Self-heating canned food and small-sized rations

The Ministry of Defense will receive new food rations for the Airborne Forces, Marines and Special Forces

That changes in the organization of power of the fighter, the managing editor of the "Independent military review" Dmitry LITOVKIN on the eve 321-anniversary food service, told the head of Department (food) Department of Resource Support of the Ministry of Defense ColonelSergey NICHELMAN.

– Our service is responsible not only for the fact that the soldier or officer just ate, but also for the fact that the ration was delicious and high-calorie. During the Soviet era, the range of products included in the food ration was much poorer than the modern one, and accordingly, the number of dishes prepared was small. Today, we are working to ensure that eating in the field is a pleasure, and the soldier is able to perform the task in any conditions.

Balanced and rational nutrition of the personnel of the Armed Forces is carried out taking into account the application of a number of existing norms. This is the replacement of some products with others, depending on the cold or warm period of the year. As a result, the range of food products has been significantly expanded, with additional lard-lard, buns, muffins, gingerbread, canned vegetable snacks, canned legumes, dumplings, and increased standards for the issuance of beans and pasta of the highest grade. Various types of meat products began to be used: sausages, sausages, liver, heart, dumplings, as well as products in packaging intended for individual use. We are talking about juices, milk and fermented milk products, butter and processed cheese.

The elements of the "buffet" are introduced into the military food in the units, which allows, based on the preferences of the soldier in food, to make an independent choice from an expanded range of prepared dishes, the eater, in addition to choosing the first and second courses, can form their own salad with various fillers and sauces from individual products.

– This is all clear, but if we are talking about individual nutrition in different conditions?

– Work on changing diets is carried out continuously in connection with changing requirements for food products, GOST standards and the wishes of those who eat. Rations for different contingents are designed to meet the tasks they perform.

In the past year to improve power of flight personnel on the basis of changed conditions of tasks and modes of service activity control (food) of the Department of resource support in conjunction with the Main military medical Department of the Ministry of defense and command of the aerospace forces has developed new advanced on-Board rations that meet the needs of flight crews as they perform combat and special missions.

The onboard ration is made with an expanded assortment of canned food. It includes dishes with an improved recipe, ready to eat, in modern ergonomic packages that open without the use of special devices. The onboard ration is designed in six variants of picking in order to improve the range of dishes.

– And how was it rated?

- Previously, the pilot was given food by a set from the warehouse. Today it is a well-balanced set of canned freeze-dried products, it takes up little space, is easy to warm up and has a very balanced composition of trace elements. The set was created taking into account the wishes and preferences of the military personnel themselves. The ration is calculated and issued for every four hours of flight. That is, when performing long-term tasks, our pilots can eat almost as in a ground canteen.

In addition, previously, the diet was designed for three meals a day.

But how to divide it? Today, these are separate solutions. So, last year, an intermediate diet was developed and put into the army-breakfast, lunch, dinner. This allows you to feed the soldiers in portions during field trips or combat missions.

This year, we have made and will supply the troops with rations to meet the requirements of the Airborne Troops, special forces units and Marines. Its peculiarity is in its compactness and filling. The individual ration of the special forces became twice as compact, and much better in terms of nutrition. At one time in Chechnya, when examining the caches of militants, we found a lot of chocolate. "Snickers" literally lay in boxes. Why? This bar is easy to eat, and the effect of its use gives strength. In the new "special rations" this is taken into account. We have a large number of products containing carbohydrates. This ensures rapid saturation and energy recovery, which is very important in conditions of intense combat operations.

Also, since this year, we have started developing rations, based not on the genera-types of the Armed Forces, but on the climatic conditions where our servicemen operate.

– What does that mean?"

– We are faced with the conditions of the cold Arctic and hot Syria. In the North, it is necessary that the packaging of canned food is somewhat different, and its very filling in the form of puree or freeze-dried (dried) products. This is necessary so that the soldier can quickly warm up and quickly consume food. It turned out that at -50 degrees it is almost impossible to warm up an ordinary tin can with dry fuel. It's like cooking a barbecue in the cold. Try to make it even at -15 degrees. Your meat will burn from the bottom, and freeze from the top. It's the same with rations. How to eat frozen stew in such conditions? Can you imagine, a fighter got into such conditions? And we must ensure that he completes the task.

This has led to the fact that we are changing the packaging of the product itself. Instead of the" usual " lamister – this is laminated aluminum, it is in this package that you see today a publicly available army kit, we are switching to a new polymer package. Such "canned food" is easier to place in clothes and warm up, even just actively moving on the ground. I took out a puree-like, high-calorie and fortified dish, a piece of dried meat and ran on. Today, we are working with specialists of the Military Medical Academy and leading manufacturers of the country to create such products.

In addition, we are changing the very principle of heating food. In NATO countries, rations are heated with carbide. It emits a flammable gas. If suddenly two or three rations are "punctured" inside the combat vehicle, an explosive reaction begins. You never know, the electrics short-circuited it. We're switching to vitriol. The product packaging comes with a double bottom. Inside – the diet, the second circuit-copper vitriol. We collapse, and the chemical heating begins. Harmless, odorless, with a very high thermal output. As a result, there is no fire, ignition and harmful gases.

– You told us about specialized rations for the Arctic, but what about Syria?

– Work on such individual diets is going on with the institutes of nutrition and medicine. The main problem is dehydration and vitamin deficiency. We needed a diet rich in vitamins. It's actually an isotonic sports drink – an isotonic. It contains water and mineral salts. This allows us to compensate for high sweating and moisture loss by our servicemen. The main task is to preserve moisture and prevent it from leaving the body.

The difference between our rations is also that the same NATO rations can be stored for up to five years. Can you imagine what it's like to store food for five years? This is how many of the preservatives is? It's no secret that they cause various negative health effects. We are not supporters of this approach, we do not make products with a large addition of chemicals. Our rations are stored for a maximum of two years. At the same time, it is constantly spent as military units carry out combat training activities, so that there is always a fresh supply in warehouses.

– Does the soldier's cuisine differ in different regions of Russia – in the Arctic, southern, coastal, etc.?

- Food preparation for military personnel is carried out in accordance with the norms of food rations, and rations have been developed for various conditions for performing tasks, including for special climatic conditions. In addition, for individual units that perform specific tasks in their field of activity, as well as in the regions of the Far North and equivalent areas, food security standards provide for the issuance of additional food in order to compensate for energy consumption, the consumption of which is higher in cold climates than in temperate climates. The Arctic diet of military personnel for each soldier has been increased by 2 thousand kilocalories. In addition to the standard set, the food ration includes sandwiches with high-calorie sausage, fruit compote, chocolate with a high cocoa content, caramel and sweet tea.

Army chef competitions are aimed at improving the quality of cooking. Photo from the site www.mil.ru

– Recently, food preparation has been outsourced to third-party-civil-organizations. Nevertheless, in the field, the army is forced to prepare food for itself. Where are food service specialists trained?

- Nutrition is an important factor in preserving and strengthening the health of military personnel, improving their combat and special training. It is possible to properly organize food only if a number of requirements are met, such as control over the completeness of bringing the required standards; preparation of delicious, full-fledged, good-quality and varied food; compliance with sanitary and epidemiological requirements; qualification of the cook staff, their culinary knowledge, skills and abilities.

Currently, military personnel are fed in stationary conditions and are organized with the involvement of third-party specialized organizations. And in the field, cooking is not done by third-party cooks, but by military personnel who are trained in military cook schools and training centers.

Cooking in the field is very different from stationary, as it occurs with the use of technical means of cooking. The requirements for cooking in the field are also due to the specifics of food storage, limited culinary processing capabilities, and strict compliance with sanitary rules and regulations.

The main link that directly performs the tasks of providing food to the troops both in peacetime and in wartime in stationary and field conditions is the food service of a compound or a separate military unit, which accumulates, maintains, refreshes the stocks of material resources of the food service, organizes the nutrition of personnel.

Currently, for the training of food service specialists in the Armed Forces, there are five military educational institutions that train junior food service specialists in a 4-month training program, with training opportunities for cooks (cooks) and bakers.

The technological base for cooking, as well as the methods of culinary processing of products, is constantly being improved. Therefore, the training of chefs takes into account all the latest achievements introduced in the Armed Forces, including taking into account the development of the global food industry. All our military educational institutions are equipped with modern technical equipment and modern samples of technical means of the food service.

Food in military units has become more diverse, there is a choice of several dishes. Photo from the site www.mil.ru

Currently, the Military School of Chefs has undergone various changes, it is constantly evolving. Every year we develop the educational and material base for high-quality training of junior specialists of the food service. Last year, a new facility of the training and material base of the 190th Military School of Cooks was opened – a new canteen that fully meets modern requirements. A festive dinner was prepared to celebrate the opening of the dining room, creative folk groups were involved, and an exhibition of Russian cuisine was held.

The new dining room meets the modern requirements for public catering facilities, is fully equipped with modern technological, refrigeration, non-mechanical equipment, weighing devices and table and kitchen utensils. The new canteen is a new opportunity that will allow the school's teachers to train our junior specialists at a higher level. We will continue to develop our facilities.

– You also have a professional holiday for military cooks?

Yes, October 20, at the scale of the Armed forces held events dedicated to the celebration of the International day in which shows the master-classes on cooking national dishes and bakery products; organized demonstrations standards of food rations and exhibition dishes made from products received on the planned provision of military personnel, in accordance with the relevant standards; organized a cooking holiday dinner, taking into account national features of troops in all military units of the Armed forces of the Russian Federation.

More than 2000 canteens of military units (organizations) and galleys are involved, more than 35,000 people are involved. Including the heads of the food service of military units, junior specialists of the food service, the cook staff of the co-executors of food services. The company prepares dishes of international and national cuisines: Russian, Belarusian, Tatar, Chuvash, Tuvan, Armenian, Abkhazian, Don, Caucasian, Uzbek, Buryat, Kyrgyz, Angolan, Mongolian, Tajik and Kazakh.

This is more than 100 names of national dishes from the products received for the planned provision of troops. During the holiday, more than 65 types of bakery products are baked. Chefs of leading restaurants are involved in the events, who share their experience and show master classes on cooking dishes from products that come to the staff's allowance.

– What other modern solutions and technologies are implemented in the canteens of military units?

– We have new combi steamers, roasting cabinets, refrigerators and other equipment that allows you to quickly and efficiently prepare food. The provision of new equipment allows us to transform our facilities into modern public catering enterprises.

Development of technical means of food service and bring them to modern requirements, increased mobility support units until 2025 management is planning to upgrade and robotics technical means and replaces all trailers in the automotive kitchens. Currently, within the framework of the state defense order, work on the creation of a family of Arctic technical means of the food service has been completed and developed: the Arctic KA-250/30PM kitchen; the Arctic KHPA-500/30PM bakery; the Arctic CVA-10/30PM tank; the economic and warehouse module (trailer-warehouse). All this equipment is located on the basis of multi-link tracked all-terrain vehicles DP-30 "Vityaz". They are designed to move in the difficult climatic conditions of the Far North, Siberia, the Far East, the Arctic and Antarctica on soils with low load-bearing capacity, such as swamps, virgin snow, off-road, rough woodland, at ambient temperatures from minus to plus 50 degrees Celsius. In 2020, as part of the state defense order, three samples of technical equipment of the food service in the Arctic version were delivered to the troops, including the Arctic KA-250 kitchen, the Arctic KHPA-500 bakery and the Arctic CVA-10 water tank.

In terms of improving the technical means of the food service, the Department for the Development and Modernization of the food service has completed work on the creation of a mobile food point of the WFP-500. It is intended for the organization of daily three-day hot meals for units of up to 500 people in the areas of temporary or permanent deployment of troops, in the field on developed and undeveloped places of deployment of troops.

A new development was also presented – an autonomous mobile food station "AMPP-150", which is supposed to be used to provide the Armed Forces as a highly efficient mobile means of transporting and storing food, cooking, transporting, distributing and eating food. In this work, the optimized placement of food storage and cooking in field conditions; increased food intake in the field; upgraded heat and processing equipment.

This two multi-car "KAMAZ" in the body of one of which is the equipment for storage and cooking, and in a body with a variable volume of the second mobile canteen, in which both seats 50 people. The machines are connected to each other, so we get a stationary canteen in the field. At the same time, the time for its deployment and collapse takes no more than an hour. Thanks to this, we can not only quickly feed the personnel, but also follow their progress in a mobile way.

There is another nuance. Since ancient times, a pot, a spoon and a jar of our soldiers were aluminum. In the equipment of the soldier of the future "Ratnik" every gram is by weight. And here we hang all this old stuff, so the mug also rumbles when moving. That will change today, too. We will have completely plastic dishes, a flask, a mug. The flask can be inserted into a special aluminum base, in which you can warm up food. All this is very compact-in fact, a transformer, like a matryoshka doll, and has special reliable attachments to the equipment of the fighter.

– What are the trends and prospects for the development of the service entrusted to you?

- The emergence of new types of weapons and equipment, changes in the nature and methods of conducting combat operations and operations, high mobility and maneuverability of troops lead to the need to develop new equipment for the food service. In order to develop the technical means of the food service and bring them to modern requirements, increase the mobility of support units until 2025, the department plans to carry out work on the modernization and robotization of technical means.

Work is being carried out to optimize the conditions for placing and storing food, cooking hot food, and improving the conditions for eating in field and stationary conditions. The composition of food rations in terms of food, biological and energy value is being upgraded to the scientifically based norms of food rations, as well as the possibilities of using food rations are being expanded.

Dmitry Litovkin