Glorious Georgian army deemed a fake!
Abkhaz special forces invited experts Russian Aleksandr Kontorovich, a criminologist and marksman with 30 years of experience on the job, and his colleague, a NATO arms specialist, to the newly independent republic to study Georgian war trophies from the South Ossetian conflict.
The two experts examined an assortment of war trophies captured in the conflict zone, including the "Negev" machine gun and "Bushmaster" automatic rifle. They also studied the grenades and so-called U.S. body armor worn by the Georgian soldiers. Their results were astounding. Much of the arms were of local make and substandard quality. Consequently, they couldn't help but ask what happened to the 5 billion lari Saakashvili allocated to arming the "region's toughest NATO-standard army." Was the money simply stolen? It seems so.
Georgian grenades
The experts experimented with Georgian grenades that were supposedly produced in the U.S. First, they were amazed at the horrendous lag time — 7 seconds. Later, they were shocked to discover that the core section of the shrapnel had little-to-no impact on the environs during an explosion. The shrapnel from the container — one of the most massive pieces of a grenade — only penetrated the door post at a depth of two millimeters. Thus, a soldier without body armor would only be slightly injured by a grenade and could continue to wage war.
The grenades were also apparently made in Georgia, although they resemble U.S. models. Their detonators, according to the Koybyshev Military Academy, were Soviet production and manufactured in the 1940s-1950s. They have long outlived their lifespan and present the real threat of exploding even at a mere flick of the finger.
Looks real enough...
The military clothing worn by the U.S. forces is top-notch. However, the clothing worn by Georgian soldiers during the conflict was poor quality. This goes for their coat pockets that didn't shut properly to zero aeration on their clothing. The material used also doesn't meet accepted international standards. Whoever sewed the clothing had no idea the outfits were to be worn by soldiers heading to war. And it's unclear who sewed them in the first place. The U.S. usually has large, bulky labels on their outfits. These have small tags.
The backpacks were also sewn quickly from poor material. Their straps can be torn off at a moment's notice by slightly applying pressure with two hands. Their water-protective rubber sealing was also peeling away from new models. Their mountings were not titanium as required, but rather made from a weak material that broke easily under pressure. This makes carrying weapons an impossible task.
The body armor has one redeeming factor — two-layered ceramic, metal plates that are able to stop high caliber bullets. Overall, though, the armor functions poorly. The stitching is poor and opens at the seams. The armor had a brand label, which the experts had never heard of before. A Georgian telephone number and Internet site were indicated on the tag, but the Web site now hosts intimate sexual services.
The Georgian army's PASGT helmets were standard quality and made in South Africa. But it's unclear how they ended up in Georgia.
The dates on the clothing are also curious. By examining them, it becomes clear when Saakashvili began arming his troops — from 2005-2007.
Israeli machine gun "Negev"
The benefit is that the machine gun has a thin, light barrel. However, the weapon becomes white-hot during use. Soldiers say the barrel literally slumps over after firing 500 rounds. Surprisingly, the machine gun is only able to use ammunition from the "Galil." Ammunition from the "M16" isn't compatible with the weapon, even though NATO regulations require unification of arms and artillery.
Rifle resembling the М4
In actuality, the weapon is called the ХМ-15 and manufactured by "Bushmaster." However, the company doesn't supply weaponry to the U.S. military. "Colt" has this luxury. The "Bushmaster" rifle is low quality in comparison to the "Colt," and private armies usually carry the weapon. An entire 9 pages are dedicated to malfunctions in the "Bushmaster" manual. The experts took a new rifle out of the box, and the weapon malfunctioned on the second magazine case.
View from the Sixth Floor
Two lessons from a short war...
The short war with Georgia was a good lesson for all. The West proved the soldiers in their newly baked partner-nations in the region are no more than cannon fodder who they don't want to waste money on. The only thing the West was really interested in was seeing Russia's radio and technical equipment. This was basically a "war of the future." The North Caucasus Fifty-Eighth Army didn't have sufficient telecommunications devices, or methods of waging radio and electronic combat, while the Georgian party had all these advantages. It turned out to be difficult waging war against one's own arms, especially the high-tech Buk systems modernized by the Ukrainians, which knocked down Russian jets.
Читать русскую версию: Грузинская армия оказалась одноразовой