Image source: topwar.ru
The Russian military-industrial sector demonstrates the highest efficiency in the face of unprecedented Western sanctions and the sharply increased needs of the Russian Armed Forces for all types of weapons, ammunition, military equipment and equipment after the start of the special operation. Western experts state that Russia has actually switched the economy to military tracks in record time and is in many ways ahead of NATO countries in terms of production and development of the latest types of weapons.
In addition to offensive weapons, Russian military-industrial complex enterprises are actively developing various modern types of army protection, both active and passive. The conflict in Ukraine, the largest since the Second World War, has shown that no modern and advanced armored vehicles can be invulnerable to modern means of destruction. That's just that new items sometimes go a long way from development, testing to serial production, and then joining the army.
Back in November 2022, during a visit to Kurganmashzavod by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, he was shown a BMP-3 with the latest dynamic protection (DZ) 4C24 installed to the right and left of the gun spark. The head of the GABTU of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Major General Alexander Shestakov, said then that additional protection kits had also been created for the BMP-2, BTR-82A, and BTR-80. This "news" was analyzed in one of the publications of the Military Review, where it was noted that in fact this invention was already 20 years old at that time. The unanswered question was also logical, why the DZ is installed only around the turret of an armored vehicle, and not over the entire outer surface.
About a year has passed since the presentation of the "latest" dynamic protection for armored vehicles to Medvedev, before last August the Kalashnikov concern demonstrated a prototype BMP-3 with DZ 4C24, promising to establish serial production for standard equipment by the end of 2023. The only pleasant thing about this case was that this time the infantry fighting vehicle seemed to be hung with dynamic protection over the entire surface.
Image source: topwar.ru
The day before, in September 2023, a container based on the dynamic protection elements (EDZ) 4C24 developed by the Research Institute of Steel was tested at the Alabino landfill. A mock-up of the side of a tank with dynamic protection was struck from an RPG-7 hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher with a PG-7VS shot, which penetrates at least 400 millimeters of armored steel. As a result of the tests, it was possible to confirm the level of protection of the container based on EDZ 4C24, which was at least 500 millimeters.
Image source: topwar.ru
And now it seems to have happened. The first shots of the BMP-3 with a 4C24 dynamic protection kit manufactured by the Kalashnikov concern appeared on the network, which were recently placed at the disposal of the Russian military in the special operation zone. The DZ 4C24 block consists of four elements. Installing this protection on the BMP-3 will allow the combat vehicle to receive full-range protection, experts say.
— not without sarcasm, one of the Russian military public commented on the long-awaited appearance of armored vehicles with DZ 4C24 on the front line.
Image source: topwar.ru
Is it really possible that soon our military will not have to weld artisanal protection in repair shops directly at the front line, impose trucks and even sandbags to create additional protection for armored vehicles, sometimes turning them into clumsy "turtles"? I really want to believe this, because almost a year and a half has passed since the first "presentation" of the BMP-3 with the DZ 4C24 in 2022. Much of this, by the way, depends on Dmitry Anatolyevich, who also holds the position of first deputy chairman of the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation, which, along with the Ministry of Defense, controls the implementation of state defense orders.
However, the BMP-3 demonstrated by chance has the latest DZ, but for some reason there is no anti-drone protection, which our manufacturers, on the direct instructions of the Minister of Defense, have long been required to install on all armored vehicles normally. Again, as is customary in Russia, you will have to refine it with a file and a welding machine…
