| Unit Name: | Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence |
| Native Name: | Войска радиационной, химической и биологической защиты Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации (Войска РХБ защиты ВС РФ) |
| Type: | CBRN defense |
| Dates: | 13 November 1918 – present |
| Command Structure: | Ministry of Defense |
| Specialization: | Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence |
| Current Commander: | General Lieutenant Igor Kirilov |
| Battles: | Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War |
| Identification Symbol Label: | Flag |
The Troops of Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence[1] of the Russian Armed Forces (Russian: Войска радиационной, химической и биологической защиты Вооружённых сил Российской Федерации (Войска РХБ защиты ВС РФ)|Voyska radiatsionnoy khimicheskoy i biologicheskoy zashchiti Vooruzhyonn'kh sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Voyska RKhB zashchiti VS RF)) are an organisation designed to reduce the losses of the Ground Forces and ensuring their combat tasks assigned during operations in conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination, as well as at enhancing their survivability and protection against high-precision and other weapons.
In 1944, the Red Army's Chemical Troops had 19 brigades (14 technical and 5 chemical protection). After the end of World War II, most of them were disbanded.
General Major Vladimir Pikalov (promoted to Colonel General by 1975) commanded the Chemical Troops of the Ministry of Defence from March 1968 to December 1988. He was in charge of the specialised military units at the site of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster. Pikalov arrived at the scene on the afternoon of 26 April 1986, and assumed command of the specialised military units there.[2] General Pikalov was later made a Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions there.
Among the 23 brigades of the Chemical Troops in the late 1980s were the 1st (at Shikhany-2 (Vol'sk-18), two kilometres from Shikhany, in the Saratov Oblast of the Volga Military District, 2nd Brigade at Teikovo in the Moscow Military District, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 26th, 27th, and the 28th (28-ма окрема бригада радіаційного, хімічного, біологічного захисту) located in Severodonetsk in the Kyiv Military District.
In 1992, the Chemical Troops within the Russian Armed Forces were renamed the NBC Protection Troops.
The basis of the NBC Protection Troops are multifunctional separate NBCP brigades which have subunits capable to perform all NBC protection activities. The Russians know them as Radiological, Chemical and Biological (RChB) troops. They often work within a combined arms army. Their main tasks include:
The NBC Protection Troops are organised for both conduct of hostilities using nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and without them and includes:
The NBCP Troops are developing as dual-purpose forces, able to solve tasks both in war and peace times, in the aftermath of accidents and disasters in industrial facilities hazardous radiatively, chemically and biologically. Further build-up of their capacity is realized by creating a modern system to identify and assess the extent and effects of weapons of mass destruction, integrated with automated control systems of troops and weapons and stable functioning in the NBC threat environment and strong electronic countermeasures. In addition, there is a process to equip formations, units and subdivisions of NBCP with new, highly effective means of NBC reconnaissance, individual and collective defence, technical means of reducing the visibility and masking, flame-throwing incendiary weapons, as well as to introduce improved materials, formulations, methods and technical means of decontamination.[3] [4]
As of 2019, the commander of the NBC Protection Troops is Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov[5]
The 395th Independent Test Aviation Squadron which supports the NBCP Troops is based at Bagay-Baranovka in Saratov Oblast.
What follows is a partial list as of November 2018 of military hardware available to the Russian NBCP troops:[4]