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Russian NBC Protection Troops

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Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence
Войска радиационной, химической и биологической защиты Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации (Войска РХБ защиты ВС РФ)
Emblem of the Russian NBC Protection Troops
Great emblem of the Russian NBC Protection Troops
Active13 November 1918 – present
Country Russia
Branch Russian Armed Forces
TypeCBRN defense
RoleRadiological, Chemical and Biological Defence
Part ofMinistry of Defense
EngagementsRussian intervention in the Syrian civil war
Commanders
Current
commander		Vacant
Insignia
Flag

The Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence[1] of the Russian Armed Forces (Russian: Войска радиационной, химической и биологической защиты Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации (Войска РХБ защиты ВС РФ), romanized: Voyska radiatsionnoy khimicheskoy i biologicheskoy zashchiti Vooruzhyonn'kh sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Voyska RKhB zashchiti VS RF)) are an organisation designed to reduce the losses of the Ground Forces and ensuring their combat tasks assigned during operations in conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination, as well as at enhancing their survivability and protection against high-precision and other weapons.[2]

History

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In 1944, the Red Army's Chemical Troops had 19 brigades (14 technical and five chemical protection). After the end of World War II, most of them were disbanded.[3]

General Major Vladimir Pikalov (promoted to Colonel General by 1975) commanded the Chemical Troops of the Ministry of Defence from March 1968 to December 1988. He was in charge of the specialised military units at the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster. Pikalov arrived at the scene on the afternoon of 26 April 1986, and assumed command of the specialised military units there.[4] General Pikalov was later made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions there.

Among the 23 brigades of the Chemical Troops in the late 1980s were the 1st Brigade at Shikhany-2 (Vol'sk-18), two kilometres from Shikhany, in the Saratov Oblast of the Volga Military District, 2nd Brigade at Teikovo in the Moscow Military District, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and the 29th located in Severodonetsk in the Kyiv Military District.[5]

In 1992, the Chemical Troops within the Russian Armed Forces were renamed the NBC Protection Troops.

On 17 December 2024, the unit's commander, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, was killed in a bombing in Moscow.[6]

Structure and tasks

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A UTM-80M heat treatment machine cleans a TOS-1 Buratino heavy flamethrower MLRS. NBC Protection Troops shock troops from the 27th Separate Brigade of NBC Protection, during training with the support of motorized rifle, tank and artillery units of the 20th Guards CAA, liberated the "captured" city in conditions of radiation contamination of the area.
Armored personnel carrier BTR-82A with troops in NBC suits. NBC Protection Troops shock troops from the 27th Separate Brigade of NBC Protection, during training with the support of motorized rifle, tank and artillery units of the 20th Guards CAA, liberated the "captured" city in conditions of radiation contamination of the area.

The basis of the NBC Protection Troops are multifunctional separate NBCP brigades which have subunits capable to perform all NBC protection activities. The Russians know them as Radiological, Chemical and Biological (RChB) troops. They often work within a combined arms army. Their main tasks include:[2]

  • identification and assessment of radiological, chemical and biological environment, scales and effects of damages of objects hazardous radiatively, chemically and biologically;
  • protection of formations and units against the nuclear effects of mass destruction weapons and radiological, chemical and biological contamination;
  • reducing the visibility of troops and facilities;
  • disaster (damage) recovery in objects hazardous radiatively, chemically and biologically;
  • causing loss to the enemy by using flame-incendiary means.

The NBC Protection Troops are organised for both conduct of hostilities using nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and without them and includes:

  • nuclear detection;
  • NBC reconnaissance and control;
  • collection and processing of data and information on radiological, chemical and biological environment;
  • notification of troops on NBC contamination;
  • conducting special treatment (decontamination, degassing and disinfection) of armaments, military and special equipment, buildings and other objects, as well as sanitisation of personnel;
  • aerosol counteraction against the enemy’s reconnaissance and targeting means.[2]

The NBCP Troops are developing as dual-purpose forces, able to solve tasks both in war and peace times, in the aftermath of accidents and disasters in industrial facilities hazardous radiatively, chemically and biologically. Further build-up of their capacity is realized by creating a modern system to identify and assess the extent and effects of weapons of mass destruction, integrated with automated control systems of troops and weapons and stable functioning in the NBC threat environment and strong electronic countermeasures. In addition, there is a process to equip formations, units and subdivisions of NBCP with new, highly effective means of NBC reconnaissance, individual and collective defence, technical means of reducing the visibility and masking, flame-throwing incendiary weapons, as well as to introduce improved materials, formulations, methods and technical means of decontamination.[2][7]

The 395th Independent Test Aviation Squadron which supports the NBCP Troops is based at Bagay-Baranovka in Saratov Oblast.

Hardware

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RPM-2 – radiological reconnaissance vehicle

What follows is a partial list as of November 2018 of military hardware available to the Russian NBCP troops:[7]

  • RPO-A Shmel infantry rocket flamethrower
  • PMK-4 gas mask
  • TOS-1 Buratino or TOS-1A Solntsepyok flamethrower
  • TOS-2 Tosochka flamethrower
  • TDA-3 smoke generator on a 3-axle 53501 Kamaz chassis, is designed to camouflage military facilities
  • TMS-65 is a specialized chemical vehicle on Ural-375 undercarriage
  • RKhM-6 is a chemical reconnaissance vehicle on a four-axle BTR-80 base
  • RPM-2 is a radiological reconnaissance vehicle on a four-axle BTR-80 base
  • UTM-80 heat engine, designed to clean other equipment after exposure to NCB threats

Units

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Troops of the RKhBZ of the Russian army, parked at exercises
TDA-3 unit. An exercise in the Kursk region for the 27th separate brigade of the RKhBZ to eliminate the consequences of chemical contamination.

Videogallery

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  • TOS-1A Solntsepyok combat firing; 20th NBC Protection Regiment
  • TOS-1A Solntsepyok combat firing; 6th NBC Protection Regiment

See also

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References

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 This article incorporates text by Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

  1. ^ "Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence". Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d "NBC Protection Troops". Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Retrieved 28 November 2017.
  3. ^ Feskov et al. 2013, p. 306.
  4. ^ Zhores Medvedev: The Legacy of Chernobyl
  5. ^ Feskov et al. 2013, p. 308.
  6. ^ "Igor Kirillov: Russian general killed in Moscow explosion". BBC. Retrieved 2024-12-17.
  7. ^ a b "Russian NBC troops armed with new hardware | November 2018 Global Defense Security army news industry | Defense Security global news industry army 2018 | Archive News year". 16 November 2018.
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