Signal Troops - Equipment
The main supplier of control and communication tools for the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation are the enterprises of the Ruselectronics holding, which are part of the Communications division. Today, the division under the control of the Sozvezdie concern develops and manufactures communications equipment for the military at more than 20 enterprises across the country. Every year, at the Army International Military-Technical Forum and other venues, Rostec presents its developments for the Signal Corps.
Today, much attention is paid to the creation of an automated tactical control system (ACS TK), with the help of which the concept of "network-centric warfare" is implemented. The unified software and hardware complex (UPTK) developed by the Sozvezdie concern allows integrating each unit of armored vehicles into a single network along with unmanned systems, electronic warfare systems, reconnaissance, guidance and fire weapons. For the first time in UPTK, a fundamentally new approach has been implemented - the transition from the creation of separate means of communication, control and navigation to the construction of complex automated systems and a single information space. ACS TZ kits are already being delivered to the RF Armed Forces.
Among other important developments of recent years is the R-430 radio relay communication complex. It ensures the deployment of networks and communication lines up to 50 km long, which are capable of operating in a difficult jamming environment in the face of enemy electronic countermeasures. In the stations of the R-430 complex, the maximum set of anti-jamming equipment is used, making it practically invulnerable to enemy electronic warfare.
High-quality management of air defense groupings is provided by the Polyana-D4M1 automated control system. The system can simultaneously combine up to 14 objects in one coordination field - such as anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-aircraft missile systems such as S-300, Buk, Tor, Tunguska. ACS "Polyana-D4M1" can be performed in stationary and mobile versions.
Another relevant means of control during hostilities, which can be used even on the move, is the R-149MA unified command and control vehicle. The system is made on the basis of the BTR 80 and can operate in the conditions of enemy electronic countermeasures. The machine transmits information, including video, over several communication channels at once, is capable of conducting all-round surveillance of the battlefield and can create communication networks even in isolation from the main forces.
At the Voronezh enterprise "Electrosignal", a complex of technical means "Argon-E" is produced - a multi-purpose complex of digital confidential VHF communication. The equipment of the complex maintains a communication range when exposed to interference that exceeds its own signal by 10,000 times in power. "Argon-E" provides simultaneous transmission of voice information and data in an open mode and using built-in cryptographic protection tools. The complex is successfully used not only in law enforcement agencies, but also in the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Russian Railways, oil and gas companies, and security companies.
At the Army-2021 forum, the St. Petersburg enterprise Inteltech presented communication equipment for the maritime communications echelon. The software and hardware complex "Station" provides information exchange of surface ships, stationary and mobile coastal fleet control facilities with on-board communication systems of existing and developed aircraft. Inteltech does not just create new communication devices, but develops a full-fledged digital ecosystem of communication tools and systems for marine, ground and air equipment.
NPP Polet, which is part of the Ruselectronics holding, has developed the S-111 communication system for the fifth-generation Su-57 fighter. The equipment provides radio communication and data exchange of the aircraft with other aircraft for various purposes, as well as with ground, air and surface control points. The equipment uses the latest high-speed data transfer technology, providing speeds up to 34.3 Mbps. This allows real-time transmission of voice, video, radar data and surveillance cameras.
Radio station "Granite" includes models of portable radio stations for all frequency ranges of land, sea and river mobile services (33-48.5, 57-58, 146-174, 300-337 and 403-486 MHz) have been developed and mass-produced. All models have a unified impact-resistant housing made of light metal alloy, providing dust and splash protection. Among the users are law enforcement agencies (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Federal Tax Service, Federal Border Guard Service, Ministry of Emergency Situations), regional departments of Russian railways, enterprises of the agro-industrial complex, the river fleet of the Russian Federation, the State Civil Aviation Service, private security structures, ambulance services, the Federal Forest Protection Service.
The Radio station "R-168-0.5U" (Akveduk-0.5U) portable radio station was developed and manufactured by FSUE VNIIS (Zarya), Voronezh. R-168-0.5U provides open and closed VHF radio communications in the radio networks of the tactical control link in the squad-platoon-company link, with a range of 18 km in ground communications depending on configuration. Is issued in three executions. Versions differ in the operating frequency range: AKVEDUK-0.5U-1: 30-47.975 MHz; AQUEDUK-0.5U-2: 45-75.975 MHz; AQUEDUK-0.5U-3: 70-107.975 MHz. The radio station AKVEDUK-0.5U-M provides recording and storage in electronic memory of any 4 frequencies of the bands and the selected mode of operation.
In 2009 Deputy chief of the Russian General Staff Yevgeny Meychik pledged that "by the end of 2011, we plan to bring a radio station to every serviceman, to every combat vehicle." But while Meychik's plan presupposed use of the main tactical-level army radio system at the time, known as Akveduk, the Defense Ministry instead opted to pursue the development of a wholly new, sixth-generation system that came to be known as Azart. An upstart manufacturer, Angstrem, one of whose owners had been an adviser to Medvedev, was chosen for the project.
The co-owner of NPO Angstrem was Leonid Reiman, from 2004 to 2008 the Minister of Communications, and from 2008 to 2010, an adviser to President Dmitry Medvedev. Many corruption scandals have been associated with the name of Reiman , while as a former member of the government and adviser to the president, he had the opportunity to lobby for the interests of his company. The creation of a new army radio communication system was actively supported by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov (who soon found himself at the center of a major corruption scandal) and Dmitry Rogozin, who at the end of 2011 was appointed deputy prime minister in charge of the military-industrial complex. Azart has been the subject of multiple criminal investigations, including an ongoing one focused on a deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, Colonel General Khalil Arslanov.
By early 2012, boasting that Russia had employed the NATO concept of "lessons learned," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin appeared with one of the Azart handsets and declared, "This connection works!" Years of promises and many unmet deadlines to deliver the phones, dubbed "green crocodiles" by troops because of their half-meter-long antennas, followed, their use at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics notwithstanding.
According to their stated technical characteristics, the Azart radio was really advanced. It could work both as an analog and as a digital means of communication, was compatible with all available army radio stations, had good cryptographic security, was capable of changing the connection frequency 20 thousand times per second using a special algorithm (the so-called frequency hopping technology, which provides protection against signal suppression electronic means of the enemy), had a built-in navigator, was finally created according to the modern ideology of a software-defined radio system.
At the same time, some functions for the device, which was supposed to equip each soldier on the front line, looked redundant - for example, the ability to connect to WI-FI or a color LCD screen. The radio turned out to be difficult to manage and configure, and they cost "tenders", a little less than 300 thousand rubles per piece, or almost 10 thousand dollars at the exchange rate of that time.
Statements that Azart was completely made in Russia were probably an exaggeration: the radio was equipped with a processor developed by NPO ELVIS, manufactured according to a design standard of 65 nanometers. Production lines for creating microchips according to this standard simply did not exist in Russia at that time. the radio stations were actually purchased in finished form in China, only the final assembly took place in Russia with the addition of some components, which made it possible to significantly save on production. A total of 6.7 B RUB of the contract's 18.5 B RUB was allegedly embezzled, because the radios were purchased from China in almost finished form with some components added in Russia.
Judging by indirect data , the first several thousand new radios entered the troops only in 2014-2015 (by February 2015 - only 2000) - simultaneously with events in the Crimea and Donbass and with the start of the Russian military operation in Syria. Reviews on radio forums like Radioscanner.ru, while impossible to independently corroborate, appear to suggest the Azarts are unpopular among troops. Azart is not a front radio station, there are a lot of buttons, the display is huge, the price goes off scale. This is an advanced officer’s radio station. Military expert Vladimir Orlov described the use of Azart phones among Russian troops deployed to Syria and said that "outside the bases of the Russian armed forces in Syria, everyone uses mobile phones and Chinese 'balalaikas,'" a reference to civilian walkie-talkies manufactured by China's Baofeng.
Moreover, the most generous estimate of the total number of Azart handsets deployed is only around 60,000, based on the 18 billion rubles ($171 million at the current rate) allocated for their purchase and the estimated cost of around 300,000 rubles per device. That is only around one-third the number of Russian troops thought by NATO and Ukraine to have been deployed in Ukraine.
Many Azart walkie-talkies simply stopped turning on or entered an "eternal cycle" of self-test after starting. Finally, the effective distance at which the Azarts were able to establish communication turned out to be relatively small in combat conditions. Given the evidence that many "Azarts" are not working, the actual number of these stations would clearly not be enough to arm the group of troops participating in the war in Ukraine.
The program to re-equip the army with an ultra-modern new means of communication, begun under Anatoly Serdyukov, failed.
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