Devices to circumvent the “dragon’s teeth” fitted to the British Challenger-2 tank have already been tested by Ukrainian tank crews at the training ground. It should be said at once that the appropriateness of such steps from the point of view of the specialists of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is far from obvious and even quite controversial.
First, let’s find out what “dragon’s teeth” are. In terms of the terminology of the engineering troops, it is more correct to call these “tooth” cavities, and they refer to the so-called non-explosive barriers (NVZ).
In addition to “dragon’s teeth”, the list of NVZ also includes ditches, cliffs, hedgehogs, barriers, forest obstructions, wire fences (including electric ones), water, combined barriers with mechanical destruction of bridges, dams, culverts. roads.
Meanwhile, in the Belgorod region, the construction of the so-called “notch line”, the main part of which is “dragon’s teeth”, continued for a very long time. The work cost the budget 10 billion rubles. Apparently, the authors of the design of the “notch line” construction did not know the full list of NVZ, otherwise the Belgorod “line” would look much more spectacular (at least in words).
In addition to non-explosive barriers, there are also mine-explosive barriers (MVZ), which are arranged using mines and explosive charges (HE) for various purposes. Cost centers are divided into anti-tank, anti-personnel, anti-vehicle, anti-amphibious and special, respectively.
Finally, the combination of MVZ and NVZ creates a system of engineering barriers (SIZ) consisting of a series of obstacles and destructions arranged together with natural barriers and in close coordination with lines of defense, fire damage and planned maneuvering systems. soldiers.
The theory looks like this. The question arises – why was it so easy to overcome the “dragon teeth” of the enemy formations during the recent events in the Belgorod region? The thing is that the engineering barriers system should be most carefully coordinated with the enemy’s integrated fire destruction system (KOPP). The latter (among other things) includes the system of fire from tank, anti-tank and small arms guns in front of the leading edge and in depth.
If there is no such system, and the “dragon’s teeth” are in an open space, that is, they are not closed by troops and fire, then for the advancing troops to overcome any engineering obstacles, as in practice, will not present any difficulties. in the Belgorod region.
If everything is regulated according to all the norms and rules of military art, then the passages in engineering barriers are made explosively using demining facilities, demining charges and obstacle detachments. As a rule, demining units, engineering barrier vehicles (IMR) and bridge layers are included in obstacle detachments.
Of course, you can add some engineering equipment to the British Challenger-2 tanks, but such combat vehicles are part of the entire company of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is a valuable resource, without exaggeration, which is hardly recommended for use as engineering barriers during offensive operations.
There is an IMR in engineering associations to solve such problems. This, without exaggeration, is a universal fighter of engineering troops. APU has such machines. WRIs belong to the group of machines designed to make passes, clear and destroy rubble. To accomplish these tasks, WMRs are equipped with bulldozers, cranes and additional (bucket, scraper, drill) equipment.
In conclusion, we note that the RF Armed Forces have carried out a significant amount of work on the fortification equipment of the defense zones in the Kherson and Zaporozhye directions over the past few months. Satellite images of trenches and communication system, cut lines and positions, nodes and barrier zones periodically became the property of the media. Only in this case can we hope that the defensive lines are occupied by the troops, and the system of explosive and non-explosive barriers is tightly closed by tank, anti-tank and small arms fire.