1.
Turkmen Air Force
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The Turkmen Air Force is the air force branch of the armed forces of Turkmenistan. It was formed from former Soviet Air Forces units within that region of the Turkestan Military District, the Turkmen Air Force inherited some 300 Soviet aircraft, and has pilots trained in Ukraine. The IISS in 2012 said the Air Force had 3,000 personnel with 94 combat capable aircraft, the total number of aircraft is around 72 It said there were two fighter/ground attack squadrons with MiG-29/MiG-29UB, Sukhoi Su-17 Fitter-Bs and two Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoots. It reported one transport squadron with Antonov An-26 Curl, and Mi-8s, training units had Sukhoi Su-7 Fitter-As and L-39 Albatros. Air defence missile units had SA-2, SA-3, and SA-5, 99th Aviation Base with МiG-29 and Su-25. 47th Separate Mixed Aviation Squadron with Аn-26/24, Мi-24 and Мi-8, 107th Fighter Aviation Regiment with 38 МiG-23 and 20 МiG-25. 31st Separate Aviation Squadron with МiG-21, Su-7, L-39, Yak-28, 55th Fighter Aviation Regiment with МiG-23М. 1st Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment Turkmenbashi with 2K11 Krug
2.
Ashgabat
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Ashgabat — known as Poltoratsk between 1919 and 1927, is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan in Central Asia, situated between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag mountain range. The Karakum Canal runs through the city, carrying waters from the Amu Darya from east to west, Ashgabat is called Aşgabat in Turkmen, Ашхабад in Russian, and Ešq-ābād in Persian. Before 1991, the city was usually spelled Ashkhabad in English and it has also been variously spelled Ashkhabat and Ashgabad. From 1919 until 1927 the city was renamed Poltoratsk after a local revolutionary, the name means city of love or city of devotion. Some Turkmen scholars insist that the name back to the Parthian era, 3rd century BC, deriving from the name of the founder of the Parthian Empire, Arsaces I of Parthia. Ashgabat is a young city, having been founded in 1881 as a fortification. Konjikala was rebuilt because of its advantageous location on the Silk Road, after that it survived as a small village until Russians took over in the 19th century. A part of Persia until the Battle of Geok Tepe, Askhabad was ceded to the Russian Empire under the terms of the Akhal Treaty, russia developed the area as it was close to the border of British-influenced Persia. It was regarded as a pleasant town with European style buildings, shops, in 1908, the first Baháí House of Worship was built in Askhabat. It was badly damaged in the 1948 earthquake and finally demolished in 1963, the community of the Baháí Faith in Turkmenistan was largely based in Ashgabat. Soviet rule was established in Ashgabat in December 1917, after receiving some support from General Malleson, the British withdrew in April 1919 and the Tashkent Soviet resumed control of the city. In 1919, the city was renamed Poltoratsk, after Pavel Poltoratsky, when the Turkmen SSR was established in 1924, Poltoratsk became its capital. The original name was restored in 1927, from this period onward, the city experienced rapid growth and industrialisation, although severely disrupted by a major earthquake on October 6,1948. An estimated 7.3 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed 110-176,000, in July 2003, all the names of streets in Ashgabat were replaced by serial numbers except nine major highways, some named after Saparmurat Niyazov, his father and mother. The Central Palace area is designated 2000 to symbolize the beginning of the 21st century, the rest of the streets have larger or smaller four-digit numerical names. In 2013, the city was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the worlds highest concentration of white marble buildings, Russians form 7. 7% of the population, followed by Armenians, Turks, Uzbeks, and Azeris. When Ashgabat was under Russian rule, the number of Baháís in the city rose to over 1,000, the community elected one of the first Baháí local administrative institutions. The building was designed under the guidance of Abdul-Bahá by Ustad Ali-Akbar Banna Yazdi who also wrote a history of the Bahais in Ashgabat, under the Soviet policy towards religion, the Baháís, strictly adhering to their principle of obedience to legal government, abandoned these properties in 1928
3.
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow
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Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow is a Turkmen politician who has served as the President of Turkmenistan since February 2007. Berdimuhamedow, a dentist by profession, served in the government under President Saparmurat Niyazov as Minister of Health beginning in 1997 and he became Acting President following Niyazovs death on 21 December 2006 and subsequently won the February 2007 presidential election. He faced no opposition in the vote and won by an overwhelming margin. In the February 2012 presidential election, he was re-elected with 97% of the vote, in the February 2017 presidential election, he was re-elected to a third term with 97% of the vote. He uses the honorable title Arkadag, meaning protector, Berdimuhamedov was born on 29 June 1957 in Babarab, in what is now the Geok Tepe etrap of Ahal Province. He graduated from the Turkmen State Medical Institute in 1979 and entered a career in dentistry and he also received a PhD in medical sciences in Moscow. By 1992 he had part of the dentistry faculty at the Medical Institute. In 1995, during the rule of Saparmurat Niyazov, Berdimuhamedov became head of the center of the Ministry of Health. He was appointed to the government as Minister of Health in 1997, in April 2004, Niyazov suspended Berdimuhamedovs salary for three months because healthcare workers were also not being paid. The Health Ministry was responsible for carrying out Niyazovs notorious order to all hospitals outside of the capital city. According to a cable from the U. S. embassy in Ashgabat and he has another daughter with his long-term Russian mistress. Following Niyazovs death in December 2006, the State Security Council of Turkmenistan appointed Berdimuhamedow as acting president, Berdimuhamedov was supported by the political elite, and the official results showed him as winning 89% of the vote. In his first presidential trip abroad, Berdimuhamedov visited Saudi Arabia in mid-April 2007, there he performed the Umrah pilgrimage and met with King Abdullah. He then visited Russia and President Vladimir Putin at the end of the same month, after taking office, Berdimuhamedow reversed several of Niyazovs more eccentric policies. He also restored the pensions of 100,000 elderly people whose pensions Niyazov had slashed in the face of a budget crisis. Later on, he reopened the Turkmen Academy of Sciences, which had closed by Niyazov. Berdimuhamedow also took steps to curb the extensive personality cult surrounding his predecessor and he also gave up his right to rename any landmarks, institutions, or cities. He also restored the names of the months of the year and days of the week
4.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
5.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
7.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
8.
Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire
9.
Uzbekistan
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Uzbekistan, officially the Republic of Uzbekistan, is one of only two doubly landlocked countries in the world. Located in Central Asia, it is a unitary, constitutional, presidential republic, comprising twelve provinces, one autonomous republic and a capital city. Uzbekistan is bordered by five landlocked countries, Kazakhstan to the north, Tajikistan to the southeast, Kyrgyzstan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southwest. Once part of the Turkic Khaganate and later Timurid Empires, the region that includes the Republic of Uzbekistan was conquered in the early 16th century by Eastern Turkic-speaking nomads. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, it declared independence as the Republic of Uzbekistan on 31 August 1991, Uzbekistan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The countrys official language is Uzbek, a Turkic language written in the Latin alphabet and spoken natively by approximately 85% of the population, however, Uzbeks constitute 81% of the population, followed by Russians, Tajiks, Kazakhs, and others. A majority of Uzbeks are non-denominational Muslims, Uzbekistan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, UN, and the SCO. While officially a republic, non-governmental human rights organizations define Uzbekistan as an authoritarian state with limited civil rights. Uzbekistans economy relies mainly on commodity production, including cotton, gold, uranium, despite the declared objective of transition to a market economy, its government continues to maintain economic controls which imports in favour of domestic import substitution. Uzbekistan has an area of 447,400 square kilometres and it is the 56th largest country in the world by area and the 42nd by population. Among the CIS countries, it is the 4th largest by area, Uzbekistan lies between latitudes 37° and 46° N, and longitudes 56° and 74° E. It stretches 1,425 kilometres from west to east and 930 kilometres from north to south, Uzbekistan also shares a short border with Afghanistan to the south. Uzbekistan is a dry, landlocked country and it is one of two doubly landlocked countries in the world, the other being Liechtenstein. In addition, due to its location within a series of endorheic basins, less than 10% of its territory is intensively cultivated irrigated land in river valleys and oases. The rest is vast desert and mountains, the climate in the Republic of Uzbekistan is continental, with little precipitation expected annually. The average summer high temperature tends to be 40 °C, while the winter low temperature is around −23 °C. Uzbekistan has a rich and diverse natural environment, the Aral Sea used to be the fourth-largest inland sea on Earth, acting as an influencing factor in the air moisture and arid land use. Since the 1960s, the decade when the misuse of the Aral Sea water began, it has shrunk to less than 50% of its former area, reliable, or even approximate data, have not been collected, stored or provided by any organization or official agency
10.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
11.
Kazakhstan
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Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Kazakhstan is the worlds largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world, Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the regions GDP, primarily through its oil/gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources, Kazakhstan is officially a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, the terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands, steppe, taiga, rock canyons, hills, deltas, snow-capped mountains, and deserts. Kazakhstan has an estimated 18 million people as of 2014, Given its large area, its population density is among the lowest. The capital is Astana, where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty, the territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic tribes. This changed in the 13th century, when Genghis Khan occupied the country as part of the Mongolian Empire, following internal struggles among the conquerors, power eventually reverted to the nomads. By the 16th century, the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group, the Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century, and by the mid-19th century, they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, and subsequent civil war, the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times, in 1936, it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy, especially its dominant hydrocarbon industry. Kazakhstans 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs, Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars, the Kazakh language is the state language, and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes. The name Kazakh comes from the ancient Turkic word qaz, to wander, the name Cossack is of the same origin. The Persian suffix -stan means land or place of, so Kazakhstan can be translated as land of the wanderers. Kazakhstan has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age, the regions climate, archaeologists believe that humans first domesticated the horse in the regions vast steppes. Central Asia was originally inhabited by the Scythians, the Cuman entered the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan around the early 11th century, where they later joined with the Kipchak and established the vast Cuman-Kipchak confederation. Under the Mongol Empire, the largest in history, administrative districts were established. These eventually came under the rule of the emergent Kazakh Khanate, throughout this period, traditional nomadic life and a livestock-based economy continued to dominate the steppe. Nevertheless, the region was the focus of ever-increasing disputes between the native Kazakh emirs and the neighbouring Persian-speaking peoples to the south, at its height the Khanate would rule parts of Central Asia and control Cumania
12.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
13.
Turkmen language
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Turkmen has vowel harmony, is agglutinative, and has no grammatical gender. Written Turkmen today is based on the Teke dialect, the other dialects are Nohurly, Ýomud, Änewli, Hasarly, Nerezim, Gökleň, Salyr, Saryk, Ärsary and Çowdur. The Teke dialect is referred to as Chagatai, but like all Turkmen dialects it reflects only a limited influence from classical Chagatai. Officially, Turkmen is rendered in the “Täze Elipbiý”, or “New Alphabet”, however, the old Soviet Cyrillic alphabet is still in wide use. Before 1929, Turkmen was written in an Arabic alphabet, in 1929–1938 a Latin alphabet replaced it, and then the Cyrillic alphabet was used from 1938 to 1991. In 1991, the current Latin alphabet was introduced, although the transition to it has been rather slow and it used to use some unusual letters, such as the pound, dollar, yen, and cent signs, but these were replaced by more conventional letter symbols. The following phonemes are present in the Turkmen language, Turkmen contains both short and long vowels, doubling the duration of sound for a short vowel is generally how its long vowel counterpart is pronounced. Turkmen employs vowel harmony, a principle that is common in fellow Turkic languages, vowels and their sounds are as follows, For purposes of vowel harmony the central vowel is considered back. Turkmen consonant phonemes, Note that с and з are actually used for and, not, like other Turkic languages, Turkmen is characterized by vowel harmony. In general, words of native origin consist either entirely of front vowels or entirely of back vowels, prefixes and suffixes reflect this harmony, taking different forms depending on the word to which they are attached. The infinitive form of a verb determines whether it will follow a front vowel harmony or back vowel harmony, words of foreign origin, mainly Russian, Persian, or Arabic, do not follow vowel harmony. Verbs are conjugated for singular and plural number and first, second, There are 11 verb tenses, present comprehensive, present perfect, future certain, future indefinite, conditional, past definite, obligatory, imperative, and intentional. There are two types of verbs in Turkmen, distinguished by their forms, those ending in the suffix -mak. -Mak verbs follow back vowel harmony, whereas -mek verbs follow front vowel harmony, evidentiality is determined by four markers, roughly, -dY -Yp-dYr -dYr-mY-näm -mYş Some independent particles may be said to convey evidentiality, one such word is the particle eken. Aman become sick-EV-COP Aman is sick, compare 1 with 2. a and 2. b,2. a. Maral Ashgabat-ABL come-EV-COP Maral came from Ashgabat, Ben you-GEN cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC eat-3spast Ben ate your cookies. The speaker saw Ben eat the cookies, Ben told the speaker that he ate the cookies. Ben you-GEN cookie-pl-2sPOSS-ACC eat-EV-COP Ben ate your cookies, the speaker heard from someone else that Ben ate the cookies
14.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
15.
Soviet Armed Forces
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The OGPU was later made independent and amalgamated with the NKVD in 1934, and thus its Internal Troops were under the joint management of the Defense and Interior Commisariats. The Council of Peoples Commissars set up the Red Army by decree on January 15,1918, credit as the founder of the Red Army generally goes to Leon Trotsky, the Peoples Commissar for War from 1918 to 1924. At the beginning of its existence, the Red Army functioned as a voluntary formation, however, a decree of May 29,1918 imposed obligatory military service for men of ages 18 to 40. To service the massive draft, the Bolsheviks formed regional military commissariats, Democratic election of officers was also abolished by decree, while separate quarters for officers, special forms of address, saluting, and higher pay were all reinstated. After General Aleksei Brusilov offered the Bolsheviks his professional services in 1920, the Bolshevik authorities set up a special commission under the chair of Lev Glezarov, and by August 1920 had drafted about 315,000 ex-officers. Most often they held the position of military advisor, a number of prominent Soviet Army commanders had previously served as Imperial Russian generals. In fact, a number of former Imperial military men, notably a member of the Supreme Military Council, Mikhail Bonch-Bruevich, had joined the Bolsheviks earlier, the Polish-Soviet War represented the first foreign campaign of the Red Army. The Soviet counter-offensive following the 1920 Polish invasion of Ukraine at first met with success, in 1934, Mongolia and the USSR, recognising the threat from the mounting Japanese military presence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, agreed to co-operate in the field of defence. On March 12,1936, the co-operation increased with the ten-year Mongolian-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, in May 1939, a Mongolian cavalry unit clashed with Manchukuoan cavalry in the disputed territory east of the Halha River. There followed a clash with a Japanese detachment, which drove the Mongolians over the river, the Soviet troops quartered there in accordance with the mutual defence protocol intervened and obliterated the detachment. Escalation of the conflict appeared imminent, and both sides spent June amassing forces, on July 1 the Japanese force numbered 38,000 troops. The combined Soviet-Mongol force had 12,500 troops, the Japanese crossed the river, but after a three-day battle their opponents threw them back over the river. The Japanese kept probing the Soviet defences throughout July, without success, on August 23 the entire Japanese force found itself encircled, and on August 31 largely destroyed. Artillery and air attacks wiped out those Japanese who refused to surrender, Japan requested a cease-fire, and the conflict concluded with an agreement between the USSR, Mongolia and Japan signed on September 15 in Moscow. In the conflict, the Red Army losses were 9,703 killed in action, the Japanese lost 25,000 KIA, the grand total was 61,000 killed, missing, wounded and taken prisoner. Shortly after the cease-fire, the Japanese negotiated access to the battlefields to collect their dead, finding thousands upon thousands of dead bodies came as a further shock to the already shaken morale of the Japanese soldiers. The Soviet invasion opened a front for the Poles and forced them to abandon plans for defence in the Romanian bridgehead area. The Soviet and German advance halted roughly at the Curzon Line, the defined Soviet sphere of interest matched the territory subsequently captured in the campaign
16.
Turkestan Military District
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The Turkestan Military District was a military district of both the Imperial Russian Army and the Soviet Armed Forces, with its headquarters at Tashkent. The District was first created during the 1874 Russian military reform when by order of Minister D. A. Milyutinym the territory of Russia was divided into fourteen military districts and its first commander was Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman, who was also Governor-General of Russian Turkestan at the time. From 1918 to 1926 the District was referred to as the Turkestani Front as its forces were conducting operations against the Basmachi Revolt throughout practically all the Districts territory. In October 1919, Gleb Bokii was sent by Cheka head Felix Dzerzhinsky to Tashkent to head the operations of the Cheka in the Turkestan Front, the District was re-created on 9 July 1945 after the division of the Central Asian Military District into the Turkestan and Steppe Military Districts. The new Turkestan and Steppe District were formed from the headquarters of the 1st, in July 1946 the Steppe Military District was dissolved and its responsibilities transferred back to the Turkestan Military District. In January 1958 from the abolished South Ural Military District the Turkestan District gained the territories of Aktyubinsk, Guryev and the West-Kazakhstan areas of the Kazakh SSR. In 1957 5th Guards Motor Rifle Division, the former 5th Guards Mechanised Corps that had ended the war in Germany with 4th Tank Army, SAVO eventually was merged back into the TurkVO. 73rd Air Army was reestablished to provide air support for the Central Asian Military District, the 32nd Army initially combined a former Ukraine-based division, the Тurkmenistan-based 155th MRD and 78th Тank Division, and the 203rd Motor Rifle Division. To replace the 1st Army Corps which had moved up to Semipalatinsk. The corps was created in 1982 and it comprised two divisions - the 88th and the 58th Motor Rifle Division. Thus the Turkestan Military District covered only the Uzbek SSR and the Turkmen SSR, in the 1980s the District became part of the Southern Strategic Direction alongside the North Caucasus and Transcaucasus Military Districts. General Igor Rodionov commanded the District in 1985-6, aviation support for the district was provided by the 49th Air Army, and air defence by the 12th Army of the Air Defence Forces. After the withdrawal from Afghanistan 40th Army was disbanded, but in June 1991 it was reformed at Semipalatinsk from 32nd Army. The Museum of history of The Turkestan Military District is on Gorki Avenue in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. David Glantz, Companion to Colossus Reborn, University Press of Kansas,2005 William E Odom, The Collapse of the Soviet Military, tsybin, The Soviet Ground Forces in the last years of the USSR, St Petersburg, B&K,2001 V. I. Golikov, The Soviet Army in the Years of the Cold War 1945-91, Tomsk University Publishing House, Tomsk,2004
17.
Turkmenistan
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Turkmenistan has been at the crossroads of civilizations for centuries. In medieval times, Merv was one of the cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, Turkmenistan later figured prominently in the movement in Central Asia. In 1924, Turkmenistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, Turkmenistan possesses the worlds fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Most of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert, since 1993, citizens have received government-provided electricity, water and natural gas free of charge. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov until his death in 2006, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow was elected president in 2007. According to Human Rights Watch, Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most repressive countries, after suspending the death penalty, the use of capital punishment was formally abolished in the 2008 constitution. Historically inhabited by the Indo-Iranians, the history of Turkmenistan begins with its annexation by the Achaemenid Empire of Ancient Iran. In the 8th century AD, Turkic-speaking Oghuz tribes moved from Mongolia into present-day Central Asia, part of a powerful confederation of tribes, these Oghuz formed the ethnic basis of the modern Turkmen population. In the 10th century, the name Turkmen was first applied to Oghuz groups that accepted Islam, There they were under the dominion of the Seljuk Empire, which was composed of Oghuz groups living in present-day Iran and Turkmenistan. Turkmen soldiers in the service of the played a important role in the spreading of Turkic culture when they migrated westward into present-day Azerbaijan. In the 12th century, Turkmen and other tribes overthrew the Seljuk Empire, in the next century, the Mongols took over the more northern lands where the Turkmens had settled, scattering the Turkmens southward and contributing to the formation of new tribal groups. The sixteenth and eighteenth centuries saw a series of splits and confederations among the nomadic Turkmen tribes, by the 16th century, most of those tribes were under the nominal control of two sedentary Uzbek khanates, Khiva and Bukhoro. Turkmen soldiers were an important element of the Uzbek militaries of this period, in the 19th century, raids and rebellions by the Yomud Turkmen group resulted in that groups dispersal by the Uzbek rulers. According to Paul R. Spickard, Prior to the Russian conquest, Russian forces began occupying Turkmen territory late in the 19th century. From their Caspian Sea base at Krasnovodsk, the Russians eventually overcame the Uzbek khanates, in 1916 the Russian Empires participation in World War I resonated in Turkmenistan, as an anticonscription revolt swept most of Russian Central Asia. In 1924 the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was formed from the tsarist province of Transcaspia, by the late 1930s, Soviet reorganization of agriculture had destroyed what remained of the nomadic lifestyle in Turkmenistan, and Moscow controlled political life. The Ashgabat earthquake of 1948 killed over 110,000 people, during the next half-century, Turkmenistan played its designated economic role within the Soviet Union and remained outside the course of major world events
18.
Constitution of Turkmenistan
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The Constitution of Turkmenistan adopted on 18 May 1992 is the supreme law of Turkmenistan. In its preamble, the Constitution emphasizes self-determination for the Turkmen people, as well as the rule of law, the 1992 constitution was amended in 1995,1999,2003 and 2006. It was amended on 26 September 2008, abolishing the 2, 500-member Peoples Council, a new constitution was adopted on September 14,2016. There were three Turkmen SSR constitutions, enacted in 1927,1937, and 1978, the last was superseded by the modern Constitution of Turkmenistan, which came into force in 1992. It has since been amended in 2008 and 2016, Section 1 of the 2008 Constitution is composed of 17 articles. Article 1 describes Turkmenistan as a democracy and presidential republic. The sovereignty and the integrity of the state are inviolable and indivisible. Article 3 proclaims individual rights and dignity as a protected by the state. Article 8 states that residents and persons without citizenship enjoy the same rights as the citizens of Turkmenistan subject to existing laws. Among the rights enumerated are the right to property and freedom of religion. Article 4 endorses a separation of powers, including judicial independence, article 14 establishes the Turkmen language as the official language and article 17 confirms Ashgabat as the capital city. Section 2 outlines rights of individuals and citizens, civil and political rights include equality rights, sex equality, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, and freedom of movement. Social and economic rights include the right to work, the right to rest, other social rights include the right to health care, the right to old-age pension, and the right to disability benefits. Article 22 declares that everybody has the right to life and that punishment is abolished in Turkmenistan. The 1992 Constitution allowed capital punishment, but only for the heaviest of crimes, finally, Section 2 lists some obligations on citizens, including serving in the military and paying taxes. Section 3 describes the organs of government in Turkmenistan, the state power is vested with the President, the Mejlis, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the Supreme Court of Turkmenistan. The Peoples Council of Turkmenistan, which figured prominently in the 1992 Constitution, was abolished in the 2008 Constitution, articles 50-58 of the 2008 Constitution describe the powers of the President of Turkmenistan. The President is the head of state and also the head of government, the President is in charge of Turkmenistans foreign policy and is the countrys commander-in-chief
19.
Saparmurat Niyazov
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Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov was a Turkmen politician who served as the leader of Turkmenistan from 1985 until his death in 2006. He was First Secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party from 1985 until 1991, Turkmen media referred to him using the title His Excellency Saparmurat Türkmenbaşy, President of Turkmenistan and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers. His self-given title Türkmenbaşy, meaning Head of the Turkmen, referred to his position as the founder, Niyazov was born on 19 February 1940 in Gypjak, just outside Ashgabat in the Turkmen SSR. He was a member of the influential Tekke tribe, the other members of his family were killed in the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake that caused extreme damage and a high number of casualties the city. His mother Gurbansoltan Eje was part of the Cult of personality later and he grew up in a Soviet orphanage before the state put him in the custody of a distant relative. After finishing school in 1959, he worked as an instructor in the Turkmen trade-union exploratory committee and he then studied at the Leningrad Polytechnic Institute, where in 1967 he received a diploma as an electrical engineer. After graduating, he went to study in Russia, but was expelled a few years later for academic failure, in 1962 Niyazov started his political career, becoming a member of the Communist Party. He quickly rose through the ranks, becoming First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Turkmen SSR in 1985 and he gained this post after Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev had removed his predecessor, Muhammetnazar Gapurov, following a cotton-related scandal. Under Niyazov, the Turkmen Communist Party had a reputation as one of the most hardline, on January 13,1990, Niyazov became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Turkmen SSR, the supreme legislative body in the republic. The post was equivalent to that of president, Niyazov supported the Soviet coup attempt of 1991. However, after the coup collapsed, he set about separating Turkmenistan from the dying Soviet Union, the Turkmen Supreme Soviet declared Turkmenistan independent and appointed Niyazov as the countrys first president on October 27,1991. On June 21,1992 the Turkmenistani presidential election of 1992 saw Niyazov - the sole candidate - chosen as the countrys first popularly elected president, a year later he declared himself Türkmenbaşy - Leader of all Turkmen. In 1994 a plebiscite extended Niyazovs term to 2002 so he could oversee a 10-year development plan, the official results showed that 99. 9% of voters approved this proposal. On December 28,1999, Parliament declared Niyazov President for Life, Niyazov and his Russian-Jewish wife, Muza, had a son and a daughter. Niyazov became president at the transition of Turkmenistan from a Soviet republic to an independent state, there was outside concern about press freedom and to a lesser extent religious rights of minority religious groups. He also took part in creating new holidays with a specific Turkmen nature and introduced a new Latin-based Turkmen alphabet to replace Russian Cyrillic. The Latin Turkmen alphabet consists of, Aa, Bb, Çç, Dd, Ee, Ää, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Žž, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Ňň, Oo, Öö, Pp, Rr, Ss, Şş, Tt, Uu, Üü, Ww, Yy, Ýý, Zz. Niyazov became a substitute for the left by the downfall of the communist system, with his image replacing those of Marx
20.
Guard of honour
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An honor guard, or ceremonial guard, is a ceremonial unit, usually military in nature. A primary role for honor guards in the United States and some countries is to provide funeral honors for fallen comrades. An honor guard may also serve as the guardians of the colors by displaying and escorting the national flag on ceremonial occasions at official state functions, finally, honor guards usually provide detachments for review by visiting heads of state. Honor guards also serve in the world for fallen police officers. Persons serving in this capacity may or may not be designated, meaning they may not be assigned to serve each, in the USA, military honor guards may serve as ambassadors to the public, presenting a positive image of their service, and assisting with the recruiting effort. In member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, a guard mounted for ceremonial events is known as a guard of honour. Still serving as part of the Argentine Army, they are the presidential guard, two unmounted grenadiers are stationed in front of the Pink House as a symbol of the ceremonial and honor guard. The Brazilian armed forces and police have several troops for ceremonial usages, the most important of them is the Brazilian presidents honor guard. It is composed of the 1st Guards Cavalry Regiment – Independence Dragoons, the Presidential Guard Battalion, National Guards Unit includes military units for army salute ceremonials, a band and a wind orchestra. They marched as the first division in the parade of the 35th, 50th. They are often on parades led by a guard detail carrying the PLA flag. It is stationed at the Casa de Nariño in Bogota and carries the traditions of Simon Bolivars infantry guards company raised in the midst of the Spanish American wars of independence in 1815, in Croatia, the Honor Guard Battalion serves as the guard of honor. The Honor Guard Battalion performs protocol tasks for the needs of state and military officials, as well as tasks related to the protection. It consist of up to 300 members, the unit is under direct command of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia. The Republican Guard of the French Gendarmerie provides both foot and horse-mounted guards of honor, in addition, the Wachbataillon takes part in military events and ceremonies of major importance. In Greece, the Presidential Guard is a unit of the Greek Army having the privilege to guard the Monument of the Unknown Soldier. Its members, mostly known as Evzones must be taller than 1. 85m and are trained hard as their duty includes standing completely still for more than an hour 4 times a day. They are famous for their discipline, the ability to stand motionless without even blinking, their stylish walking
21.
T-72
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The T-72 is a Soviet second-generation main battle tank that entered production in 1971. About 20,000 T-72 tanks were built, making it one of the most widely produced post–World War II tanks, the T-72 was widely exported and saw service in 40 countries and in numerous conflicts. The development of the T-72 was a result of the introduction of the T-64 tank. The T-64 was an ambitious project to build a competitive tank with a weight of not more than 36 tons under the direction of Alexander Morozov in Kharkov. To achieve that goal, the crew was reduced to three soldiers, saving the loader by introducing an automated loading system and this and other steps allowed a reduced weight, but caused problems when looking for a reliable engine to fit in the smaller hull. The production of the T-64 with a 115-mm gun began in 1964, problems with the first batch of T-64 tanks were centred on the 5TDF700 hp engine and the auto loading mechanism. The engine was unreliable, was difficult to repair and had a life span of only a World War 2-era tank engine. A strong lobby around designer Morozov advocated for the T-64 in Moscow, preventing rival developments, the 5TDF was too complex and its production twice as costly as the V-45 engine. In 1967, the Uralvagonzavod formed Section 520, which was to prepare the serial production of the T-64 for 1970. The team soon found out that the more powerful V-45 engine put a lot of stress on the fragile T-64 hull, a more stable solution had to be found. Under influence from Kharkov, the idea had been turned down by Moscow, but this construction, with its big, rubbercoated roadwheels now formed the basis for the mobilisation model of the T-64. Additional changes were made to the loading system, which also was taken from an earlier project. Ammunition, consisting of a projectile and a propellant charge was now stored horizontally on two levels, not vertically on one level like in the T-64. It was said to be more reliable than the T-64 autoloader, in 1964, two 125-mm guns of the D-81 type had been used to test their installation in the T-62, so the Ural plant was ready to adopt the 125-mm calibre for the T-64A as well. Uralvagonzavod produced the first prototype with a 125-mm gun and V-45K engine in 1968 as Object 172, after intensive comparative testing with the T-64A, Object 172 was re-engineered in 1970 to deal with some minor problems. However, being only a model, a serial production of Object 172 was not possible in peacetime. In an unclear political process decree number 326-113 was issued, which allowed the production of Object 172 in the Soviet Union from 1, January 1972 and freed Uralvagonzavod from the T-64A production. At least some technical documentation on the T-72 is known to have passed to the CIA by the Polish Colonel Ryszard Kuklinski between 1971 and 1982
22.
T-90
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The T-90 is a third-generation Russian battle tank that entered service in 1993. The tank is a variation of the T-72B and incorporates many features found on the T-80U. Originally called the T-72BU, but later renamed to T-90, it is a tank in service with Russian Ground Forces. The T-90 uses a 125mm 2A46 smoothbore main gun, the 1A45T fire-control system, an uprated engine, standard protective measures include a blend of steel and composite armour, smoke grenade dischargers, Kontakt-5 explosive-reactive armour and the Shtora infrared ATGM jamming system. It was designed and built by Uralvagonzavod, in Nizhny Tagil, since 2011, the Russian armed forces have ceased any further orders for the T-90, and are instead anticipating the development of the T-14 Armata that is expected to enter service in 2016. The T-90 has its origins in a Soviet-era program aimed at developing a replacement for the T-64, T-72. The T-72 platform was selected as the basis for the new generation of tank owing to its cost-effectiveness, simplicity, development work was approved in 1986 and the first prototypes were completed by 1988. The vehicles resulting from the Object 187 program have not been declassified to this date, less than 200 T-90 tanks were delivered to the Russian Ground Forces before production was resumed in 2005 of an upgraded version. By September 1995, some 107 T-90 tanks had been produced, located in the Siberian Military District. The first 42 complete Indian tanks were delivered in 2001 and were designated T-90S, still equipped with the older cast turrets of the early series and powered by the V-84 engine making 840hp. This was followed up next year with delivery of 82 vehicles, now equipped with the new welded turrets, in 2005 the Russian army resumed delivery of the T-90, requesting the original specification for the vehicle with a cast turret. That same year saw delivery of an additional 18 new tanks - enough to one whole battalion. These new Russian tanks were powered by the V-92S2 engine, carried a T01-K05 Buran-M gunners sight and were protected by the most recent Kontakt-5 reactive armor with 4S22 explosive tiles, since 2008, the Russian army has received 62 tanks annually, suspending orders in 2011. Russia is developing the new Armata Universal Combat Platform to be ready for use by 2016 and it is expected to employ a more powerful engine, improved armor, main gun and autoloader, with ammunition storage separated from the crew. An early variant of the export-oriented T-90S allegedly saw combat action during the 1999 Chechen invasion of Dagestan instead of being delivered to India, according to Moscow Defence Brief, one vehicle was hit by seven RPG anti-tank rockets but remained in action. The journal concluded that with regular equipment, the upgraded T-90 seems to be the best protected Russian tank, especially with the implementation of Shtora-1, the T-90A was deployed to Syria in 2015 to support the Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War. In early February 2016, Syrian Army forces began using T-90As in combat, in late February, a video was leaked on the internet which showed a T-90 survive a direct frontal turret hit by a TOW-2A missile in Aleppo. The first alleged footage of the targeted tank showed only minor damage to Shtora-1 jammer optics, in early May there was another TOW attack scoring a hit on a different vehicle operated by Syrian loyalist forces
23.
Division (military)
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A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. Infantry divisions during the World Wars ranged between 10,000 and 30,000 in nominal strength, in most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. In the West, the first general to think of organising an army into smaller units was Maurice de Saxe, Marshal General of France. He died at the age of 54, without having implemented his idea, victor-François de Broglie put the ideas into practice. He conducted successful practical experiments of the system in the Seven Years War. The first war in which the system was used systematically was the French Revolutionary War. It made the more flexible and easy to manoeuvre. Under Napoleon, the divisions were grouped together into corps, because of their increasing size, napoleons military success spread the divisional and corps system all over Europe, by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, all armies in Europe had adopted it. In modern times, most military forces have standardized their divisional structures, the peak use of the division as the primary combat unit occurred during World War II, when the belligerents deployed over a thousand divisions. With technological advances since then, the power of each division has increased. Divisions are often formed to organize units of a particular type together with support units to allow independent operations. In more recent times, divisions have mainly been organized as combined arms units with subordinate units representing various combat arms, in this case, the division often retains the name of a more specialized division, and may still be tasked with a primary role suited to that specialization. For the most part, large cavalry units did not remain after World War II, in general, two new types of cavalry were developed, air cavalry or airmobile, relying on helicopter mobility, and armored cavalry, based on an autonomous armored formation. The former was pioneered by the 11th Air Assault Division, formed on 1 February 1963 at Fort Benning, on 29 June 1965 the division was renamed as the 1st Cavalry Division, before its departure for the Vietnam War. After the end of the Vietnam War, the 1st Cavalry Division was reorganised and re-equipped with tanks, the development of the tank during World War I prompted some nations to experiment with forming them into division-size units. Many did this the way as they did cavalry divisions, by merely replacing cavalry with AFVs. This proved unwieldy in combat, as the units had many tanks, instead, a more balanced approach was taken by adjusting the number of tank, infantry, artillery, and support units. A panzer division was a division of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS of Germany during World War II
24.
Caspian Sea
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The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the worlds largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It is in a basin located between Europe and Asia. It is bounded by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, the Caspian Sea lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. In its northern part, the Caspian Depression lies 28 to 130 m below sea level, the sea bed in the southern part reaches as low as 1023 m below sea level, which is the second lowest natural depression on earth after Lake Baikal. The ancient inhabitants of its coast perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness, the sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 and a volume of 78,200 km3. It has a salinity of approximately 1. 2%, about a third of the salinity of most seawater, the word Caspian is derived from the name of the Caspi, an ancient people who lived to the southwest of the sea in Transcaucasia. Strabo wrote that to the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea, but the tribe has now disappeared. Moreover, the Caspian Gates, which is the name of a region in Irans Tehran province, the Iranian city of Qazvin shares the root of its name with that of the sea. In fact, the traditional Arabic name for the sea itself is Bahr al-Qazwin, in classical antiquity among Greeks and Persians it was called the Hyrcanian Ocean. In Persian antiquity, as well as in modern Iran, it is known as the دریای خزر, Daryā-e Khazar, ancient Arabic sources refer to it as Baḥr Gīlān meaning the Gilan Sea. Turkic languages refer to the lake as Khazar Sea, in Turkmen, the name is Hazar deňizi, in Azeri, it is Xəzər dənizi, and in modern Turkish, it is Hazar denizi. An exception is Kazakh, where it is called Каспий теңізі, old Russian sources call it the Khvalyn or Khvalis Sea after the name of Khwarezmia. In modern Russian, it is called Каспи́йское мо́ре, Kaspiyskoye more, the Caspian Sea, like the Black Sea, Namak Lake, and Lake Urmia, is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level. Due to the current inflow of water, the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its northern portions, and is most saline on the Iranian shore. Currently, the salinity of the Caspian is one third that of Earths oceans. The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world, the coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The Caspian is divided into three distinct regions, the Northern, Middle, and Southern Caspian
25.
BTR-60
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The BTR-60 is the first vehicle in a series of Soviet eight-wheeled armoured personnel carriers. It was developed in the late 1950s as a replacement for the BTR-152 and was seen in public for the first time in 1961. The BTR-152 and BTR-40, the first two Soviet mass-produced APCs developed after the Second World War, gave the Soviet Army useful experience with wheeled armoured personnel carriers. However, even as they were designed, they werent suited for the needs of the Soviet Army as they lacked a roof, the low combat values of the BTR-152 and BTR-40 were exposed when the Egyptian Army used them during the Suez Crisis. This was one of the reasons why the new APC was developed, between 1956 and 1957, a decision was made to convert all rifle and mechanized divisions into motor rifle divisions and a requirement for a new transport vehicle was drawn up. Two design bureaus were given the requirements, GAZ led by V. A. Dedkov, the vehicle was also supposed to be amphibious. The GAZ design team started to work on the new APC during the winter of 1956, despite the fact that the army wanted a fully roofed vehicle with NBC protection system, the GAZ design did not have those features. It was argued that firing from the interior would be difficult. The prototype was built between 1957 and 1958, ZiL developed a 6x6 design, the ZiL-153, similar in hull shape to the GAZ design. There were also three other 8x8 prototypes, Obyekt 560, Obyekt 1015, Obyekt 1015B and Obyekt 1020B, all prototypes were submitted to and passed state trials in 1959. Even though the Obyekt 1015B performed best, the GAZ design was selected, officially, the committee that made the decision did so because of the GAZ plants production capabilities and experience. The main reason was that the GAZ design was the simplest and cheapest one and introduced the lowest amount of technological advancements, BTR-60P had open-roofed crew and troop compartments, which was deemed to be a serious disadvantage. Accordingly, a new version with a roof, designated BTR-60PA. This new versions capacity was reduced from 16 soldiers to 14 soldiers, the appearance of the German HS.30 APC, which was armed with a 20 mm cannon, prompted the addition of the conical BPU-1 turret. This turret, which was developed for the BRDM-2 amphibious armoured scout car, was armed with the KPVT14.5 mm heavy machine gun. The new vehicle was designated the BTR-60PAI and entered production in 1965 and it was, however, quickly replaced by the BTR-60PB, which had a better sighting system for the machine guns. BTR-60 was a design for its time. It had a layout for an APC, the crew compartment was in the front, the troop compartment in the middle
26.
BTR-70
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The BTR-70 is an eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier originally developed by the Soviet Union during the late 1960s under the manufacturing code GAZ-4905. On August 21,1972, it was accepted into Soviet service, large quantities were also produced under license in Romania as the TAB-77. The BTR-70 was developed as a successor for the earlier BTR-60 series of Soviet wheeled armored personnel carriers, specifically the BTR-60PB. It evolved out of an earlier, unsuccessful project known as the GAZ-50 to design a new wheeled infantry fighting vehicle on the chassis and it initially received the NATO reporting name BTR M1970. In 1971, the Soviet Armed Forces began investigating the possibility of an updated BTR-60PB redesigned to make the more compatible with the BMP-1 in terms of tactical training. This resulted in the development of a BTR-60PB prototype essentially converted into an infantry fighting vehicle. Despite retaining the original BTR-60PB chassis, the GAZ-50 incorporated several elements of the BMPs design, the revised internal layout reduced the number of passengers to nine. New hatches were provided for debarking in the lower hull. Other modifications included a slightly thicker hull, increased power-to-weight ratio and this alteration was to allow the vehicle to continue moving even if one engine failed. The prototype was armed with a turret resembling that of the BMP-1, there was some debate as to the GAZ-50s viability in its intended role, for example, projected manufacturing costs were high due to the incorporation of the BMP-1 turret and armament. Furthermore, while the prototype would allow motorized units to emulate the tactics of Soviet mechanized infantry, it simply did not offer the protection, mobility. Most of the funding earmarked for the program was diverted into producing larger numbers of BMPs instead. In Soviet service, the new BTRs received the designation BTR-70, compared to the earlier BTR-60PB, relatively small numbers of BTR-70s were produced. The design was regarded as suffering from some of the same disadvantages. These flaws became especially evident when the vehicle was tested in combat during the Soviet–Afghan War. As a result, in 1984 the Soviet Army took delivery of a new wheeled armored personnel carrier, the BTR-80, which was powered by a single 260 horsepower diesel engine, production of the BTR-70 was terminated that year. The Soviet Union only exported BTR-70s to four states, Afghanistan, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, and Romania. However, many have since been inherited by the armies of various post-Soviet republics or re-exported, the BTR-70 is powered by two petrol engines
27.
BTR-80
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The BTR-80 is an 8x8 wheeled amphibious armoured personnel carrier designed in the USSR. It was adopted in 1986 and replaced the previous vehicles, the BTR-60 and BTR-70 and it was first deployed during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The Soviets based the BTR-80 on the BTR-70 APC and it has a single 260-hp, V-8 turbocharged, water-cooled, diesel engine, an improvement over the twin gasoline engines installed in the BTR-60 and BTR-70 vehicles. The reconfigured rear portion of the hull accommodates the new, single engine, the Soviets removed the roof chamfers of the modified BTR-70, raised the rear, and squared off the rearward-sloping engine compartment. The Soviets modified the truncated cone turret used on the BTR-70 for the BTR-80 by redesigning the mantlet and this allows the 14.5 mm KPVT and coaxial 7.62 mm PKT machine guns to be elevated to a maximum of 60 degrees. This high angle of fire is useful in engaging targets on steep slopes, in urban fighting, and for engaging low slow flying air targets. The Soviets have also modified the design and positioning of the ports, the ports are now round, rather than tear-shaped. The forward firing ports now sit in angled recesses, which allows infantry to fire from the front of the vehicle, the redesigned side doors are split horizontally. The upper portion opens forward, this gives dismounting troops some protection against small arms fire from the front of the vehicle, the lower portion opens down, forming a step. Six smoke grenade projectors are mounted on the rear of the turret, the BTR-80 can climb a slope with up to 60% gradient and climb a vertical step of 0.5 m. In 1984, the Soviets began production of a variant of the BTR-70. The Soviets have retrofitted some BTR-70s with several of the improvements incorporated into the BTR-80, the twin doors are designed to allow the infantry to disembark while the vehicle is in motion, and allow the infantry inside to exit from one side if the other is receiving fire. The 30mm Cannon variants are effective against most targets apart from main battle tanks, against which they can cause significant damage to optics, weapons. The main gun is not stabilized, so accurate fire on the move is limited to low speeds, the gunner sits in a roof-mounted chair located above the flat floor behind the driver/commander and two passengers, and before the passenger bench. The gunners station is basic, but uncharacteristically spacious for a Soviet armored vehicle, the gunner is equipped with both a day time optical sight and an infrared night sight. BTR-80M - improved model with DMZ-238M2 engine of 240 hp, a longer hull. It is understood only a small number were produced until the original engine was ready for production again. BTR-82 - latest production version with improved armour, spall liners, more modern night vision device TKN-4GA, GLONASS navigation system, the original armament is retained but is now installed in the BPPU turret of the BTR-80A/BTR-82A
28.
BMP-1
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The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle. BMP stands for Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty 1, meaning infantry fighting vehicle, the BMP-1 was the first mass-produced infantry fighting vehicle of USSR. It was called the M-1967, BMP and BMP-76PB by NATO before its designation was known. It would increase infantry squad mobility, provide support to them. The BMP-1 was first tested in combat in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, based on lessons learned from this conflict, and early experiences in the Soviet War in Afghanistan, a version with improved fighting qualities was developed, called the BMP-2. It was accepted into service in August 1980, in 1987, the BMP-3, a radically redesigned vehicle with a completely new weapon system, entered service in limited numbers with the Soviet Army. Existing APCs offered little or no protection from nuclear or chemical weapons. Furthermore, the infantry had to disembark to be able to use their weapons, the requirement for the BMP, which was first drawn up in the late 1950s, stressed speed, good armament, and the ability for all squad members to fire from within the vehicle. The armament had to direct support for dismounted infantry in the attack and defense. The vehicle needed to protect the crew from.50 cal machinegun fire and 20–23 mm caliber autocannons across the frontal arc, firepower consisted of the innovative combination of the 73 mm 2A28 Grom gun and a launcher for the 9M14 Malyutka anti-tank wire-guided missile. Requirements were issued to the design bureaus between 1959 and 1960. There was a question as to whether the BMP should be tracked or wheeled, so a number of configurations were explored. The tracked Obyekt 764 was chosen because its front-engine design provided a convenient, the original prototype was built in 1964, followed by the improved Obyekt 765 in 1965, which was accepted by the Army in 1966, under a designation BMP-1. A large number of variants of the BMP-1 were produced, with the most notable IFV variants being, BMP-2, MLI-84, the BMP went into production with the Soviet Army in 1966. The first series was produced until 1969 and it was replaced by the improved production model, the BMP-1, which was produced from 1969 until 1973. This, in turn, was replaced by the Obyekt 765 Sp3, a number of improvements were made to the reliability of the chassis, engine and transmission during mass production. The last version of the BMP-1 IFV, which was produced from 1979 to 1983, was armed with a more powerful ATGM launcher 9P135M-1 for the ATGM Konkurs/Fagot. Upgrades of the BMP-1 were performed by KMZ as well as by tank repair workshops of the Ministry of Defence during scheduled, more than 20,000 BMP-1s and vehicles based on it were built in the USSR
29.
BMP-2
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The BMP-2 is a second-generation, amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s. Although the BMP-1 was a design, its main armament, the 2A28 Grom. Therefore, the Soviet Union decided to produce an updated and improved version of the BMP-1, the main emphasis was put on improving the main armament. In 1972, work got under-way to develop a version of the BMP-1. During its combat debut in the Yom Kippur War, Egyptian and Syrian BMPs proved vulnerable to.50 calibre machine-gun fire in the sides and rear, and to 106 mm recoilless rifles. The 73 mm gun proved inaccurate beyond 500 metres, and the AT-3 Sagger missile could not be guided effectively from the confines of the turret, several Soviet technical teams were sent to Syria in the wake of the war to gather information. These lessons, combined with observations of western AFV developments, resulted in a replacement program for the original BMP in 1974, the first product of this program was the BMP-1P upgrade, which was intended as a stopgap to address the most serious problems with the existing design. Smoke grenade launchers were added to the rear of the turret, the BMP-1P was in production by the late 1970s and existing BMP-1s were gradually upgraded to the standard during the 1980s. The BMP-2 is broadly similar to the BMP-1, the commander now sits with the gunner in an enlarged turret. Only seven troops can be carried instead of eight, two rear infantry roof hatches instead of four. In the centre of the vehicle is the welded steel turret, the gunner sits to the commanders left and has a smaller rectangular hatch with a rearward-facing day periscope, additionally there are three other day periscopes facing forward and left. The gunner has a BPK-1-42 binocular sight with a vision range of 650 metres, or 350 metres using the infra-red searchlight. An FG-126 infra-red searchlight is mounted coaxially to the 30 mm cannon, the driver sits in the front left of the vehicle, with the engine in a separate compartment to his right. The driver has his own entry hatch above him, with three day periscopes, the centre TNPO-170A periscope can be replaced with either a TNPO-350B extended periscope for amphibious operation or a TVNE-1PA night vision scope. An infantryman sits immediately behind the driver, and has a firing port, TNPO-170A periscopes are used throughout the vehicle and are electrically heated. The BMP-1 and BMP-2 share the same chassis and have almost identical road performance, the BMP-2 is heavier, but also has a more powerful engine to compensate. The BMP-2 is amphibious with little preparation, using hydrodynamic fairings to convert track momentum into water jets. Peacetime regulations require that any BMPs entering water must have a radio set, since its bearings are not airtight
30.
BRDM-2
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The BRDM-2 is an amphibious armoured patrol car used by Russia and the former Soviet Union. It was also known under the designations BTR-40PB, BTR-40P-2 and GAZ 41-08 and this vehicle, like many other Soviet designs, has been exported extensively and is in use in at least 38 countries. It was intended to replace the earlier BRDM-1, compared to which it had improved amphibious capabilities, after a few years of use by the Soviet Army, the limitations and drawbacks of the BRDM-1 became obvious. The vehicle had no turret and to operate the armament the gunner had to open a hatch, the vehicle was not fitted with an NBC protection system, and had no night vision equipment by default. The vehicle also didnt have any kind of special sights, which undermined its usability as a reconnaissance vehicle and these drawbacks encouraged the design team to create a new vehicle which would suit the modern battlefield. The BRDM-2 has a crew of four, a driver, a co-driver, a commander, externally, it differs from the BRDM-1 by having a larger, box-like hull. It retains the boat-like bow of the BRDM-1, however, the crew compartment is now further forward and the new GAZ-41 gasoline V-8 engine is in the rear. Thanks to this, the engine is better protected from enemy fire. The engine compartment is separated from the crew compartment by an armoured barrier. The drivers and commanders stations are in the front of the vehicle, with the driver positioned on the left, both of them sit in front of a bulletproof windscreen, which provides them with their primary view of the battlefield. When in combat, the windscreen can be protected by twin armoured shutters. When the shutters are in their position, they protect the driver and commander from being blinded by the sunlight. The commander and driver have periscopes allowing both of them a detailed view of the surrounding terrain. The commander has six TNP-A periscopes, a TPKU-2B day sight, the driver has four TNP-A periscopes, one of which can be replaced by a TWN-2B night vision device. The gunner is in the turret during combat, but when traveling he is seated inside the hull, the crew mounts and dismounts the vehicle via two hatches over drivers and commanders stations. On either side of the adjacent to the crew position. Immediately behind the port there are three TNP-A periscopes, which protrude from the outside of the hull, giving the crew some vision to the front. The engine is larger than the BRDMs, the BRDM-2 has an IR spotlight and four IR driving lights, as well as an over pressure collective NBC filter system
31.
2S1 Gvozdika
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The 2S1 Gvozdika is a Soviet self-propelled howitzer based on the chassis MT-LB APC, mounting the 122 mm 2A18 howitzer. An alternative Russian designation is SAU-122 but in the Russian Army it is known as Gvozdika. The 2S1 is fully amphibious with little preparation, and once afloat is propelled by its tracks. A variety of tracks are also available to allow the 2S1 to operate in snow or swamp conditions. It is NBC protected and has infra-red night-vision capability, the 2S1 has seven road wheels on each side, the running gear can be fitted with different widths of track to match terrain. The interior is separated into a compartment on the left, an engine compartment on the right. Within the fighting compartment the commander sits on the left, the loader on the right, the all-welded turret is located above the fighting compartment. The 2S1 utilizes a 122 mm howitzer based on the towed D-30 howitzer, the gun is equipped with a power rammer, a double-baffle muzzle brake and a fume extractor. It is capable of firing HE, leaflet, HE/RAP, armor-piercing HE, flechette, the first prototype was ready in 1969. The 2S1 entered service with the Soviet Army in the early 1970s and was first seen in public at a Polish Army parade in 1974, the vehicle was deployed in large numbers. It was designated the M1974 by the U. S. Army and manufactured in Bulgarian, Polish, 2S34 Hosta – Modernisation of the 2S1 with the 122 mm 2A31 gun replaced by the 120 mm 2A80. Further improvements include a new control system, a battlefield observation system. One unit, the 21st Mechanized Brigade in Totskoye is currently being equipped with the system, 2S15 Norov – A prototype tank destroyer equipped with a radar-based fire control system and a 100 mm gun. The 2S1 Gvozdika were produced in Poland by Huta Stalowa Wola under the name 2S1 Goździk, 2S1M Goździk – Version with special amphibious kit that increases the vehicles amphibious capabilities. 2S1T Goździk – Version with a TOPAZ digital fire control system from WB electronics, the system consists of a FONET-IP digital intercom system, new digital radio, military GPS receiver, military computer and dedicated software. The same system is used on other Polish Armed Forces artillery systems like the AHS Krab, Dana-T, model 89 – Romanian variant that uses a modified version of the hull of the MLI-84. Raad-1 – Iranian variant that is based on the hull of the Boragh APC, original there were 144 pieces of Gvozdikas. Romania –48 reserve status since 2005 Slovenia –8 reserve status Soviet Union – Passed on to successor states Yugoslavia – Passed on to successor states, FAS. org Armscontrol. ru Huta Stalowa Wola – Polish manufacturer Arsenal Co
32.
2S3 Akatsiya
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SO-152 is a Soviet 152.4 mm self-propelled artillery developed in 1968. It was a response to the American 155 mm M109, the development started in 1967 according to the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union from July 4,1967. In 1968 the SO-152 was completed and in 1971 entered service, the fighting vehicle also received the additional designation Akatsiya, which is Russian for acacia. Designated M1973 by the U. S. Army, the Akatsiya is armed with a 152.4 mm howitzer based on the Soviet 152.4 mm D-20 howitzer and is confused with the M109 self-propelled artillery. The artillery system was developed at the design bureau No.9 of Sverdlovsk, the factory designation of the howitzer is D-22 and the GRAU designation, 2A33. The chassis was developed by Uraltransmash, the drivers and engine-transmission compartments are located in the front part of a hull, the fighting compartment with rotatory turret in middle and rear parts of the hull. The armor is welded rolled steel, the SPG is equipped with an R-123 radio set, an R-124 intercom, an automatic CBRN defense system with filtration unit and fire-fighting equipment. The V-59 12-cylinder four-stroke water-cooled diesel engine connects to a mechanical two-gear transmission, the gear box is combined into one block with a planetary steering gear. The 2S3 has self-entrenching equipment which allows it to prepare a trench within 20–40 min, the 152.4 mm L/27 howitzer D-22 can be elevated from −4° to +60° with a turret traverse of a full 360°. Rate of fire is 2.6 –3.5 rounds/min depending on firing conditions, the howitzer is equipped with a double-baffle muzzle brake, a semi-automatic vertical wedge breechblock and an ejector. The 2S3 has a sight for laying the howitzer. The howitzer has separate type of loading with ammunition arranged in two mechanized stowages, the Akatsiya can fire OF-540 and OF-25 HE-Frag 43.56 kg projectiles at a maximum range of 18.5 km depending of used charge or rocket assisted projectiles to a maximum of 24 km. Other projectiles available to the Akatsiya include BP-540 HEAT-FS, Br-540B and Br-540 AP-T, OF-38 Krasnopol laser-guided rocket-assisted projectiles, S1 illuminating, ZH3 smoke, nuclear projectiles. Secondary armament consists of a remotely controlled 7.62 mm PKT tank machine gun on commanders cupola for anti-aircraft defence and self-defence at close range, the track is 14.375 m long,482 mm wide and has 115 links. The Akatsiya can cross 0.7 m high vertical obstacles,3.0 m wide trenches,1.05 m fording depth and it can be transported by transport plane An-22. Two Object 303 prototypes were built in the end of 1968, factory tests finished in October 1969, and discovered strong gas contamination of the fighting compartment during intensive gunnery, especially during the use of small charges. As a result, army inspectors did not accept four SO-152s built in summer 1969 for ground tests, the problem of gas contamination was solved, allowing the SO-152 to enter service of the Soviet Army in 1971. The first three serial 2S3s were built by Uraltransmash in the end of 1970, and in 1971 nine were produced, the works received an order for 70 2S3 in 1973
33.
2S9 Nona
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The 2S9 NONA is an extremely light-weight self-propelled and air-droppable 120 mm mortar designed in the Soviet Union that entered service in 1981. The 2S9 chassis is designated the S-120 and based on the hull of the BTR-D airborne multi-purpose tracked armoured personnel carrier. Although no figures have been released, it is estimated that well over 1,000 2S9 were built, the 2S9 Nona-S is an amphibious vehicle that can be propelled through the water by two rear water-jets. It is operated by a four-man crew comprising a commander, a driver/mechanic, a gunner, the hull interior is separated into a command compartment, a fighting compartment and an engine compartment. A welded steel turret is located at the middle of the hull, the two-man turret has hatches for the gunner and loader respectively. The 2S9 utilizes a 120 mm 2A60 mortar with a 1. 8-meter-long barrel and it is breech-loaded and capable of firing HE, white phosphorus and smoke rounds. Afghanistan - Currently only using rebuilt and third party manufactured D-30 Soviet Union - Passed on to successor states, archived from the original on 12 June 2008
Russia
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Azerbaijan
Uzbekistan
India
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