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Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops - RKhBZ

Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops [RKhBZ] in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, special troops designed to perform the most complex tasks of protecting troops and the population, requiring the use of special equipment. They consist of units and divisions for detecting nuclear explosions, radiation and chemical reconnaissance, special processing, aerosol countermeasures, flamethrower, etc. Equipped with automated systems for detecting nuclear explosions, highly passable and reliably protected vehicles for RCB reconnaissance, aerosol countermeasures, high-performance special processing machines, etc. .special equipment. The NBC protection troops are developing as dual-purpose troops capable of solving both wartime and peacetime tasks. They are involved in a number of tasks in the field of civil defense, as well as to protect the population and territories from emergency situations.

Radiation, chemical, biological reconnaissance, detection of nuclear explosions, data processing and alerting troops, aerosol countermeasures against enemy reconnaissance and guidance equipment - all these are elements of the RCB protection. One of the main tasks remains to inflict losses on the enemy with flamethrower and incendiary means. A separate complex matter is the radiation, chemical and biological protection of the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN). Tasks are solved in wartime and in peacetime - in the aftermath of accidents and catastrophes at radiation, chemically and biologically hazardous industrial enterprises. Man-made disasters and natural disasters are sometimes more dangerous than military operations.

Chemical defense troops have two primary missions: NBC reconnaissance and NBC decontamination. Their basic missions include-

• Reconnoitering known or likely areas of NBC contamination.
• Warning troops of the presence of NBC contamination.
• Monitoring changes in the degree of contamination of troops positions.
• Monitoring the NBC contamination of personnel, weapons, and equipment.
• Performing decontamination of personnel, weapons, clothing, equipment, vehicles, troop positions, and sections of roads.

They also help decontaminate personnel and equipment and perform limited NBC reconnaissance when regimental NBC support is unavailable. Training of Soviet ground forces in NBC defense was comprehensive and realistic. It covered recognition and detection of NBC agents, operation of NBC measuring and monitoring instruments, procedures for warning troops of NBC attack, self-protection, self-administration of antidotes, and decontamination. Realism was emphasized to the extent that live, albeit diluted, agents were occasionally used during training exercises.

Today, personnel for the troops is being trained by the Military Academy of the RChBZ named after. Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko in Kostroma. More than 1,000 cadets are being trained there at the same time, about 800 of them for the RF Armed Forces, about 200 are future Russian civilian specialists and military specialists from foreign countries. In 2017, female cadets were sworn in for the first time at the academy. In the 2020, 250 officers graduated, including ten representatives of foreign states.

The RKhBZ troops are special formations in which both officers and soldiers must have serious training. They must not only have a good knowledge of chemistry, biology, meteorology and other disciplines, but also be prepared to perform tasks in difficult and dangerous conditions.

RCB protection formations regularly participate in all major exercises of troops and forces, quickly moving over vast distances. In an interdepartmental exercise to eliminate the consequences of emergencies of a chemical and biological nature in the Saratov region (in October 2014), units of the RKhBZ troops of all four military districts, about 2,000 people, 370 units of special equipment, including 20 aircraft units, were involved. For the first time in the exercise of the RKhBZ troops, airborne assault units of the Kamyshin formation of the Airborne Forces operated. After the landing of the air assault units in the areas of special processing, the NBC protection units promptly created external and internal security loops - to prevent destabilization of the situation at the points of work of radiation, chemical, biological protection specialists.