential
“In 1950 – 1960, the USSR Navy began to create its own special formations for sabotage against ships and targets of a potential enemy. Such formations in domestic military terminology are called maritime intelligence points (MRI). According to their status and the number of personnel, the MRP can be equated to a special-purpose squad. Now there are five such groups in the Russian Navy, ”says the military historian, author of stories Navy of the USSR / Russia Dmitry Boltenkov.
According to him, after the catastrophe with the battleship Novorossiysk, the command of the Soviet Navy to protect its ships, nuclear submarines and infrastructure created special units to combat underwater sabotage forces and means. Such a detachment in status and number of personnel can be equated with a company. Now in the Russian Navy 12 detachments PDSS. Formations like them are also in the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
“Today there is an active re-equipment of the special purpose naval units and PDSS,” emphasizes Boltenkov. - New anti-sabotage boats “Rooks”, watercrafts for delivery, evacuation and fire support of saboteurs on the coast are being purchased. There are new scuba gears, hydro and diving suits, communications equipment, night vision devices, etc. ”
As world experience in the use of reconnaissance and sabotage units and subunits, such as the American SEAL (widely known “seals”), the British SBS (special boat service), the French maritime commandos of the Hubert team, shows that their use is multifunctional. Combat swimmers have ceased to be only an "anti-ship weapon", like the legendary Italian saboteurs of the "black prince" Valerio Borghese during the Second World War. Now the units of the marine special forces not only carry out sabotage under water in enemy ports, protect their waters from enemy saboteurs, but also act like ordinary reconnaissance saboteurs. If you look at the map of Afghanistan, you will not find either ports or large bodies of water, but the ISAF has on a permanent basis at least 200 – 300 American “seals” and their British counterparts from the Special Marine Service of the Royal Marine Corps.
Restless and on the seas. In recent years, piracy in the waters of Somalia and certain areas of the South China Sea has become an international problem. Combat swimmers were brought several times to release captured ships and their crews. An example is the seizure of the American container ship "Maersk Alabama" in April 2009, when captain Richard Phillips was released as a result of the operation of American "seals" from DEVGRU. True, the release did without an assault, and the pirates were destroyed by sniper fire. Participant in the operation to free Captain Phillips, Mark Owen, in his memoirs “Not an Easy Day” (No Easy Day), claims that the DEVGRU command considered one of the options for a night storming of a rescue boat scuba divers, where they held the hostage. Another US military general, Karl Steener, who commanded the United States Special Operations Command (JSOC) in 80 – 90-s, described in his memoirs “Shadow Warriors” preparations for the release of the Akila Laura passenger liner "In October 1985, claims that two attack options were considered - assault from helicopters and the invisible penetration of combat swimmers into the ship.
So there are enough tasks on the sea for ADF. But the newest two-medium machine will find its application on land.
“My office is familiar with ADF. Shot from it, assorted. Weapons difficult for professionals. Not for ordinary conscripts. But on land, a two-medium automatic will be very useful, ”the intelligence officer of the military district headquarters admits. According to him, several dozen automata are needed for special purpose brigades subordinate to the command of the district. “There are enough rivers, lakes and other bodies of water on the Bolshoi Land,” said our interlocutor. - It is often more effective to lead a group to the object of attack or intelligence, not by parachute or helicopter, but on the water surface. Not without reason, diving training has now returned to the brigades. The Americans in Iraq deployed whole flotilla of river forces, which not only patrolled rivers and lakes, but also carried out sudden raids.
As part of each “saber” squadron of the legendary SAS regiment (special aviation service) of the armed forces of Great Britain, considered one of the most professional special forces units in the world, there is a platoon of watercraft operating on rivers and lakes, as well as coastal waters on boats, canoes and scuba gear. There are the same units in the 13th Dragoon Regiment of the French Army, also engaged in deep reconnaissance, and the American Green Berets undergo combat divers courses for operation in closed reservoirs and rivers.
ADF will also be useful for servicemen of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia guarding important state facilities.
“We are practically the same subdivision of the counter-sabotage struggle as the navy. We only work for the most part in reservoirs and artificial reservoirs. When patrolling, it sometimes becomes necessary to get out of the water in order to check technical facilities and structures, ”explains a former officer-diver of the internal troops.
According to the interlocutor of the publication, his former colleagues not only fight against unauthorized access to the protected territory, but if necessary are ready to fight back terrorists and prepared saboteurs of a potential enemy.
“Modern terrorists are armed and equipped no worse than elite special forces. Can get advanced scuba gear and even underwater weapons. With ADF, military personnel will not be at risk of being killed when they inspect all kinds of plums, valves, etc. on land, ”the officer of the internal troops notes.
We can safely say that ADF will be in demand on the international arms market. The two-medium special machine gun will find its buyer, taking a worthy place in the list of weapons of the elite special forces of the world. Moreover, in the modern market of armaments so far he has no competitors, and all special underwater armaments are very expensive. Not every state can afford to equip a fighter with a conventional and underwater submachine gun.
Undoubtedly, the product line of the High-Precision Complexes holding company has been replenished with a unique product demanded by the domestic military and possessing a large export potential. It remains to wish the management and employees of OAO NPO High-Precision Complexes not to stop on their achievements in their jubilee and continue to produce competitive products.
Information