Interview with the Head of the Main Directorate of Railway troops of the Russian Defence Ministry, Lieutenant General Oleg Ivanovich Kosenkov, to the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda about the participation of Railway Troops in the International Military-Technic
- It has become a good tradition before the beginning of the Army forum to speak to the first persons of the military authorities for the general Russian and foreign public. What are your expectations for the upcoming Army-2021 Forum?
The Army-2021 Forum is primarily a business-related substantive work at various venues of the congress and exhibition center, participation and work in conferences, round tables and close interaction directly with specialists, heads of industrial enterprises and organizations of the military-industrial complex. It is gratifying that within the framework of the Forum, the practice of interaction between potential consumers and suppliers is organized optimally.
Today, the Railway troops are developing in a balanced manner in accordance with the nature of the tasks being solved and the re-equipment of the troops with new models of military equipment.
In total, in 2020, the Railway troops received 220 sets of railway equipment through military-technical support. The share of modern samples of this nomenclature was 49 %, and the entire fleet of railway equipment and property is being systematically updated.
In 2020, the Research and Testing Center for Special Equipment of the Railway troops conducted military-scientific support for 8 experimental design works on the development of prototypes of equipment and technical property of the Railway Troops.
In 2020, 2 samples of Railway Troop's equipment were accepted for the supply of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, such as the special APS-1 road train, its modification APS-1-01 and the TTD-3 dosing tractor.
- I even anticipate your answer to my next question about the topic of the round table in the scientific and business program of the Forum, do you prioritize the development of Railway troops ' equipment?
Yes, that's right, you noticed this, and the topic of the round table in the scientific and business program of the Forum is Topical issues of the development and use of technical weapons of the Railway troops.
For 2021 and subsequent years, the Railway troops have been assigned an important key task – to work out issues related to comprehensive preparations for the construction of the second branch of the Baikal-Amur mainline on the section from Ulag station to Fevralsk station with a length of 339 km.
Taking into account the new key task assigned to the Railway Troops, re-equipping the troops with new models of military equipment is becoming a priority.
The round table will include a conversation about promising samples of equipment and technical equipment manufactured (developed) in the interests of the Railway troops, with the completion date in 2022.
The main issue on the agenda of the round table is the progress in implementing the decisions taken on the results of preliminary tests of the PB-4 and PB-5 gantry track-laying machines.
In 2017, it was decided to start the development of the PB-4 tractor track-laying machine, instead of the PB-3 and its modifications, which are used to provide Railway troops with track units.
In addition, in the interests of the Railway troops, in 2019, in order to ensure the competitiveness of the products being developed, the development of an alternative track-laying machine PB-5 was started. Unlike the developed products in the tracklayers PB-4 equipment portal powered by a generator that is installed on the base tractor TSK-1, and tracklayers PB-5 equipment portal powered by a hydraulic actuator mounted on the base tractor TSC-2. All these initiative developments are carried out at the expense of enterprises.
For the supply of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, a portal track-laying machine will be accepted, which has shown the best test results in accordance with the tactical and technical requirements imposed on them.
- A traditional question for you. What new models of equipment will visitors see this year at the open area of the Congress and Exhibition Center?
As novelties, technical means for track and bridge construction works will be presented, such as a tractor dispenser TTD-3 and a special bulldozer BS-1-12, a self-propelled pontoon (pusher) PST-1; a universal piling unit USA-2M and a mobile workshop for maintenance and routine repair of railway equipment PM (TOR).
The adoption of the PM (TOR) workshop for the supply of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation allowed:
- to increase the unification of the fleet of repair equipment of Railway troops;
- reduce the model range of used samples of special technical means;
- expand the ability to perform repair and evacuation work in the field;
- to update the diagnostic tools and equipment of the workshop, thereby providing the possibility of carrying out maintenance and routine repairs of modern models of equipment of the Railway troops.
To date, one of the most important problematic issues of the operation of military equipment remains quite high costs to ensure the required level of readiness of the fleet of equipment. Reducing operating costs can be achieved by improving the quality of life cycle management of military equipment.
Currently, the management of the life cycle of military equipment is not fully implemented due to insufficient development of the methodological apparatus for implementing the use of technologies in the activities of military management bodies. The regulatory framework that defines the use of technologies at the stages of the life cycle needs to be improved.
The final stage of this fundamental work should be interspecific development work with the development of standardized information systems to support the life cycle of products, the introduction of which will mean the transition to a qualitatively new level of life cycle management of military equipment.
The staff of the research and testing center for special equipment of the Railway troops, in close cooperation with other research organizations that are part of the material and technical support of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, conducts planned research in this direction.
- 2020. it was difficult for the country. In this difficult time, how did the Railway troops act?
Railway troops provided effective assistance to the regions.
From Kaliningrad to Kamchatka, an accelerated deployment was carried out at 26 hospital construction sites.
During the construction of multifunctional medical centers and medical institutions of the subjects of the Russian Federation, 450 thousand cubic meters of earthworks, 55 thousand square meters of territory planning were carried out, while 550 units of equipment were involved.
Railway troops participated in the elimination of the consequences of emergency situations in the destruction of the railway bridge over the Kola River in the Murmansk region. The tasks were carried out in difficult conditions of mountainous terrain in cooperation with JSC Russian Railways. The length of the section on the bypass was 5.4 km, 18.5 thousand tons of soil were removed, 10.9 thousand tons of soil were brought into the embankment, 4.7 thousand cubic meters of crushed stone were loaded.
When laying the pipeline in the Republic of Crimea, 35 thousand square meters of earthworks were carried out.
- We know that the personnel of the Railway troops contributed to the development of the infrastructure of the Patriot Park. What was done in 2020?
In 2020, the main temple of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the museum complex MEMORY ROAD were built on the territory of the park.
The personnel of the mechanization unit performed tasks on the improvement of the territory adjacent to the main temple of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the museum complex MEMORY ROAD of the Patriot Park.
10 thousand cubic meters of the top layer of soil were removed and a vertical layout of 120 thousand square meters of the territory adjacent to the temple was made. And you can see the result clearly.
- What is the main task facing the Railway troops in 2021?
2021 is a landmark year for us – 170 years since the formation (creation) of the Railway troops. Our main task is to ensure progressive development, which guarantees an increase in the combat and mobilization readiness of military command bodies, formations and military units to perform tasks for their regular purpose.
