Rostec Unveils New Body Armor and Walks Live Test Dummy Through Minefield to Prove Reliability
Rostec Corporation has recently shaken everyone up. A fragile girl test engineer tried out 4th generation combat equipment Ratnik at a training ground near Moscow. It was tested with fire and explosion.
It does look impressive. She walks the minefield like it's a street. Smoke dissipates, there is not a single scratch on her face, just one thing as the most observant noted, her mascara ran. At the end of the route, she gets a deserved bouquet of roses.
Still, questions remained after such a demonstration. The girl looks like a Formula 1 racer. The coverall doesn't look like those worn by detonators while neutralizing explosive devices. So, can it withstand the hit of fragments, that will be produced by a real mine, not from an explosive package? Or is it not necessary, and the goals are different? Evgeny Tishkovets will explain it.
- Hello, Evgeny.
- Hello.
- So what is this Ratnik for?
- Alexei, Ratnik can withstand even a close explosion of an anti-personnel mine. Ratnik is called equipment of the Russian soldier of the future for a reason. A soldier wearing this armor is practically invincible to fragments. The standard kit protects up to 90% of the body, EOD technician's kit protects 100%.
By the way, the Ratnik kit for armored vehicle crews is 32 — 54% better than American tankers' equipment in terms of anti-fragmentation resistance and 30% better in terms of fire resistance, while its weight is a little less. The usual explosion packages didn't represent a threat to the girl tester wearing such armor.
Victoria Kolesnikova, tester, Rostec Corporation: "This feeling is extraordinary. Again, I'll mention the fire line... It's so overwhelmingly spectacular from the inside. I'd say, it's beautiful, it's impressive, it's formidable! Wow!"