Logistics units (MTO) are responsible for catering for military personnel.
“The rear of the army is a massive structure within the Armed Forces in which the provision of food for personnel in their mission plays an important role. In combat conditions, where it is necessary to feed the soldiers and provide all food allowances, including on the front line – reserve military expert Colonel Alexander Kolpakov, a former logistics officer of the Russian Armed Forces, told socialbites.ca. – There is combat experience in Afghanistan in other “hot spots”, where the rear services provide soldiers and officers with good nutrition. Even more experience came during the last large-scale exercises of the Russian army, in which hundreds of thousands of military personnel took part and all had to be fed and watered. For soldiers, a hot meal is as important as machine guns and cartridges.”
The main army field kitchens that provide food for military personnel are PAK-200M and PK-130M. They can feed 200 and 130 people, respectively.
A feature of the PAK-200M is its mobility – you can cook both in the parking lot and on the go. Two cooks with the necessary food and water supply allow you to feed several units.
PK-130M is considered the most popular camping kitchen, it is also convenient in transportation, as it is towed by any vehicle. In addition to 4 boilers, it also has an oven and can work with wood, fuel oil, gas and coal.
A more modern analogue is the mobile kitchen-dining room of the variable volume KSVK-240/24. Due to the retractable wings on the sides, which triple the internal volume, in the army such a kitchen is also called a “butterfly”. 24 people can eat comfortably at the tables inside.
Currently, the Russian army operates about 10 thousand field kitchens.
“In addition to the hot meals of the field kitchens, Russian soldiers performing combat missions separately from the main forces receive dry provisions. Their official name is individual diets (IRP), which are in seven versions, the energy value of each of which exceeds 4.5 thousand kcal. Options differ from time of year (summer-winter), conditions of use (battle and everyday), paratroopers and special forces have their own ration – more compact. Dry rations are designed for three meals a day – there are also three plastic spoons in it, ”Sergei Belousov, a member of the College of Military Specialists, told socialbites.ca.
Mandatory set – biscuits, canned meat and vegetables, bacon or pate, canned fruit (summer version), processed cheese, sugar, jam or fruit concentrate, fruit sticks, milk drink, chocolate, instant coffee and tea bags, salt and pepper . There are napkins, matches, portable warmer (with dry alcohol tablets), gum, disinfectant tablets and multivitamins. It is envisaged that the IRP should not be used by military personnel for more than three days.
The main producers of dry rations for the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation are Baryshsky Meat Processing Plant and Gryazinsky Food Processing Plant – PJSC GPC.
“The IRP requirements are very high, so we have our own control over all the food ingredients of dry rations,
– Valery Kovalevich, General Director of PJSC GPC, told socialbites.ca. – The main conditions are to cook food quickly on site, exclude perishable foods that cause stomach problems, the set must be nutritious and contain enough nutrients, this is at least 60 percent meat and no more than 16 percent fat. .
In addition, the IRP of our production is “it does not sink in water and does not burn in fire.” The outer shell is a complex technological element, for which the military department imposes strict requirements. Dry supplies must not be damaged, even if the package is submerged in water at a depth of one meter for three hours, even if it is in the flames of the fire for at least five seconds.