Militia attacks in Iraq have forced the coalition command to resort to various protective measures to protect the lives of its soldiers. Many tactical changes have been made in a short time. Military hardware had to be re-equipped and upgraded literally on the run.
The Ukrainian peacekeeping brigade stationed at Al-Qut Airfield is also actively seeking ways to effectively protect its personnel: the latest tragic event, which occurred April 28 near the Iraqi town of Az Zubayr, underlined the urgency of this problem. Terrorists are now bolder, and better trained and armed. They also usually have the advantage of initiative: they keep changing their positions and the composition of their groups, so the element of surprise is undoubtedly their main trump card. Continuing to carry out their peacekeeping mission, the officers and men of the 6th Separate Mechanized Brigade (SMB) are now more vigilant and cautious. A mobile patrol recently spotted a camouflaged fire emplacement with two coaxial large-caliber (14.5 mm) machine guns and a large supply of ammunition in some bushes near the road leading from Al-Qut to the Iran-Iraq border. By all accounts, during the night Iraqi fighters dug into vantage ground, but for some reason temporarily abandoned the emplacement. The Ukrainian patrol radically changed the attackers’ plans.
If not for alert Ukrainian observers, hundreds of land mines would still be lying undetected on the roads. Naturally, these were deactivated and disposed of. In the lineups to the canteen at the sixth SMB’s base camp you can hear soldiers and sergeants commenting on the best ways to protect a convoy or patrol. The personnel of the peacekeeping brigade’s automobile, armored, and maintenance units have established a veritable protection industry. Col. Oleksandr Prokopchuk, the brigade’s chief of logistics, is the leader of the “anti-killer” movement, a term coined by the technical personnel. Relying on their expertise and the technical capacities of their workshops, experienced peacekeepers began to design additional facilities to protect their trucks and armored vehicles from being hit by enemy weapons. “Analyzing the experience we gained here in Iraq,” says Lt.-Col. Yury Haistruk, who is in charge of armored vehicle maintenance, “We came to the conclusion that equipment is most often damaged by roadside land mines and rocket-propelled antitank grenades. And while a mine is not as dangerous for an armored personnel carrier (APC) crew as it is for those riding on a truck, the APC’s thin armor will not stand up to a high-explosive antitank (HEAT) grenade. So together with other technicians, we decided to invent a new protection system against armor-piercing projectiles. Luckily, our guys are resourceful and very bright.”
The technicians set up a small testing ground. Each of the protective devices was thoroughly tested. It turned out that sandbags (sandboxes) fastened to an APC’s armor were unable to protect the vehicle from a formidable weapon: the shaped-charge jet easily penetrated them and burned through the armor. When this happens to a closed-top vehicle, the resulting super-high pressure kills the crew. So a different solution had to be found. After a lively debate at the brigade’s maintenance and repair facility (MRF), specialists built an experimental protective unit consisting of a grating with parallel- welded metallic L-bars. “The first grenade-launcher rounds just tore the L-bars apart and pierced the armor,” says Lt.- Col. Haistruk, “So we decided to change the angle of attachment and weld the bars in such a way that they don’t bend outwards — in other words, we reinforced the so- called stiffening rib. During the next test we saw that this considerably increased the protection. Still, we knew that this was not a 100% guarantee of success.”
Carrying out routine maintenance, the brigade’s specialists continued to explore other means of protection. They worked on improving the design. It was not unusual to see several technical officers sitting down at the canteen tables for a lively discussion of ideas instead of eating supper. “At one point we decided to use automobile spring bases as a protective grating,” says Lt.-Col. Mykola Kobyliuk, the brigade’s chief maintenance officer. “Strangely enough, during the test not a single rocket-propelled antitank grenade pierced them. But there was also was a downside: the APC’s weight instantly rose by more than one ton.”
“Even with this load, an armored vehicle can reach 70 km/h, the usual speed of our convoys, although this sharply increases the wear and tear of the wheels and the engine. Add to this a high, almost 50-degree-Celsius temperature, and these factors can eventually make the equipment unserviceable, but this won’t happen right away. In the meantime, we are working on protecting hardware and personnel specifically from instantaneous hits,” said Lt.-Col. Haistruk. Today, MRF specialists are continuing to improve their protective devices. They are already testing a combined protection system: they place boxes filled with crushed rock or concrete, rather than sand, between the grating and the armor. This kind of triple protection not only serves as a reliable barrier against enemy fire but also as a positive psychological factor for the APC crews — the guys really feel safe.
As a matter of fact, the concrete plates have already shown their effectiveness. In early May, an APC fitted with these plates set off a powerful land mine during a patrol mission near the town of Es Suweira. The concrete protective layer withstood the blast, and none of the crew was injured. The Ukrainian specialists also made quite an effort to develop protective devices for trucks that are not used on patrols but for transporting cargo and personnel in convoys.
“Well before being sent to Iraq,” says Lt.-Col. Serhiy Zaitsev, who is in charge of the brigade’s automobile service, “I saw some models of auxiliary protective devices for army vehicles. Those ‘gift-wrapped’ commercially produced items also came in handy. For example, we fitted out all the convoy trucks with anti-grenade chicken wire, attached more armored plates to the doors, and reinforced the engine’s crankcase and the truck’s body.”
Experienced officers continue to explore new ways of countering the threat of land mines and antitank grenade launcher fire, but they still have to resort to improvisation. Protective devices are being made out of unserviceable armored vehicles and trucks that the former Iraqi army abandoned at Al-Qut’s airfield.
All this has increased the workload for the welders of the maintenance platoon. Volunteer soldiers Stepan Habor, Serhiy Zhadnov, and Oleksandr Koverneha literally work from daybreak to nightfall with just a short break for lunch. They are all too aware that the lives of their comrades, who carry out dangerous missions every day, depend on the quality of their work. This is why the technicians are doing their best to “dress” as many vehicles as possible in additional armor.
The common feeling at the MRF is that no one should be forcing anyone to do anything. Everyone knows his job and does it thoroughly. The only hindrance is the excruciating heat. As soon as the heat wave came, Col. Prokopchuk, the brigade’s logistics chief, ordered fans installed in the repair workshop. Such concern has only strengthened the trust of rank-and- file technicians in their superiors. This is probably why the boys work in complete harmony, and despite various snags, they have formed a close-knit team of “anti-killers.”
