6B3 ballistic vest

After the Soviet army started to issue 6B2 body armor to the troops in Afghanistan, a number of downsides were noticed. Firstly, and most importantly, the vest only provided good protection against shrapnel, but not rifle rounds. As such, engineers at NII Stali set out to create an improved ballistic vest, with higher protective characteristics. In 1983, by resolution of the Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR NII Stali was designated as a lead coordinator of all developments in the realm of personal protection. 6B3T armor offered better protection compared to 6B2 and got adopted in 1983, and modernized versions with differentiated protection on front and back and better fabric cover - 6B3TM and 6B3TM-01 were adopted in 1985. ==Design==

The vest consists of chest and back parts. On the shoulders they connect via belt-buckle fasteners, which make it possible to make height adjustments. The protection itself consists of titanium armor elements inside of the so-called mounting plate (монтажная плата). The fabric cover of the vest has four pockets for AK mags (AK stripper clips on 6B3T) on the front, four slots for hand grenades on the back, and two big pouches on front and back for other storage. There are several variants of 6B3 body armor: • 6B3T - (T stands for titanium) original version adopted in 1983. Offers all round protection with 6.5mm plates. • 6B3TM - modernized version adopted in 1985. Changes were mostly done to fabric cover of the vest (Replacing pouches for AK stripper clips for AK mags pouches). Offers same protection as 6B3T. Weighs 12.2 kg. • 6B3TM-01 - modernized version adopted in 1985. Has the same protection as 6B3TM on the front, but thinner, lighter plates on the back. The most widely produced variant of 6B3. Weighs 8.2 kg. • 6B3TM-01M - upgrade of existing vests by "Zyuratkul" company in the 1990s. == Users ==

Former users • • • == Gallery ==

File:6B3 ALL SIDES.jpg|Ivan Nikolayev in a 6B3TM-01 ballistic vest File:6B3 PLATES ALL SIDES.jpg|Ivan Nikolayev in 6B3TM-01 ballistic vest without fabric cover. Slots for titanium plates can clearly be seen. File:A US Army soldier, and a Russian Army soldier, both armed, stand guard at Checkpoint 34A while observing Bosnian Serbian protestors protesting the return of Bosnian Muslims refugees - DPLA - b472f1a8dff910b27d0c04173d5fb4a3.jpeg|Russian soldier in Bosnia (right) wearing 6B3 armor == References ==