Combustible time: Russian troops received mobile armored gas stations

They withstand the impact of shell fragments, small arms fire and control fuel consumption

Special mobile containers — gas stations - have been supplied to equip Russian troops, sources told Izvestia in the Russian Defense Ministry. They are protected by armor, able to withstand shrapnel from artillery fire and small arms fire. This will create a network of refueling points in close proximity to the line of contact and minimize the risk of damage to fuel and lubricants storage sites, experts say. Electronic control and communication systems can be placed inside the container, allowing remote control of fuel consumption.

Armored and modular

The first mobile armored refueling stations have arrived in the rear units of the Russian army in the SVO zone, sources in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation told Izvestia. In addition to protection from bullets and shell fragments, they are equipped with systems for remote monitoring, accounting, processing and transmitting information about the movement of fuel, the interlocutors of the publication said.

For the first time, representatives of the Ministry of Defense announced plans to send such equipment to the zone of their own on February 17.

If there is a question of relocation, then it is much easier to move such gas stations beyond the outgoing line of contact than to create a large fuel base again at some point, military expert Alexey Leonkov explained to Izvestia.

Image source: Photo: Press service of the Ministry of Defense

— The creation of mobile gas stations is also necessary for the dispersal of such an important resource as fuel, — he clarified. — This will help to reduce enemy attacks on the places of its main storage, for example, oil depots. Mobile gas stations can be created locally, even close to the line of contact, and supplied in such a way as to avoid defeat. They are transported by both road and air transport. Such a gas station can be located in almost any area and organize a mobile refueling point for equipment or, alternatively, a helicopter jump point, which will be in hidden mode, but at the same time they will always have access to fuel and refueling.

According to the expert, when the command concentrates troops in certain areas, one of the important logistical routes to them is the supply of fuel.

— Fuel trucks will always be under threat of attacks. And so we can deliver fuel by other means of transport, refuel mobile gas stations that are dispersed along the entire line of contact, and then our military can only track the availability and quantity of issued and remaining fuel through the communication system and sensors. It will no longer be necessary to make specialized requests," he noted.

We are talking about the effective supply of fuel to our troops in close contact with the enemy, especially in urban battles, said Colonel Alexander Perendzhiev, associate professor at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

"It is important to quickly and efficiently supply our units, and in case of adverse events, completely eliminate issues related to the death or injury of our service personnel," he explained.

Image source: Photo: RIA Novosti

In this regard, it is the armor protection of the supplied gas stations that can be called a particularly valuable quality, Alexander Perendzhiev is sure.

— When a tracer bullet or a red-hot fragment hits the fuel, an ordinary tanker breaks out and, of course, can damage the health or life of those who serve it. The armored protection of the gas station eliminates such a danger," he explained.

Fuel conveyor

On February 17, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that specialists from the fuel and lubricants service of the Western Group of Forces had deployed a wide network of mobile refueling points, storage and pumping bases for all types of fuel for diesel and gasoline vehicles, combat and armored vehicles.

The ministry explained that the chain of fuel delivery to the front line begins in the rear area. At the unloading station, fuels and lubricants from railway tanks are delivered to a mobile warehouse in special camouflaged polymer tanks. At the same time, the fuel pre-passes all control tests in an expanded laboratory. Then the fuel is moved to a stationary warehouse. From there, tankers deliver it to various sites in the war zone. It is into this network that mobile armored gas stations will be built, which have begun to be supplied to the troops.

In 2010, the organs of the rear of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were reorganized into a new structure that supplies troops with everything necessary in peacetime and wartime — a unified system of logistics for the Armed Forces. There was a unification of two previously independent types of support that existed in the structure of the rear of the Russian Armed Forces — technical and logistical. Dmitry Bulgakov, the former head of the rear of the armed forces, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, became the head of the new structure. Since April 30, 2023, the rear structures have been supervised by Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Kuzmenkov.

Alexey Mikhailov

Julia Leonova