1957 UNIQUE 6B1 FIRST USSR armor vest MEGARARE, VDV, GRU, Afghanistan, STORM-333 [RESERVE]

Price $4800 (item number: #347)

Price do not include shipping, shipping costs are calculated separately after placing an order, depending on the location and weight of the items.

First armor vest made in USSR "6B1" (6Б1).
Manufactured in 1957-1958.

Total produced ~1500 vests, most of them are lost, there are no more 14 vests in private collections.
Such vests was used in 1979 during STORM-333 Operation (Amin Palace) and during Afghanistan war. was used in 40-th Army (40 армия), 177th separate detachment of special purpose GRU GSh (177 ооСпН, 177-й отдельный отряд специального назначения ГРУ ГШ), The 56th Independent Guards Airborne Assault Order of the Patriotic War The Don Cossack Brigade(7р 56 ДШБ, 56-я отдельная гвардейская десантно-штурмовая ордена Отечественной войны Донская казачья бригада).

Vest in in ideal condition, may not used (inner part is not wiped - like new, some cloth straps was worn out by the time at warehouse). In common - it is complete vest with stiched-in armor plates).

History of vest:
Vest was produced by VIAM (All-Union Institute of Aviation Materials). The development of this protective equipment began in 1954, and in 1957 it was taken to supply the USSR Armed Forces under the index 6B1. Then they made about one and a half thousand copies, and laid them on warehouses. It was decided that mass production of bullet-proof vests would be deployed only in the event of an imminent threat. The protective body armor was made of hexagonal plates that were made of aluminum alloy and were mosaic. Behind them lay layers of kapron fabric, as well as a lining of batting. These vests protected from splinters and cartridge bullets 7.62, which were fired from 50 meters from a submachine gun (PPS or PPSh).

When Afghanistan war began, these bulletproof vests were taken from warehouses and supplied to 40-th Army.