ZhZT-71 (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: ЖЗТ-71, Жилет Защитный Титановый обр. 1971 года; Vest Protective Titanium mod. 1971) was a Soviet ballistic vest created for the

MVD The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; , ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enforcement in Russia through its agencies the Police of Russia, Migration ...

. It was a first ballistic vest designed for law enforcement. Design decisions made during development of its modification, ZhZT-71M, were later used in designing of 6B2 ballistic vest.

History

ZhZT-71 was developed in 1971 by

NII Stali The Scientific Research Institute of Steel (), also known as NII Stali (), is a Russian research institute (NII) located in the capital city of Moscow. The institute occupies an area of 64,000 m2, including production areas of 40,000 m2. It is o ...

, on instructions from the technical department of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. In that version of the body armor, plates were used from the most effective material at that time - OT4-1

titanium alloy Titanium alloys are alloys that contain a mixture of titanium and other chemical elements. Such alloys have very high tensile strength and toughness (even at extreme temperatures). They are light in weight, have extraordinary corrosion resistance ...

. ZhZT-71 weighed up to 12 kg. In 1974, NII Stali started development of ZhZT-71M, a version that addressed several issues at once (like plates drifting inside the vest and being offset overtime). It also had a new dampener layer 30 mm thick on the chest, and 10 on the back, made out of

foam rubber Foam rubber (also known as cellular rubber, sponge rubber, or expanded rubber) is rubber that has been made with a foaming agent so that its structure is an air-filled matrix. Commercial foam rubber is generally made of synthetic rubber, natural ...

Polyurethane Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

. Weight increased to over 10 kg, due to thicker 3.3 mm plates that were used to meet the requirements of stopping buckshot rounds from shotguns. In 1975 a vest was designed for protection against cold weapons - ZhZL-74 with a weight of 3.4 kg. Plates were made out of

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

. It was used by

Alpha Group Spetsgruppa "A", also known as Alpha Group, officially Directorate "A" of FSB Special Purpose Center (Russian: Спецназ ФСБ "Альфа"), is a sub-unit of Russian special forces within the Russian Special Forces Center of the Feder ...

personnel during operation to free the hostages of Aeroflot Flight 6833. ZhZT vest was still in service as late as 1990s.

Design

Protection was from 2.5 mm thick titanium plates, connected with one another by

rivets A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the deformed end is called the ''sh ...

, placed inside of pockets made out of

Nylon 6 Nylon 6 or polycaprolactam is a polymer, in particular semicrystalline polyamide. Unlike most other nylons, nylon 6 is not a condensation polymer, but instead is formed by ring-opening polymerization; this makes it a special case in the compari ...

. The vest had several issues, one of the major one being lack of shock absorption, which resulted in backface damage to the wearer. To address this major issue in 1975 a modernized vest, ZhZT-71U started to be manufactured, which had a damper layer.

References

{{Soviet and Russian MVD and security agencies equipment, state=expanded Ballistic vests Military equipment of the Soviet Union