Tag: Soviet Union

Common Training Hand Grenades of the Warsaw Pact

Kristóf Nagy This short article offers a brief, inexhaustive overview of the most common training hand grenades used by Warsaw Pact forces primarily during the Cold War period—although some remain in use today. The training devices featured in this article include examples manufactured by the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East

Continue Reading

Military use of Ballistic Shields: Part 2, 1919–present day

Patrick Senft Editor’s note: This is the second part of Mr. Senft’s research article examining the military use of ballistic shields. Part 1, covering the period ca. 1500–1918, can be found here. Second World War During the interbellum period, ballistic shields returned to being something of a novelty. Experimentation continued, with some military units and

Continue Reading

Soviet 2B9M Vasilek self-loading mortar

Ernő Lovass & N.R. Jenzen-Jones The 2B9M Vasilek (‘Cornflower’) is a muzzle or breech-loading, long recoil-operated automatic smoothbore medium mortar. It is a modernised, air-cooled version of the 2B9 water-cooled mortar, itself derived from the earlier F-82 automatic mortar. Development of the 2B9 began in the late 1960s, with the Soviet army adopting the weapon in 1970. The modernised 2B29M

Continue Reading

An overview of camouflage patterns used by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Oliver Beyer Since the Armistice was signed between the Republic of Korea and The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; North Korea) in 1953, tensions have remained steady between the two countries. With North Korea initially backed by communist support in the East and South Korea backed by countries from the West, the two nations

Continue Reading

Soviet 180 mm S-23 artillery guns in Syria

Ilya A. On 5 August 2016, anti-government forces from the Free Syrian Army and the Islamist coalition Jaish al-Fateh stormed and captured a Syrian Arab Army (SAA) artillery school facility during operations aimed at breaking the Syrian regime siege of Eastern Aleppo. The following day, rebel group Ahrar al-Sham posted photos of materiel in the

Continue Reading

Introduction to the 9M113 Konkurs ATGM

Yuri Lyamin with Kenton Fulmer & N.R. Jenzen-Jones The 9M113 Konkurs missile is increasingly commonplace in current and recent conflict zones, and represents a capable, long-range system for its age. In recent months, Konkurs systems have been employed by Houthi forces in Yemen, pro-government fighters and separatist forces in Ukraine, and various Syrian groups, including

Continue Reading

Differential identification of AK-12 and earlier Russian AK rifles

Jonathan Ferguson Note: The design of the AK-12 has since moved away from the more distinctive model described herein. The newer iteration is more conventional in design and appearance.  The Hoplite recently covered a distinctive personalised AK-74M self-loading rifle captured in Syria by Islamic State forces from a Russian special operator. The plethora of accessories fitted to the weapon

Continue Reading

PTAB-1M submunitions documented in Syria

Yuri Lyamin with N.R. Jenzen-Jones Images posted to Facebook and Twitter in mid-to-late February 2016 show the presence of PTAB-1M anti-tank submunitions and the RBK-500 PTAB-1M air-delivered cargo munition (cluster bomb) in the al-Ghanto area of the Homs governorate of Syria. The remnants of the bomb’s tail and casing indicate it is an RBK-500 (Razovaya Bombovaya

Continue Reading

Russian PMN-4 anti-personnel landmines in Syria

Ivan Kochin with N.R. Jenzen-Jones Recent images released by the Syrian Center for Demining & Rehabilitation (SCDR) feature Russian PMN-4 landmines which were found just west of Daraa, in Southern Syria. In a video dated 28 September 2015, a figure can be seen employing manual demining practices to remove a number of PMN-4 mines. The earlier

Continue Reading

Ukrainian government returns 2S7 Pion self-propelled artillery to service

Michael Smallwood A press release from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence details the military’s restoration of multiple 2S7 Pion (Пион; ‘peony’) self-propelled artillery systems which have been in storage for over 10 years. The video below shows a Ukrainian military-led team in Rivne working on a 2S7. Interviewed in the video above, Colonel Vadim Rudnitsky suggests

Continue Reading