What are the NBC protection troops and what do they do?

Content:

• What is RCBZ
• Tasks of the NBC Protection Troops
• History of the NBC Protection Troops
• Structure of the NBC Protection Department
• Equipment of the NBC protection system
• Management

What is RCBZ

RCBZ  is the chemical, radiation and biological defense troops . These are special troops within the Russian Ground Forces. They trace their history back to the chemical troops of the Red Army, and have existed in their current form since 1992.

NBC protection units and parts have participated in all internal and international armed conflicts involving Russian troops, including in Chechnya and the North Caucasus, Abkhazia and South Ossetia (2008), Syria, Ukraine , and have also been involved in the fight against the spread of coronavirus.

Their analogue in a number of foreign countries is the ABC troops (from the English atomic, biological, chemical).

Tasks of the NBC Protection Troops

The main task of the RCBZ is to protect ground forces units and the civilian population from radiation, chemical or biological contamination, including the consequences of using weapons of mass destruction. Their tasks also include increasing protection from high-precision weapons, camouflaging troops and facilities, decontamination, degassing and disinfection of terrain and structures, and supplying troops with personal and collective chemical protection equipment.

In combat conditions, they are responsible for the use of flamethrower-incendiary weapons, in particular heavy rocket flamethrower systems, the creation of smoke aerosol screens to mask important objects and positions, cover the deployment and movement of troops, and crossings.

Photo: Dmitry Rogulin / TASS

In peacetime, the RCBZ troops are involved in the elimination of the consequences of accidents, major fires, other natural and man-made disasters, and are engaged in constant monitoring of the radiation situation and dosimetric control. They are also responsible for detecting nuclear explosions. In 2020, the RCBZ were involved in the sanitization and disinfection of military and civilian facilities during the COVID-19 epidemic , and at various times were involved in monitoring the situation at sporting events, international forums, etc.

History of the NBC Protection Troops

The RCBZ troops officially trace their history back to November 1918, when the chemical service was created as part of the Red Army. In fact, specialized anti-gas defense services and chemical teams existed earlier - since 1915, when during the First World War, German troops first used chemical weapons against French and then Russian troops.

In 1919–1920, the first separate flamethrower units were formed, which in 1923 were subordinated to the command of the chemical troops. During the 1920s, a system for training military chemists was established. By 1927, chemical units operated in all divisions and brigades. Chemical troops, consisting of flamethrower tank companies, participated in the battles for Khalkhin Gol (1939) and in the Soviet-Finnish War (1939–1940). During the Great Patriotic War, combat flamethrowing and smoke camouflage of strategic objects in the rear, as well as crossings, were widely used; technical brigades (to create smoke screens and camouflage large objects), brigades, battalions and companies of anti-chemical protection, separate flamethrower battalions and companies operated.

Soviet and foreign journalists during an inspection of the arsenal of chemical defense equipment at a training center, USSR, Moscow region, June 30, 1988 (Photo: Albert Pushkarev / TASS)

After the development and testing of nuclear weapons, the chemical troops were tasked with protecting military and civilian facilities from them. Subsequently, flamethrower units of the chemical troops participated in the operation in Afghanistan (1979-1989). In 1986-1990, a group of chemical troops was involved in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. According to the Ministry of Defense, it accounted for 44% of the thirty-thousand contingent of liquidators. Based on this experience, mobile units of chemical troops were formed in all military districts. Since August 1992, the chemical troops have had their current name.

Since 2006, the professional holiday of the NBC Protection troops has been celebrated annually on November 13.

Structure of the NBC Protection Department

The structure of the RCBZ includes the Directorate of the Chief of the RCBZ Troops, which includes several departments (biological protection, troop training, radiation and chemical safety, technical support). There is also a Center for the Command of the RCBZ Troops, a military scientific committee, military scientific organizations, training centers, laboratories and other bodies.

The RCBZ troops are based on multifunctional separate brigades of district subordination. They include reconnaissance units, special processing and aerosol protection units, flamethrower units, etc.

NBC protection units, formations and units are part of all types and branches of the armed forces, military districts, associations and formations.

The training of officers is conducted at the Military Academy of the RCB Protection named after Marshal of the USSR S.K. Timoshenko in Kostroma. The 282nd Transylvanian Red Banner Training Center of the RCB Protection Troops in the Moscow Region is responsible for training junior specialists. There is a training and methodological group for RCB protection as part of the Department of Operational Art of the Military Academy of the General Staff (until 2009, the Department of RCB Protection) for training senior personnel.

Photo: Lev Fedoseev / TASS

Equipment of the NBC protection system

The RCBZ is armed with many types and systems of weapons, military and special equipment. Among them are the heavy tracked flamethrower system TOS-1 "Buratino" and its modification TOS-1A "Solntsepek", wheeled TOS-2 "Tosochka", infantry rocket flamethrowers RPO-M/PDM-A "Shmel-M" and lighter LPO-97, reconnaissance chemical vehicles RHM and RHM-6, universal thermal vehicles UTM-80M, aerosol countermeasure smoke machines TDA-2K and TDA-3, smoke bombs ShD-P, auto-dispensing stations ARS-14 and ARS-14KM, etc. A wide range of special equipment, products and devices, individual and collective protection kits, in particular suits, gas masks, etc. are also being developed, mass-produced and supplied to the troops.

Management

Since 2017, the NBC Protection Department was headed by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov. On December 17, 2024 , he died in an explosion on Ryazansky Prospekt in Moscow.