This technique seriously expands the capabilities of combat swimmers.
An underwater tugboat has been developed for the Russian Navy. With its help, a marine special forces soldier will be able to surreptitiously cover long distances underwater. It is a silent ultra-small device. Its design is based on an annular valve-induction propulsion system, which provides stealth when moving underwater. Experts are confident that such a technique will seriously expand the capabilities of combat swimmers.
No noise
The Baltic Higher Naval School named after Ushakov has developed an underwater tugboat powered by an almost silent electric motor, sources in the military department told Izvestia.
Externally, the device looks like a cylinder with a diameter of 30 cm and a height of no more than 10 cm. In full gear, he weighs three kilograms, the interlocutors of the publication noted.
The battery charge will last for about two hours. The device is equipped with a screw that drives it. It is most suitable for divers or, as they are also called, combat swimmers from units of counteraction to sabotage forces and means (MPSS), and can also be used in underwater and surface robotics. It allows you to reach a speed of four knots (7.4 km/ h), the sources said.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Vitaly Ankov
Image source: iz.ru
The soldiers of the SDSS are military sailors specially trained to combat the sabotage forces and means of the enemy. They mainly specialize in countering enemy underwater swimmers, but if necessary, they can operate in all environments — underwater, on water, on land, and even in the air.
An underwater tugboat is an important part of the equipment of a military diver, Alexey Mendrik, ex-commander of the PDSS detachment, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Kaliningrad Region, told Izvestia.
Photo: TASS/Lev Fedoseev
Image source: iz.ru
— There are individual and group tugboats. You need to lie down on some of them, and hold others in front of you in your hands," he explained. — Speed from 3 to 17 km/h. We have always had such equipment when conducting anti-sabotage defense activities. But to be honest, her size could have been smaller, besides, she used silver-zinc batteries, and they are very expensive. At a new stage of technological development, the dimensions of such equipment should be reduced and cheaper energy sources should be used.
A tow truck is a very necessary and useful thing, the expert noted.
— It allows you to save strength and energy, — Alexey Mendrik explained. — During anti—sabotage work, a large number of objects need to be examined in search of "bookmarks" - these are the bottoms of ships, dams, and the underwater part of port facilities. To do this, people wind kilometers underwater. A tugboat with a power reserve of two hours at a speed of four knots will allow you to travel eight nautical miles. Of course, you can't keep your strength on flippers after such a trip, plus you spend a lot of air during intense physical exertion, which reduces the time spent underwater. It is important that any type of diving work is specific and time—consuming, and it takes strength to perform it efficiently. And the new device will help to save them.
Photo: TASS/Yuri Smithyuk
Image source: iz.ru
Combat swimmers move underwater, as a rule, with loads, and it's really very difficult to do this with the help of fins, said military expert Dmitry Boltenkov.
— Saboteurs take mines and other devices with them. When they deliver them to the target, they put them on tow trucks," the expert explained. — You need to find and chase them using the same technique. Such devices have been used for a long time. During World War II, the Italians used special man-controlled torpedoes. With their help, combat swimmers were able to conduct an effective operation in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 1941, seriously damaging two British battleships, a destroyer and destroying a Norwegian tanker.
Photo: TASS/Yuri Smithyuk
Image source: iz.ru
Underwater tugboats will be in demand in everyday life, the expert noted.
— Divers will use them for their own needs, — he specified. — They will also facilitate the work in the production of a number of underwater work, installation of equipment. Archaeologists conducting research on the seabed will also be in demand.
Search and assault groups on helicopters appeared in the Navy
The PDSS units are now expanding their area of responsibility. The experience gained by the military sailors on the Black Sea, where they have to resist attacks by Ukrainian tanks, is now being scaled up in the Russian Navy as a whole.
Earlier, Izvestia wrote that search and assault groups on helicopters appeared in the Navy. They protect naval bases from attacks by unmanned boats (BEC).
They include sailors and officers of the PDSS detachments. There are two machine gunners and one safety officer in each group. The main armament is 7.62—caliber machine guns. The combat experience gained in the fight against BACKUPS has shown that such weapons are enough to destroy or stop a marine kamikaze.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Vitaly Ankov
Image Source: iz.ru
The groups operate on Ka-27, Ka-29 and Mi-8 helicopters — they are supposed to meet and destroy tanks on distant approaches to naval bases.
The interaction of helicopter pilots and FDSS fighters is actively being worked out. Recently, such exercises were held in the Pacific Fleet. According to the scenario, the navy found the back on the distant approaches to the base and informed the search and assault group about it. She moved to a designated area, where she found and destroyed a simulated enemy naval drone.
During the exercises, the SDSS fighters separately practice helicopter shooting skills from hovering and in motion at moving naval targets. Moreover, the shooting was carried out on surface boats, imitating real unmanned boats.
Bogdan Stepovoy
