MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/. The Technodinamika Group (part of the state tech corporation Rostec) plans to complete its state trials of a parachute system for service dogs by the year’s end and begin its deliveries to the Russian Defense Ministry as soon as next year, Technodinamika Chief Parachute Designer Alexei Kozin announced on Tuesday.
"We are planning to complete the state trials at the Russian Defense Ministry’s State Flight Testing Center this year. Next year, this system will be actually accepted for deliveries to the Defense Ministry," the chief designer said.
The parachute system for service dogs is being developed in Russia for the first time and has no analogues in the country, he stressed. The system is designed to airdrop a dog weighing up to 45 kg from an altitude of up to 4,000 meters jointly with a parachutist or in tandem with a parachutist and a dog handler, Kozin explained.
"The preliminary trials have not revealed any deviations or negative results. A dog behaves adequately after an air jump and is ready to accomplish assigned tasks upon landing," the chief designer said.
Parachute tester Andrei Toporkov, who practiced air jumps with the canines, said that all the four-legged parachutists had weathered the air jumps well.
"The dogs trained for the flight, and withstand it well. While aboard an aircraft, they look through the window and examine the ground and clouds. They go through their exit from the plane easily and experience no problems with their free-fall. With its turns to the left and to the right, the dog watches the ground, and begins to make quick movements with its paws in an attempt to catch it," he noted.
The airdropping system for dogs will be unveiled to the public at large at the Army 2021 international military and technical forum.
Oxygen gear for 8-km altitude canine parachute jumps
The Technodinamika Group also intends to create oxygen gear for canines to skydive from an altitude of 8 km with parachutes, the chief designer said.
"We are working on the possibility of airdropping dogs from an altitude of up to 8 km. Correspondingly, special oxygen equipment will be created to enable a dog to breathe through the oxygen gear during an air jump. Our enterprise is carrying out this work jointly with associate contractors," Kozin said.
The Technodinamika Group is developing this oxygen gear at its own initiative so far, he added.