Individual protective equipment for personnel performing work on searching for and defusing explosive objects.
Petrenko Evgeny Sergeevich
INDIVIDUAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT FOR PERSONNEL PERFORMING WORK ON SEARCHING FOR AND defusing explosive objects
To ensure the protection of personnel involved in the search and disposal of explosive ordnance, it is advisable to use various types of personal protective equipment against the damaging factors of an explosion, which include shrapnel fragments, shock waves and detonation products.
The most effective way to protect personnel is to use remotely controlled vehicles (robotic systems).
The absence of such devices at the work site, their insufficient cross-country ability and maneuverability necessitate manual demining operations.
Various modifications of the so-called bombsuits (photo 1) are widely used to protect personnel of anti-terrorist units abroad.
Such a suit is generally a set of armor elements (fabric, metal, composite, ceramic) placed on the human body and covering it. Fabric armor elements are made of a large number (several dozen) of layers of high-strength synthetic fabric (Kevlar, ballistic nylon, etc.).
The design of the armor elements provides (depending on the version) all-round or frontal protection.
The suit also includes a helmet (with a transparent visor made of polycarbonate or bulletproof glass) to protect the head. Additional armor shields (made of metal or plastic) installed in special pockets on the suit elements serve to increase the protection of vital organs.
The weight of suits of various models, depending on the configuration, ranges from 15 to 40 kg.
One of the significant disadvantages of suits is low ergonomics.
Thus, ballistic fabric has low vapor permeability, which leads to overheating of the operator, limiting the time of continuous work.
The large surface mass and high rigidity of armor material packages restrict movement and reduce their accuracy.
Breathing with the helmet on and the visor down is very difficult.
The helmet impairs hearing and visibility, has a large mass and puts a lot of strain on the cervical spine, which causes severe fatigue of the neck muscles. All this together increases the likelihood of errors and inaccuracies in the search and disposal of explosive ordnance with all the ensuing consequences.
In addition, a disadvantage of the suits in the version equipped with additional metal armor shields is the risk of provoking an unauthorized activation of explosive devices with a magnetic fuse switched to combat position.
Photo 1. Anti-bomb suit by SAFECO EOD Inc.
Various design solutions are used to improve the ergonomics of the suits.
For example, electric fans powered by batteries are used abroad for active ventilation of the undersuit space and air supply into the helmet.
The fan and battery are placed on the back of the suit, and there is also a radio station in a special pocket for communication between the worker and the support unit.
A transparent protective screen is used to relieve the neck, which is fixed on the chest, thereby reducing the weight of the helmet.
In most foreign protective suits, the operator's hands remain uncovered. This is done based on the need to perform precise operations.
The level of armor protection of foreign suits is sufficient to protect against fragments of foreign-made hand grenades and explosive ordnance with a small mass of explosive charge. A characteristic feature of most of these suits is a differentiated approach to protecting the frontal (more protected) and rear (less protected) projections.
In addition, the emphasis in protection is mainly on protection from shock waves and low-energy (for example, aluminum) fragments, which is relevant for the countries of Europe and North America.
Such an approach is justified for the conditions of these countries, when:
— the sapper is not fired at from small arms due to the absence of local armed conflicts in the territories of these countries;
— ammunition, compared to Russian-made ammunition of a similar class, has a relatively weak fragmentation and high-explosive damaging effect (the concepts of ammunition development in Great Britain, the USA, Italy and a number of other developed countries are focused on inflicting mainly severe injuries on manpower, which during combat operations is economically more profitable than lethal outcomes);
— in most cases, the location of a specific single explosive device is known.
Russia is characterized by somewhat different conditions for performing work on searching for and rendering harmless explosive hazards.
In the context of ongoing local armed conflicts on the territory of the former USSR, minefields are often covered by small arms and artillery fire.
Moreover, sappers are a priority target due to their special value and small numbers. The concept of ammunition development in our country was focused primarily on the unconditional destruction of the manpower of a potential enemy.
Typical examples for comparison include the domestic PMN anti-personnel mine with a charge weight of 200 g of explosive and the infamous Italian TS-50 mine with a charge weight of 50 g of explosive, as well as RGO and RGN hand grenades with similar grenades of the above countries, which have a significantly shorter range of lethal fragments and a radius of the zone of continuous destruction.
In most cases, explosive devices are camouflaged, duplicated by explosive devices of other types in order to make their search and neutralization as difficult as possible.
All this necessitates the use of sapper protective suits in Russian conditions, which would provide effective all-round (all-angle) protection from shock waves, high-energy steel fragments and small arms bullets.
Such suits have been created and are successfully used in practice.
Currently, the Grot-3V series of mine clearing suits (mine clearing suits, mine clearing suits) are mass-produced in Russia (photo 2).
Photo. 2. The GROT-3V mine clearing suit. The Kora-2 bulletproof vest is not shown.
The Grot-3V suit consists of a jacket, trousers, bulletproof vest, helmet, shell, and additional armor elements. It provides virtually all-round protection.
The design is based on high-strength SVM fabric (a domestic analogue of the “kevlar” fabric).
The jacket has sewn-on pockets for installing additional armor elements that cover the most important organs (liver, heart) and provide protection from bullets and shrapnel up to and including protection class 6.
The jacket has a high stand-up collar made of armor fabric. A plastic shell, worn under the trousers and secured with a belt system, serves to protect the groin and genitals.
A visor made of armor glass or polycarbonate is attached to the helmet.
Hand protection is provided by gloves made of armor fabric.
The suit provides the operator with the mobility to perform work on searching for and destroying explosive devices, and virtually all-round protection against fragments of the POMZ-2 anti-personnel fragmentation mine at a distance of about 2 m, an anti-personnel high-explosive mine of the PMN type at a distance of 1 m, fragments of hand grenades of the RGO and RGN types at a distance of 5 m, and Makarov pistol bullets at a distance of 5 m (without additional armor elements).
With additional armor elements installed in special pockets of the jacket, the level of protection against bullets and fragments can be increased to class 6 inclusive.
Another development of the domestic industry is known – the protective suit “Dublon”, characterized by the fact that its design includes elements that reduce overheating and operator fatigue, as well as quickly change the area and level of protection in relation to specific conditions of the task.
This is achieved by using an armored visor with support on the chest, the introduction of a climatic shock-absorbing support that improves ventilation of the undersuit space, the modular design of individual elements of the suit (removable jacket sleeves and trousers), and the use of standardized replaceable armor elements with different levels of protection.
The suit can be equipped with special anti-mine footwear designed to improve the safety of operations to search for and defuse anti-personnel high-explosive mines installed in the ground with a camouflage layer.
The suit provides frontal protection of the chest, neck and head from AKM and AK-74 machine gun bullets at a distance of 15 — 35 m (in any configuration), the entire body — from PMN to MON-50 mine fragments (depending on the configuration with various armor elements) with a suit weight of 16 to 36 kg.
It should be borne in mind that protective suits, like other personal protective equipment, can provide effective protection only against single fragments of anti-personnel mines of the MON-50, MON-100, MON-200 type, without providing protection against dense fragmentation flows that have a powerful integral kinetic energy even at distances of several tens of meters.
In the absence of special protective suits for a sapper, in case of emergency, an assault suit of the “Warrior” type or bulletproof vests of 2–6 protection classes with protective helmets of the “Sphere” and “Mask” types can be used.
The relevance of using protective suits for a sapper and other personal protective equipment increases especially in the following cases:
- dangers of using small arms and light artillery against a sapper;
- work in buildings and structures, in the event of an explosion of even small explosive charges, the shock wave can spread over significant distances due to the canalization of the process;
- shooting suspicious objects with small arms from behind cover;
- collecting the remains of an explosive device or other explosive device after its destruction;
- parallel work on a minefield by several sappers in close proximity to each other.
It should be noted that technical means associated with ensuring the individual protection of personnel when performing work with explosive devices must be certified by specialized structural divisions of the State Standard of the Russian Federation, confirming the parameters of the passport data of the manufacturer.
The use of uncertified means is highly undesirable, since there is no complete confidence in ensuring the required level protection.