6B5

6B5 (romanized from 6Б5) is a Soviet and Russian body armor.

Adopted in 1986, it never saw use during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, but was a common sight in both the First and Second Chechen wars, Kosovo and other peacekeeping missions.. The last 6B5s were made in 1998. In 2000 they were to be replaced by the new 6BXX series of body armours, 6B5s remained in use under the transitional period and are probably still used by more manly low speed high drag units.

Variants
There are nine sub-models accounted for, probably more, all of these seem to have been produced at the same time:


 * 6B5-11, very lightweight, 3kg total, propably only kevlar inserts.
 * 6B5-12, lightweight, thin titanium plates front and back.

Both these models were originally intended for less dangerous areas. They would have been used by artillery troops and other rear area soldiers. Peacekeepers probably liked these too.


 * 6B5-13, 11kg, your "standard" body armour for all around use.
 * 6B5-14, Same thing as -13, not sure what the differences between these two are.
 * 6B5-15, The heaviest of the three, 11.5kg.

All these three models were meant for fast paced missions, like anti terror operations including storming houses and such.


 * 6B5-16 7kg, titanium or ceramic plates.
 * 6B5-17 7kg, titanium or ceramic plates.
 * 6B5-18 7kg, titanium or ceramic plates.
 * 6B5-19 6kg, this has only got titanium in the front, all thick plates. (I've got a green 6b5-19, the frontal titanium pocket screen is stamped twice with the OTK stamps, indicating that this indeed is the only part of it's kind supposed to be in this vest, all other parts have one OTK stamp each. - Weedmeister)

Models -16, -17 and -18 have ceramic plates, or a mix of titanium and ceramic, not much is know about the exact innards of each of these models.

VSR, TTsKO and Specodezhda covers were also made, photos exist of Naval Infantry in TTsKO 6b5's. VSR 6b5's pop up quite often in photos from Chechnya, but these are by no means common. Late in the 90's Flora 6B5 were made, probably for a very short time as production was ended that very same year, these can sometimes be seen in use in photos from the Second Chechen war.

One thing to remember is that during war, these did not stay in their original shape. Soldiers modified them, some added plates, some took all the heavy stuff out. The listings above apply only for vests in their original condition. Arkady Babchenko writes, when he got the news that they were going to be sent into Chechnya, he and his friends went to the armoury at the garrison and started to assemble vests for themselves. Sometimes they needed up to three vests to make one complete piece, as plates were missing and covers were torn. So at this point not one of them were in their original shape.