__NOTOC__ The Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Russian Ground Forces, Ground Forces, Russian Navy, Navy, and Russi ...

() are an organisation designed to reduce the losses of the

Ground Forces An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by p ...

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.

History

In 1944, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

's Chemical Troops had 19 brigades (14 technical and five chemical protection). After the end of World War II, most of them were disbanded. General Major

Vladimir Pikalov Vladimir Karpovich Pikalov (; 15 September 1924 – 29 March 2003) was a Soviet general. He commanded the from 1968 to 1988. During World War II, Pikalov took part in the battles of Moscow, Stalingrad and Kursk. He was wounded several tim ...

(promoted to

Colonel General Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

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 The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Belarus–Ukraine border, a ...

disaster A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. '' Natural disasters'' like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by na ...

. Pikalov arrived at the scene on the afternoon of 26 April 1986, and assumed command of the specialised military units there. General Pikalov was later made a

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

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 Shikhany, also spelled Shikhansky () is a closed town in Saratov Oblast, Russia, north of Saratov on the right bank of the Volga River Population: . It has been a closed town since 1997, but lost this status on 1 January 2019. The town is 2 kil ...

, in the

Saratov Oblast Saratov Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Saratov. As of the 2021 Russian cens ...

of the

Volga Military District The Volga Military District (PriVO) was a military district of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation that existed from 1918 to 1989 and 1992 to 2001. The district headquarters was located at Kazan, Saratov and Kuibyshev (Samara) at differen ...

, 2nd Brigade at Teikovo in the

Moscow Military District The Order of Lenin Moscow Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Originally it was a district of the Imperial Russian Army until the Russian Empire's collapse in 191 ...

, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 11th, 12th,

16th 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. It is the fourth power of two. In English speech, the numbers 16 and 60 are sometimes confused, as they sound similar. Mathematics 16 is the ninth composite number, and a sq ...

, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th, and the

29th 29 (twenty-nine) is the natural number following 28 and preceding 30. It is a prime number. 29 is the number of days February has on a leap year. Mathematics 29 is the tenth prime number. Integer properties 29 is the fifth primorial prime, ...

located in

Severodonetsk Sievierodonetsk or Severodonetsk, officially since 2024 Siverskodonetsk, is a city in Luhansk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. It is located to the northeast of the left bank of the Donets river and approximately to the northwest from the administrativ ...

in the

Kyiv Military District The Kiev Military District (; , abbreviated ) was a military district of the Imperial Russian Army and subsequently of the Red Army and Soviet Armed Forces. It was first formed in 1862, and was headquartered in Kiev (Kyiv) for most of its exist ...

. In 1992, the Chemical Troops within the Russian Armed Forces were renamed the NBC Protection Troops. Shikhany-2, the military chemical base, and Shikhany-4, the arsenal, are located in Saratov Oblast. Shikhany-4 appears to be the location of the 115th Arsenal of the Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops. On 17 December 2024, the Commander of the РХБ Defence Troops, General Lieutenant

Igor Kirillov Igor Leonidovich Kirillov (, 14 September 1932 – 29 October 2021) was a Soviet and Russian news presenter, announcer and actor. He was a news anchor for Soviet Central Television (CT USSR) and announcer for the CT USSR news program ''Vremy ...

, was killed in a bombing in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Structure and tasks

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 Combined arms is an approach to warfare that seeks to integrate different combat arms of a military to achieve mutually complementary effects—for example, using infantry and armoured warfare, armour in an Urban warfare, urban environment in ...

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

. Their main tasks include: * identification and assessment of radiological, chemical and biological environment, scales and effects of damages of objects hazardous radiatively, chemically and biologically; *

protection Protection is any measure taken to guard something against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although ...

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 Radiation monitoring involves the measurement of radiation dose or radionuclide contamination for reasons related to the assessment or control of exposure to radiation or radioactive substances, and the interpretation of the results. Environment ...

; * 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 An aerosol is a suspension (chemistry), suspension of fine solid particles or liquid Drop (liquid), droplets in air or another gas. Aerosols can be generated from natural or Human impact on the environment, human causes. The term ''aerosol'' co ...

counteraction against the enemy’s reconnaissance and targeting means. 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 An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to countermeasure, trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny ...

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

Hardware

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

RPO-A Shmel The RPO-A Shmel () is a man-portable, single-use, rocket-assisted thermobaric weapon. While its name directly translates to flamethrower (and it is classified as such in Russian military documents), the RPO-A Shmel is more accurately described as ...

infantry rocket flamethrower * PMK-4 gas mask *

TOS-1 TOS-1 Buratino (, Heavy Flamethrower System) is a Soviet 220 mm 30-barrel (original system, Object 634 or TOS-1M) or 24-barrel (Object 634B or TOS-1A Solntsepyok) multiple rocket launcher capable of using thermobaric warheads, mounted on a ...

Buratino or TOS-1A Solntsepyok flamethrower *

TOS-2 The TOS-2 (''Tosochka'') (, Heavy Flamethrower System) is a Russian multiple rocket launcher capable of using thermobaric warheads, mounted on a 3-axle truck chassis. TOS-2 was designed to attack enemy fortified positions and lightly armoured veh ...

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 The Ural-375 is a general purpose 4.5 ton 6×6 truck produced at the Ural Automotive Plant in the Russian SFSR from 1961 to 1993. The Ural-375 replaced the ZIL-157 as the standard Soviet Army truck in 1979, and was replaced by the Ural-4320. ...

undercarriage * RKhM-6 is a chemical reconnaissance vehicle on a four-axle

BTR-80 The BTR-80 () is an 8×8 wheeled Amphibious vehicle, amphibious armoured personnel carrier (APC) designed in the Soviet Union. It was adopted in 1985 and replaced the previous vehicles, the BTR-60 and BTR-70, in the Soviet Army. It was first de ...

base * RPM-2 is a radiological reconnaissance vehicle on a four-axle

base * UTM-80 heat engine, designed to clean other equipment after exposure to NCB threats

Units

Troops of the RKhBZ of the Russian army at the exercises

* 1st Guards Mobile NBC Protection Brigade ( Shikhany-2, Oblast of Saratov) (MUN 71432,

Central Military District The Order of the Red Banner Central Military District () is a Military districts of Russia, military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the centr ...

) * 16th NBC Protection Brigade ( Lesozavodsk) (MUN 07059,

Eastern Military District The Order of the Red Banner Eastern Military District ( Russian: Восточный военный округ) is a military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction wi ...

) * 27th NBC Protection Brigade (

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

) (MUN 11262,

Western Military District The Western Military District () was a Military districts of Russia, military district of Russia, in existence from 2010 until its abolishment as a unitary military command on February 26, 2024, succeeded by the newly reconstituted Moscow Mil ...

) * 28th NBC Protection Brigade (

Kamyshin Kamyshin ( rus, Камышин, p=kɐˈmɨʂɨn) is a city in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volgograd Reservoir of the Volga River, in the estuary of the Kamyshinka River. Its population was Past populations for Kam ...

Volgograd Oblast Volgograd Oblast ( rus, Волгоградская область, p=vəɫɡɐˈgratskəjə ˈobɫəsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the Volga region, lower Volga region of Southern Russia ...

) (MUN 65363,

Southern Military District The Order of the Red Banner Southern Military District () is a military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, with its jurisdiction primarily within the North Caucasus region of the country ...

) * 29th NBC Protection Brigade (

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

) (MUN 34081, Central Military District) * 2nd NBC Protection Regiment (

Chapayevsk Chapayevsk () is a town in Samara Oblast, Russia, located from the city of Samara, on the right bank of the Chapayevka River (a tributary of the Volga River). Population: It was previously known as ''Ivashchenkovo'' (until 1927), ''Trotsk'' ...

) (MUN 18664, 2nd GCAA) * 4th NBC Protection Regiment (

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

) (MUN 86862) * 6th NBC Protection Regiment (

Sapyornoye Sapyornoye (; ) is a rural locality (a logging depot settlement) in Priozersky District of Leningrad Oblast, located on the Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finlan ...

Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast (, ; ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). The oblast has an area of and a population of 2,000,997 (2021 Russian census, 2021 Census); up from 1,716,868 recorded in the 2010 Russian census ...

Priozersky District Priozersky District () is an administrativeOblast Law #32-oz and municipalLaw #50-oz district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Leningrad Oblast, seventeen in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the oblast and ...

) (MUN 12086, 6th CAA) * 9th NBC Protection Regiment (

), (MUN 29753) * 10th NBC Protection Regiment ( Topchikha) (MUN 55121, 41st GCAA) * 17th NBC Protection Regiment (

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the t ...

) ( 49th CAA) * 19th NBC Protection Regiment ( Gorny, Zabaykalsky Krai) (MUN 56313, 29th GCAA) * 20th NBC Protection Regiment ( Tsentralny, Volodarsky District) (MUN 12102, 1st GTA) * 24th NBC Protection Battalion ( 20th GCAA) * 25th Guards NBC Protection Regiment ( Sergeyevka, Pogranichny District) (MUN 58079, 5th GCAA) * 26th NBC Protection Regiment (

Onokhoy Onokhoy (; , ''Nokhoi'') is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) in Zaigrayevsky District of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 10,689. Administrative and municipal status Within the frame ...

) (MUN 62563, 36th CAA) * 35th NBC Protection Regiment (

Belogorsk, Amur Oblast Belogorsk () is a town in Amur Oblast, Russia, located on the river Tom, a tributary of the Zeya. Population: 53,000 (1969); 34,000 (1939). The town was previously known as ''Alexandrovskoye'' (until 1926), ''Alexandrovsk'' (until 1931), ...

) (MUN 59792, 35th CAA) * 39th NBC Protection Regiment ( Oktyabrsky, Kalachovsky District,

) (MUN 16390, 8th GCAA) * 40th NBC Protection Regiment ( Troitskaya, Ingushetia,

Republic of Ingushetia Ingushetia or Ingushetiya, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land border ...

) (MUN 16383, 58th GCAA) * 70th Separate Flamethrower Battalion (

Razdolnoye, Primorsky Krai Razdolnoye () is a settlement in Nadezhdinsky District, Primorsky Krai, a federal subject in the Russian Far East. The village is located on the Razdolnaya River, about 20 kilometers from its confluence with the Amur Bay and is stretched along it ...

) (MUN 41474)

Videogallery

File:Стрельбы из тяжёлой огнемётной системы ТОС-1А «Солнцепёк» на полигоне Лужский.webm,

TOS-1A TOS-1 Buratino (, Heavy Flamethrower System) is a Soviet 220 mm 30-barrel (original system, Object 634 or TOS-1M) or 24-barrel (Object 634B or TOS-1A Solntsepyok) multiple rocket launcher capable of using thermobaric warheads, mounted on a ...

Solntsepyok combat firing; 20th NBC Protection Regiment File:ТОС-1А «Солнцепёк» провели боевые стрельбы в Ленинградской области.webm, TOS-1A Solntsepyok combat firing; 6th NBC Protection Regiment

References

External links

{{Authority control Military units and formations of Russia NBC units and formations Soviet chemical weapons program Soviet biological weapons program