Polar insufficiency

37
Honorary polar explorer, Honored Master of Sports, he reached the North Pole four times autonomously, without any support from outside, and autonomously crossed the Arctic Ocean from Russia to the shores of Canada, full member of the Russian Geographical Society, organizer and leader of more than thirty expeditions in high latitudes. The problems faced by our army in the process of developing the northern territories of the country are discussed by Vladimir Chukov, head of the Arktika expedition center, with the Military Industrial Courier.

- Vladimir Semenovich, since what year did you start your Arctic travels?

- The Arctic began for me from 1979, not a single season has been missed from 1982. And before I retired, before 1992, I spent all the polar expeditions of the holiday in the rank of an active officer.

- How much was the Defense Ministry interested in your Arctic experience?

- Invited, some reports did. But I did not see a direct interest in the practical implementation of the Arctic experience of our group. I reported in the relevant structures, because I worked at CIVTI - the Institute of Military-Technical Information of the Ministry of Defense. The main focus of our activity was the study of the military potential of foreign countries. Having a huge information base at our disposal - we could order documents even from the Library of Congress, I optionally collected data on how the defense policy of the USA, Canada and other countries is being built in the regions of the Far North. I understood that sooner or later it will be in demand, and it was just interesting. And already then I realized: how everything is arranged there, we can only envy. First of all, the system of training specialists for work in high latitudes - without a difference, it is the Arctic or Antarctica. And the main burden of work lay on the power structures - the army, the National Guard, and the coast guard. Scientists went about their business, but the military ensured their activities. Our “probable partners” annually released a detailed guide that summarized the new experience gained in the next season.

I somehow got the idea, and since, while still a colonel, I had two autonomous campaigns to the North Pole, I made a detailed report on each expedition with a generalization of experience, with some recommendations. And when they found out in such offices that such reports existed, they asked me for copies. How they were used was not reported to me, but when, after a while, instructions on survival in the Arctic began to appear, it was obvious that they took it as a basis ...

- What, in your opinion, should look like a military presence in the Arctic?

- The number there just will not solve the question. The main thing - the highest training and qualifications of small units. Like alpine arrows. Trained people and light weapons - this model is absolutely suitable for the Arctic. Surely we need large bases - cities, towns, they are. But there at any time you will not deliver people to the right place, even a hundred kilometers away, weather conditions will not allow. Accordingly, at key points, bases of the type of outposts or winter houses are required, where the units will be on duty. How it will be organized is not the point; the main thing is that all personnel must have special training. There are many subtleties. First, service in the North cannot be a service; a person should want to serve here - with such motivation he will learn differently, and all the experience of his predecessors will try on. Secondly, the personality factor is great. I am sure that the backbone of the Armed Forces in the Arctic should consist of small mobile teams in which the commander not only knows the subordinates by name and is aware of all their problems, but is able to control everyone. And this is ten people, hardly more. Then a certain psychological comfort is ensured - everyone can rely on each other, and without this there’s no effectiveness in the local conditions. This is an expeditionary experience, but I suppose it is quite applicable for army groups.

And in general, people far from the North consider survival at low temperatures as the main problem. Nonsense is, having the skills and knowledge, you can survive in all conditions. I would put another thing at the forefront - the military must have high professional training and understand why they are there, must realize their role and accept its necessity.

- It seems to me that it is difficult to motivate a soldier: he serves on some god-forgotten island, where one nerpa sails once every three years, pulling the strap of military training. And he understands that the probability of meeting the enemy among these ices is minimal ...

- Two-thirds of the territory of Russia is the Far North and the Far East. Nowhere else in the world are there such spaces of pristine nature. What is not a thing for pride? And why is there no reason to be there? Any island can be considered tmutarakan, and you can see in it one of the stages of the great path by which our ancestors mastered the North. And be where they were made historical discoveries, to be worthy of those who made them - a powerful motive. The Arctic is contraindicated for people who are not able to realize its greatness. I would never send people there by force, there will be no sense.

- Suppose a pipe called: “Colonel Chukov, you are instructed to provide military cover for the territories of the Far North. You get every imaginable power, but do everything according to your mind. Follow! ”. Your actions, Vladimir Semenovich?

“I'm not a red commander, but a techie.” But if you make decisions, you would start by acknowledging that there are no large schools of military specialists for the North. There are some attempts, but not the system. This is not just training a fighter who must run fast and shoot well. We are talking about the preparation of an appropriate psychological platform in humans. He should not be afraid of the natural environment in which he will live. And so that he could feel confident there, he needed to accumulate necessary experience bit by bit. Sitting at the desks, you will not get it. 90 percent training should take place in real conditions - we light a match in the wind like that, and go to the toilet, sorry, we walk like that. No trifles. And if you theoretically shoe it and immediately throw it into those conditions, the result will be deplorable. When I was a colonel, attempts were made. The same border guards: we sit here, we serve here, we all know here. Five people are sent to the route - four frostbitten, one died. Nobody knows anything and teachers, consider, no. Our polar explorers are accustomed to live permanently. Even on a drifting ice floe there is a warm CAPSH tent, there are food, fuel and communication. If something happens - the Ministry of Emergency Situations will arrive and save, in the extreme, an icebreaker will be sent. But neither the military nor the EMHE men can count on it - they have to save it, not theirs. And for this you need to be able to do everything better in the North. In Canada, the Arctic coast guard rangers are a separate caste, they are trained for life. Moreover, they themselves, having served both in 30 and 40 years, continue to learn. They understand that the solution of any new task gives additional experience, and in those conditions it is an invaluable thing.

Therefore, study, practice, advanced training should be the rule for both beginners and for those who consider themselves to be polar aces. But it is necessary to organize. Serious funding is now being allocated for our military presence in the Arctic. And I am sure that some serious work is being done on the training programs. But there is no uniform policy. A year ago, I was invited by the old memory to the Ministry of Defense, and I was in a stupor. We talked with one responsible person, showed his work, I, respectively, "Vladimir Semyonovich, thank you, everything is great!". But during the conversation I took the line - they say that you, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, other departments, so you need to do some kind of a single training system, this is a state problem. No, they tell me, we just do it ourselves. This disunity does not allow to gather in a fist all the intellectual forces for solving a major problem. That departments, even in the neighboring offices of one ministry, generals and colonels secretly create their own projects from each other. And I do not understand who they work for. Instead of accumulating those very particles of experience in a single center, everywhere they do it in their own way. Each in itself creates and tests some kind of equipment or equipment, develops clothes, conducts exercises ... But among those who are in charge of the Arctic programs, there are no real experts - they get some sort of nonsense like electrically heated shoes, but they are conducted, they think it is normal.

- That is, all the same, it was the turn to create the appropriate equipment ...

- What the Arctic divisions are now trying to equip has practically nothing to do with what they really need. Under the current competitive system, it is pointless to expect normal results - some offer for a hundred rubles, others for five. We take for five, we have budget savings.

- If you go back to the same Canadian chasseurs - what exactly are they preparing for?

- Everything is simple - they are prepared to fulfill the received order. These are people who, under extreme conditions, are able to provide any kind of activity - whether a rescue expedition, the work of geologists, the control of boundaries ... They will do what they say. But they are also provided for solving practically any task - they have the most modern and efficient equipment, excellent equipment, equipment, weapons, and communications equipment. All of this, they have excellent ownership. And it is clear that if something they can not, then no one will do it.

Polar insufficiency


And we have? I even feel uncomfortable in front of the paratroopers, a hundred people jumped to the pole - an achievement! Where jumped to explored the site? To the crowd of greeters? Here we are in 1992 as jumped to the pole - were you with us? At an unprepared site, with a strong wind, with all the junk landed, set up tents and were ready to act. As a matter of fact, from personal interest, they proved that skiers can be landed anywhere in the Arctic - we then not only raised the Russian tricolor over the pole for the first time, but also passed the route. And no one said: "The weather is so-and-so, I allow jumping."

In 1995, we conducted joint exercises with the special forces of the Russian Emergencies Ministry in the North Pole area. He took part in the exercises and the Deputy Minister, Hero of Russia Valery Vostrotin. Also parachute landing, multi-day skiing with full display. And the paratroopers waited, when there was calm and grace, they flew in, jumped - what did they learn, what skills did they master? But in the graph of achievements is conducting exercises at the North Pole. And they should be able to jump there and then even when it will not be possible for athletes. In calm you will not learn anything.

And the Americans have long been working on the landing system, including without a parachute, in deep snow. I don’t say that we need to compete with them, but the fighters are preparing not for parades, but for real extreme situations. And those who will command in the Arctic should not be theorists, they must feel the extreme extreme there, understand the boundaries of the possible ... Accordingly, programs are needed in military schools and academies, and not an abstract course, namely a great practice, with the acquisition of skills and experience, which is acquired only in high latitudes.

- Maybe in the Ministry of Defense to create the Academy of the Arctic? On Wrangel Island or on Severnaya Zemlya. Given the tasks facing the army, she will be left without work ...

- Yes, at least a special department created - would have been a giant progress. I listened to a theoretical course and be kind - for an internship in the Arctic, snot freeze. So that the commanders understand what it is. And when it comes time to order equipment at the next competition, at least they will know the specifics in which they will have to work. And think about those who manage this technique.

But the understanding that specialists in the North need to be trained there comes, already in several of our expeditions, representatives of the Vytegra Emergency Situations Training Center are participating. They are my eldest grandson of the same age, 25 years - but they have never been to the Arctic before meeting us. At the same time they are teachers! And immediately after school, the cadets finish some sudden courses, get the “crusts” of the Arctic rescuer, and even the right to teach others. But if a person with a certificate “Arctic rescuer” never saw the Arctic, did not sleep in a tent in the snow, which one is an Arctic rescuer ...

- Maybe we should talk about the supra-departmental structure that would deal with security in the Arctic?

- We are returning to what already existed and successfully destroyed. The Glavsevmorput Directorate, headed by Papanin, was a gigantic structure that was responsible for virtually everything from Murmansk to Anadyr. The system worked. And all the cities that are along the coast, appeared just then. Now they are talking about the creation of the Ministry of the Arctic, but if everything is done the way it has been in recent years, zero sense - again, those who come to the pole once a year to take a photo will answer for the Arctic.

We have lost the system of training specialists, this is important. Same polar aviation - where do they prepare pilots for her? When we needed to deliver all-terrain vehicles to the Northern Earth from Vorkuta several years ago, we stayed for three weeks in perfect weather. There is Vorkuta, there is an airfield on Sredny Island (Severnaya Zemlya), there are spare areas - and until the weather is at all points, the existing instructions do not allow to take off. But this is the North, here the weather can change five times in an hour. Read the memories of the polar pilots - they were not scumbags with suicidal tendencies. They knew the local conditions well, their experience in the Arctic was generalized, young people were taught by those who had flown over hummocks for more than a dozen years ... They were professionals. The pilot could take responsibility and take off even in a small clearance, when the weather calms down a bit, then courage is not needed, but experience, a sober risk assessment. You can’t prepare such pilots with any orders in a year or two.

- Already twenty years, as your group from skis moved to all-terrain vehicles of their own design. What kind of cars are these and why have you not taken something commercially made for your expeditions?

- These are wheeled cars on tires of ultralow pressure. When enthusiasts just came up with them at the dawn of the 70, they called the snow and swamp vehicles, there is no other name. We started with the route on Antarctica in 1999, reached the South Pole and returned in record time. Since then, cars have continuously improved. For their manufacturing, we need a workshop with the simplest machines, mass-produced components and an intelligent designer who can create a truly unique machine. In the north, after watching us, many want to acquire something similar - the demand is great. A lot of our all-terrain vehicles have already been registered in the tundra forever, they work long and successfully to the joy of the owners.

With regard to serial technology, the real universal vehicle for the Far North has not been created, which is to blame for the same system of tenders and tenders.

To create the right technique, there must be someone who is able to make a competent technical assignment - problems arise already at this stage. Development, testing, implementation in series, capacity building ... You can do otherwise. Let you out let's say Tanks or snowmobiles. And with the help of certain levers you prove to those on whom the final choice depends that your tank or snowmobile is exactly what polar explorers dream of. And since amateurs, and often selfish amateurs, decide now, it is not worth expecting that the best equipment will go to the North. No her. The maximum is a kind of cosmetic refinement under the terms of the tender, which does not solve the problem. We are not industry with our all-terrain vehicles - enthusiasts, for example. But we hope that our experience will be necessary. And we look forward to conducting joint comparative tests, the results of which could finally make sure the validity of our proposals. But serial or small-scale production requires initial funding and, of course, without this we are not able to take part in ongoing competitions.

- Technique is important, but where, in my opinion, equipment of personnel is more important ...

- Progress compared with Soviet times, when the main subject of the field of the Arctic form was toe-toe, enormous. But the fact that now gradually begins to penetrate the army - multi-layered sets of modern fabrics, was originally developed for tourists and travelers. For soldiers' equipment requirements must be stricter. A fighter should not just overcome a route, survive, not freeze and not get sick, but also complete the task. He may fall through the ice, find himself in a situation where he will have to spend several days without a tent, be in an ambush, crawl around, and there will be no place to dress and dry out. There is progress, it pleases. But supplies for the army are a tasty morsel, and manufacturers willingly hang noodles to customers. Advertising is contrary to the laws of physics? So what? If the moisture from the body evaporates, then somewhere in the cold in minus 40 it should condense and freeze. Travel clothing is not an option. A specialist will understand this, an amateur buys for promises.

We found a solution based on the Chukchi Malitsa: this is such a spacious outerwear made of reindeer fur, with a crown inside. Everything that evaporates, condenses on the fur and falls down. We sewed similar garments from modern fabrics, in which all the layers on the sleeves are not sewn down to the bottom, that is, the ice can also quietly get enough sleep from under clothes. But when we asked the production workers - and these were serious pros in the manufacture of extreme ammunition - not to hem the sleeves and hem, they said that they could not produce a “semi-finished product”, they say, it looked ugly.

So to say that in military equipment for high latitudes everything is already invented, early. It is necessary to work, to invent, and most importantly, to spare no time, effort and money for testing.

- What is your opinion about modern modular houses that the Defense Ministry began to build in the North - Cape Schmidt, Wrangel Island?

- A house in the North lives only when there is a master. We went to the polar stations, built in 30-s. If all these seventy-eighty years worked, if they were followed, they still serve excellently. Probably, with proper care, new homes will serve, but there is one feature of modern life. For example, together with the Germans, we created a station on Samoilov Island. There is even a huge water purification system, which, in my opinion, is absolutely unnecessary, is located in a heated unit. Warm, light, cozy ... I ask: how much fuel does this whole civilization require? Answer that at least tons per day. It turns out that if the slightest failure occurs in the supply, the entire current high-tech will be powerless against nature.

- If we sum up our conversation, do we need to create some kind of responsibility for the entire Arctic department?

- This talk on the sidelines has been going on for many years, but it seems to me that a collegial body could be created with serious powers. There should be military and rescue workers, production workers and scientists ... It can be done so that all departments that solve their tasks in the Far North will be able to act together more productively at times.
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  1. +7
    2 July 2016 22: 16
    It’s very difficult and difficult to serve in the Arctic,
    but she is ours and we are obliged to protect her.
    1. The comment was deleted.
      1. 0
        3 July 2016 01: 09
        Quote: siberalt
        As for the Arctic, it will be hard for black soldiers there

        Nothing! In Blagoveshchensk they survive and even take part in cross-country skiing. The truth is they are foreign cadets studying in the FENU. They are not yet in the Arctic branch, only in the foreign one.
        1. +1
          3 July 2016 04: 58
          It will be necessary, and they will be sent there laughing
        2. +1
          3 July 2016 16: 49
          Quote: Amurets
          Nothing! In Blagoveshchensk they survive and even take part in ski crosses.

          Well, in Blagoveshchensk, approximately on the latitude of Kiev, you can live, but we are talking about the Arctic, i.e. that is higher than the 60-th parallel. In April 2002 I had a chance to visit Sredny Island, which the author mentions, there was a weather station ( 5 people, one shot himself why they flew) and a frontier post. Here where there is tin - 30 with the wind, a plane once a month, polar bears walk in the strip, communication only by walkie-talkie. And you are Blagoveshchensk ..., yes frosts, taiga, snow, but not the Arctic. Where hundreds of kilometers apart from a bear and a seal, not a single human face for months, the constant presence of all together in one room schenii, polar night 4-5 mesyatsev.Ya himself in the Arctic live in Taimyr, I know whereof I speak.
          1. 0
            4 July 2016 01: 50
            Quote: Captain45
            And you are Blagoveshchensk ... yes, frost, taiga, snow, but not the Arctic. Where for hundreds of kilometers besides a bear and a seal there are not a single human face for months, the constant presence of everything together in one room, the polar night 4-5 months. I myself am in I live in the Arctic in Taimyr, I know what I'm talking about.

            In some ways, I’m mistaken with you, in some ways, but not about that. The comment was on another comment, which was deleted and the suspension turned out.
    2. The comment was deleted.
    3. The comment was deleted.
    4. 0
      3 July 2016 01: 23
      Imagine fighting in one and a half meter snowdrifts at minus 50, or on an ice floe at the North Pole! belay
      1. 0
        3 July 2016 01: 46
        Well, military operations are of course unlikely to be especially ground, aviation yes, the shortest way all the way through the pole, but the fact that the personnel are ready and trained to have is never superfluous, it is better to stay over and be fully armed than inexperienced, and then lament. In addition, people who are experienced and trained in such conditions will always be useful in a peaceful life.
        1. +3
          3 July 2016 02: 57
          fiodor RU Today, 01:46 ↑ New
          Well, fighting is of course unlikely, especially land,


          The Germans set up their meteorological stations up to Taimyr in the 40s. Including because no one believed in it. And decades after the Victory they suddenly found: there - an airfield in the tundra, paved with steel slabs, and here - and a supply point for submarines .... All this was "unlikely". But it was!

          Chukchi need to cook. Right on the spot. And take on a contract.
          1. 0
            3 July 2016 03: 43
            Yes, it was, but everything was secretive, submarines delivered people and materials, then by air. Nevertheless, what prevented them from delivering under the same Taimyr or closer to Murmansk, for example, a regiment even to start military operations there? Yes, there probably wasn’t any sense and people prepared for such weather conditions, plus a constant supply is needed. Finches Germans were in the majority, which showed frosts near Moscow, and there was a supply. unlikely does not mean impossible, trained people should be on guard of the border even in such an inaccessible and harsh climatic zone, so as not to happen again as with the Germans.
            1. +5
              3 July 2016 05: 14
              Article plus, honor and respect for the author (sorry, I'm in Russian, without newfangled "respect"). It is immediately evident that the person is in the subject, knows what he is talking about, and is rooting for the cause. Oh, these tenders, what kind of tenders came up with them, they did not justify their purpose, the fight against corruption, but they still bring harm regularly. You have to buy not what works as needed, but what is cheaper and of little use.
              Quote: fiodor
              Nevertheless, what prevented them from delivering under the same Taimyr or closer to Murmansk, for example, a regiment even to start military operations there? Yes, there probably wasn’t any sense and people prepared for such weather conditions, plus a constant supply is needed. Finches Germans were in the majority,

              The German Arctic program was launched in 1912, and what results it achieved, of course, cannot be compared with the Russian one, in the development of the North, Russia was in the first place. There was a secret base on the Kola Peninsula. With fuel storage facilities and under-ground parking for submarines.
              ... In order to maintain absolute secrecy of work in the southern part of the bay, right on the road from Murmansk to Titovka, a Hitler checkpoint was established ...
              ... But it’s worth turning to the military builders who created special structures in the Nerpichy Bay in order to base our heavy submarine missile cruisers of the Typhoon type in the 1970s and 1980s, you can almost always hear (naturally, unofficially) about found rock structures unexplained origin and, moreover, destination. Including canned German machine tools and working mechanisms, as well as fuel storage facilities ...
              1 ... According to German sources, the location of the base was indicated by coordinates 69 degrees 25 minutes north latitude 32 degrees 26 minutes east longitude.

              ... 2. From December 1939 to April 1940, the senior naval commander in the base was Captain Zurzee Nischlag, who had previously commanded a certain rear unit of the Kriegsmarine in Istanbul and assigned to command Basis Nord during the preparation of the Norwegian operation. Probably, here he got the practice of rear support for the preparation of an amphibious operation, for example, to Yugoslavia. But when Hitler decided to start with Norway, Nischlag brought this experience to the Kola Peninsula. Http://coollib.com/b/179994/read
              The Fritz also had units of Arctic shooters, though not numerous, but well prepared. Finnish shooters could pose a serious threat, it’s good that they did not appear in our north.
          2. +2
            3 July 2016 13: 47
            Quote: Aljavad

            The Germans set up their meteorological stations up to Taimyr in the 40s. Including because no one believed in it. And decades after the Victory they suddenly found: there - an airfield in the tundra, paved with steel slabs, and here - and a supply point for submarines .... All this was "unlikely". But it was!

            We also found a wooden airfield in the Arkhangelsk region. This was in TM, it seems in the 90s. The search engines found the Pe-3 fighter of the 95th OMAG regiment, They began to look for how he died and found an airfield in the forest.
          3. +1
            3 July 2016 17: 14
            Quote: Aljavad
            Chukchi need to cook. Right on the spot. And take on a contract.

            Chukotka’s sea hypericum Vasily Tatatai and Stanislav Taen, members of the Volunteer People’s Squad of the FSB Frontier Administration for the ChAO, discovered and removed from the water two beacons of foreign origin. This was reported today by the press service of the Border Administration for the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
            Despite the adverse weather conditions, the hunters delivered and handed over to the border guards samples of beacons supposedly used by foreign countries to monitor the situation in the marine area of ​​the Chukchi Sea. For the initiative and active citizenship, the leadership of the Border Guard Administration sent a motion to encourage the seizure of fisheries.
            According to the military department, this is the third find of beacons by sea hunters in the Chukotka region. The first was discovered in early September on the coast in 30 km from the village of Neshkan. A second device for transmitting data via satellite was discovered near the village of Enurmino.
            This year, thanks to the vigilance of the Chukchi combatants of the Border Administration, more than 20 violations of border legislation were recorded. Achieving significant results in this direction is ensured through close cooperation of the Border Management with the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Chukotka and the Union of Sea Hypericum Chukotka.
            Source: Arctic-Info
      2. +2
        3 July 2016 02: 39

        In the 97th they broke everything! For a month from a division brigade, from a regiment a battalion! They did it! Shooting at the company 3 days a week, up to -30 inclusive. The end of the training period is a field exit with live firing. In Allakurti then, we made a storage base, and now the Arctic brigade !!!!
      3. +4
        3 July 2016 04: 00
        When the snow is one and a half meters, the leg falls without a ski just a foot, and with the winds in general, asphalt. And at minus 50 you can’t run the only thing, and that's usually all. laughing
  2. +8
    2 July 2016 22: 22
    And the Americans have long been working on a landing system, including without a parachute, in deep snow.

    We have the entire Arctic coastal Arctic, this is the permafrost spreading zone, which means the bare coastal tundra where there is no snow-retaining vegetation, which means a table-like surface, where there is relatively deep snow only in river valleys, but to land in these valleys (forgive my opinion, trampled down the northern tundra from the White Sea to the Yenisei) it’s utter stupidity to offer to wallow in the neck in a snowy hollow trying to get on skis (snowshoes) .... It’s not easier to land a moto-maneuverable group on bare water section, calmly roll snowmobiles from the belly of a turntable?
    In general, no one casts doubt on the opinion of the interviewee, but the army’s tasks and ways to solve them are specific, and no one but the military themselves can do better. And there were many of them even in the dashing stagnant years in the north - they will figure out what they need, experience is enough.
    1. +2
      2 July 2016 23: 41
      Quote: Castor_ka
      but to land in these valleys, this (forgive my opinion, trampled on the northern tundra from the White Sea to the Yenisei) is utter nonsense - to suggest floundering around the neck in a snowy hollow trying to get on skis (snowshoes).

      I agree completely! TC and with a parachute fell into the "pits" and in the Arctic in the snow fell through 2 meters!
  3. +9
    2 July 2016 22: 39
    Yes, our Arctic is not for walking. I have never been beyond Surgut, and this is not even a polar region at all, but I experienced minus 56 in my own skin. Unforgettably. Silence, light crackles from all sides, trees crack and some kind of diamond haze in the air, all the moisture froze. The face should be monitored, frostbitten without noticing, easily. I understand what experience he is talking about. Even the problem will be alleviated. The simplest things are done very differently. Places are not for tourists.
  4. +1
    2 July 2016 22: 49
    You can criticize for a long time what you have just begun to do. But you have to start somewhere. To try, based on the not always obtained positive experience, draw conclusions, order the experimental form and equipment again, etc. In small steps to the result. You might think Chukov and his comrades went the other way. Much of what was done before was also not right. The same administration of the Northern Sea Route spent huge money that did not pay off for many decades. Yes, we developed access to the Arctic, but we didn’t force the Arctic to work economically. Under the Union, they threw a lot of money on many projects without sparing. They sent, awarded, showed on TV - but the return for the country's economy was close to zero. Actually, the Union didn’t. Now the approach is different, the money is different and you will have to get used to it.
    And the Arctic will still be ours. For icebreakers, including patrols, the problem is being solved at a good pace.
    1. +3
      3 July 2016 01: 05
      Quote: Berkut24
      You can criticize for a long time what you have just begun to do. But you have to start somewhere. To try, based on the not always obtained positive experience, draw conclusions, order the experimental form and equipment again, etc.

      In some ways, I agree with you, in some ways. There is the experience of polar explorers, border guards, local residents. It needs to be comprehended and understood, what we need. And Canadians borrow valuable experience. Now in the DVOKU open a set for the Arctic Department. Here here the experience of Chukov and his group will be needed as never before. I don’t agree with you for this reason. All that we achieved in the Arctic was simply lost by the will of our rulers, and not just the current ones. Now it turns out that the Trans-Polar Railway is needed, and a number of other projects for the development of the North. But alas! Now they demand oil and gas from the North. Well, gold and diamonds. But these are not the riches of the Arctic. Transport and roads all rest. But there were projects to remake the 941 submarine project transport submarines and they would justify themselves. Yes you are right, there are a lot of problems and all of them must be solved.
      1. +1
        3 July 2016 17: 08
        Quote: Amurets
        Recruitment to the Arctic Department is now open in DVOKU. Here, the experience of Chukov and his group will be needed more than ever

        DVOKU in Blagoveshchensk is a good thing, but I think the Arctic faculty should be opened in the Arctic somewhere in Dudinka, Norilsk or Anadyr. The Arctic Circle, where the graduates will serve, will be outside the window. Four or five years of study in real conditions of future service will teach a person in real life, and most importantly, a person will understand whether he can live and serve in these conditions, realized that it was not him, he was transferred "to the mainland ", but you can't drive out whoever likes that with a stick. The North is so ... It is addictive, it's hard to part.
    2. 0
      3 July 2016 01: 09
      [quote = Berkut24] You can criticize for a long time what you have just begun to do. But you have to start somewhere. To try, based on the not always obtained positive experience, draw conclusions, order the experimental form and equipment again, etc. In small steps to the result. You might think Chukov and his comrades went the other way. Much of what was done before was also not right.
      We already have experience. Without any modern uniforms and other ammunition, our Russian pioneers discovered and mapped the Arctic, and we owe the fact that we have the Arctic to them. And it is rightly stated in the article, there is no need to reinvent the "bicycle" with modern fabrics and other clothes, the main thing has already been invented by those who have already lived there from time immemorial, to transfer this principle to modern fabrics so that moisture is removed in the same way as a tundra park. And I'm not talking about Antarctica at all, there is a temperature oh e, and a person did not live there initially, there is no one to take an example from which people will survive such a temperature, but the temperature reached -90 record, you can't take a walk here, carbon dioxide turns into dry ice. Some penguins survive. Yakutia, the pole of cold -72 is fixed, this is where you really need to have experience in order to relieve yourself and nothing has fallen off. The main thanks to the ancestors that we now have everything. And how we dispose of everything, it already depends on us.
  5. +5
    2 July 2016 22: 59
    Yes, NORTH is a very peculiar environment for the life support of a person, my grandfather fought in Finland and told how they walked at 45 degrees Celsius, this is something - it means doing one thing, and the other with a stick binds it from the ass that it got out, freezes instantly and hurts then becomes .. like this ... had to live.
  6. +4
    2 July 2016 23: 05
    Good article. The problem now is in personnel. I agree with the author that we need volunteers now. But where can you find them? Young people think about abroad, the most northerly about Iceland. They are actively learning English. At the Polar University there are the same "macho" who drove around in "Merci" from the FSB academy. Some oil workers remain, but they have to work for Russia, that for British Petroleum, no difference. And the military? I don't know ...
  7. +3
    2 July 2016 23: 17
    Serious article. The Arctic coast and the Arctic require a truly special approach, starting with understanding the challenges, finding ways to solve them and putting them into practice, and, as Chukov rightly notes, God forbid at any stage to interfere with the amateur or the manager.
    Many thanks to the author for the material.
  8. +2
    2 July 2016 23: 45
    Yes, now the issue of Arctic exploration is one of the main ones and at the same time, this conversation with a specialist highlighted many problems. Indeed, in the Arctic latitudes there can be no military man, but a specialist with practice and armed with scientific knowledge in many areas for use in the north. We also need a special university for this. In general, the author V. Chukov is a real specialist and he should be standing at the origins of creating such a university.
  9. 0
    3 July 2016 00: 45
    It will be necessary, somehow, to drive to Yamal.
    1. 0
      3 July 2016 01: 53
      "Google Map" will do laughing
  10. 0
    3 July 2016 03: 54
    For example, a polar toilet consists of two poles: you stick one in the snow and hold on to it, while you drive away the wolves to the other! Well, is this taught at the desk?
  11. 0
    3 July 2016 04: 44
    Personnel for the Arctic, forge in full!
  12. 0
    3 July 2016 04: 47
    Quote: dchegrinec
    you stick one in the snow and hold on to it, while you drive away the wolves to the other!

    Rather, from deer hungry for salt and flying to the smell of urine. belay
  13. +1
    3 July 2016 05: 25
    I agree with most of what has been said, but when the opinion of one person is put forward as the only and infallible .......
    "- The Arctic for me started in 1979, since 1982 not a single season has been missed."
    And before 79, no one was in the Arctic? The experience of survival and living without technical innovations is enormous and the foundations were laid several centuries ago, since then little has changed from the negative influences: cold, wind, and eating habits. Another thing is that now new materials have appeared that help to survive in these conditions and biochemistry does not stand still. It’s almost impossible to adapt to the cold, but science should help compensate for the impact.
  14. +1
    3 July 2016 05: 57
    Quote: Aljavad
    Chukchi need to cook. Right on the spot. And take on a contract.

    A very good idea! And not only the Chukchi, there are many small nationalities along the coast of the Arctic, to call for service, to give special knowledge, and they have been accustomed with harsh nature since childhood. And for commanders, to open a special military institution. hi
  15. 0
    3 July 2016 06: 32
    As always: "it was smooth only on paper, but they forgot about the ravines, and walk on them." It seems that General A.P. Ermolov said almost 200 years ago, but it is still relevant, and therefore sad.
  16. 0
    3 July 2016 06: 49
    Yes, OK. Already taught by the polar troops. And there, when the real service begins,
    experience will be gained and understanding will come, what to correct, what to do new.
  17. 0
    3 July 2016 07: 52
    Correct .. good article .. But as far as landing is concerned, the author has no specifics .. Landings go from simple to complex .. Just jump-jump to an unprepared site, etc. Paying lives for lack of training is not a way out of the situation. Recall the mountain jumps (the film was shot) when the well-trained paratroopers were and still could not do without 200. And in 1979, when did the Ryazan regiment throw into the Mongolian steppes? They chased the paratroopers on the G-66 - suddenly the wind rose 20-30 m sec (20 m sec - 70 km h). In the RVDU, by the way, the Arctic platoon is also there.
    1. 0
      3 July 2016 14: 07
      Quote: zoriprit
      Correct .. good article .. But as far as landing is concerned, the author has no specifics .. Landings go from simple to complex .. Just jump-jump to an unprepared site, etc. Paying lives for lack of training is not a way out of the situation. Recall the mountain jumps (the film was shot) when the well-trained paratroopers were and still could not do without 200. And in 1979, when did the Ryazan regiment throw into the Mongolian steppes? They chased the paratroopers on the G-66 - suddenly the wind rose 20-30 m sec (20 m sec - 70 km h). In the RVDU, by the way, the Arctic platoon is also there.

      In the CROW, for sure.
  18. +1
    3 July 2016 16: 56
    We found a solution, taking the Chukchi malitsa as a basis: this is such a spacious outerwear made of deer fur, with a spine inside. Everything that evaporates condenses on the fur and crumbles down. We sewed similar hoodies from modern fabrics, in which all layers on the sleeves and the bottom are not stitched, that is, ice can also calmly pour out from under the clothes.
    True, he sometimes says that the Talabians (local natives) sleep at night in a snowdrift in Malitsa, in the goblets in -45 and not a single frostbite. Sometimes you look, dug up from the snow in the morning, and steam fells from it like from a stove, and we in our overalls on holofiber and other sophisticated oak fabric we give while you walk, move normally, but stood up, your back was wet, the breeze blew and you're done.

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