Russian Tanks Firing Dung Projectiles
A Russian designer has come up with a system to fire human waste out of
the main gun of Russian battle tanks and other armored vehicles.
The patent description starts with an explanation of how such a system
is needed in situations where the vehicle is sealed against NBC or
Nuclear – Biological – Chemical threats.
But it soon comes around to the real intent.
It would be so gratifying, so useful for crew morale,
to know that your feces are being fired in explosive shells
toward the enemy.
The Russian patent is
available online.
Let's dig into the details, starting with the vehicle and gun itself:
1: Body of the vehicle.
2: Sealed crew compartment.
3: Crew member.
4: Main gun.
5: Automatic loading device.
6: Cartridge case with propellant powder charge.
7: Hermetically sealed container for human waste.
8: Human waste.
The other diagram in the patent document explains the exotic ammunition:
6: Cartridge case with propellant powder charge.
7: Hermetically sealed container for human waste.
8: Human waste.
9: Cylindrical casing holding the fecal container.
10: Nose or fairing.
11: Explosive.
12: Fuse.
Yes, explosive and fuse.
The goal includes more than simply getting the waste
out of the sealed vehicle.
What Is The Point?
The patent document starts by saying that this general category of
military equipment is intended to improve the living conditions of
the crew, who are stuck inside a sealed, pressurized compartment
because of the risk of nuclear, biological, or chemical contamination.
It doesn't have to be a main battle tank like the Т-72А.
It could be an armored personnel carrier likt the
БТР-60ПБ.
Or any other tracked vehicle, or sealed command module,
so long as it has a large-caliber gun.
Systems designed for long-term work in a contaminated area may have a
lock-out system that allows a crew member to exit, wearing protective
clothing and carrying waste to be discarded.
There might even be an orifice built from elastic material allowing
a waste container to be discarded without going outside or breaking the seal.
As the designer describes, there have been systems with a toilet that
compacts human waste and ejects it from the vehicle through the
engine exhaust system.
These, of course, have drawbacks.
The waste likely needs to be scraped into a compactor and dried first,
as the alternative requires the use of limited water to clean the bowl.
Then there's the problem of waste products depositing on the interior
walls of the exhaust system.
Cremating excreta: connecting upstairs toilets
to a basement furnace
As he writes, the engine of a combat vehicle is not a furnace for
burning all kinds of material.
And even if it were, we have known for some time that
it's a bad idea to simply
dump your toilet waste line into the furnace.
Psychological Effects
You have to get about half-way through the patent document
before you come to the real point of this invention.
Good luck reading this without thinking about the recent Russian "liberation"
of parts of the Ukraine, or threats of moves against the Baltic nations:
The human waste of the crew can, if desired, find more worthy application
in conditions of nationalistic hatred towards the aggressor during
justified military operations.
He says that the round needs an explosive charge adequate to "destroy" the
waste "in the area where the enemy personnel and/or supplies are located."
So instead of "destroy" read instead "deploy".
As the document says, "a new technical and military-psychological result
is achieved."
Then, toward the very end, it explains that the tank crew can gloat
while their feces are sprayed over their adversaries:
In addition to the damaging factors, the importance of which in this case
is of secondary importance, there is a military-psychological
positive effect: awareness of the fact of "delivery" by the personnel,
and, moreover, distribution on the supplies and uniforms of the enemies,
as well as the possible awareness of this by other fighters and the enemy.
As a result, in addition to fulfilling the main task of complete waste
disposal, an additional effect of military psychological and even
military-political importance is achieved: the morale of personnel is
increased, the psychological climate in an isolated space is improved
in the conditions of a long stay of personnel in dangerous conditions.
The Patent Has Expired
The patent was issued in January 2009 to
Alexander Georgievich Semenov of Sankt-Peterburg.
It was valid for three years, and then the patent was terminated
because he did not pay the fee to maintain it.
Attention all potential dung gun entrepreneurs:
it looks like an opportunity is available!
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Flush With Cash, a Swiss Mystery
