The VPKhR is the newest addition to a long line of chemical detection kits that have been issued to Soviet, and now Russian, troops since the early days of the Cold War.  These chemical detection kits are issued to Chemical troops in the field, and are also carried on board NBC reconnaissance vehicles such as the BRDM-2RKh.  The kit has been used since 1964 and as of 2006 the VPKhR is the standard chemical detection and identification kit used by the armies of Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and many Eastern European countries.

Kit Description and Characteristics

The VPKhR kit is composed of many components: The metal casing with canvas carry strap, hand pump sample collector, thirty indicator tubes (in packs of ten), ten smoke filters, eight protective caps, a lamp for low light operations, a sampling trowel, a heater device with fifteen heating elements, an operators manual, and two reference cards.

Operation and Use

The VPKhR is man-portable, had operated, and simple to use.  To use the VPKhR the operator removes the hand held pump from the side of the carry case and then breaks off the tip of one of the glass chemical agent indicator tubes.  This is done by inserting the end of the tube into one of the holes in the pump handle and then snapping it.

The ampoule is then inserted into the large center hole in the hand pump.  There the ampoule is punctured by a small metal wire inside the hand-pump housing.  As the user operates the hand pump air will pass through the indicator tube and react with the reagent in the ampoule. 

The indicator tube is filled with a chemical reagent that will change color if the air is contaminated with the specific agent that the ampoule within is designed to detect.  The operator can then identify the type and intensity of contamination by comparing the color of the ampoule with a color-coded chart supplied with the kit.  If there is no reaction, the operator then changes the indicator tube to another agent.  This process continues until the agent is accurately identified.

In temperatures below 15^ Centigrade the VPKhR uses a chemical heater to enable accurate sample gathering.  This heater is composed of a plastic cylinder filled with cotton wadding.  The top has four holes to hold three indicator tubes and one hole for the heating element.  The heater is activated by piercing the heating ampoule that operates by a heat producing chemical reaction.  This heats the sample for about one minute.  A small flashlight is also carried with the kit to enable readings to be taken at night.  The kit also contains smoke filters to screen out smoke that might hamper detection efforts.

It has several advantages over its predecessor, the PKhR-63, which it replaced.  It is smaller and lighter.  The kit is also easier to use because it has only three different chemical agent indicator tubes, as opposed to the ten or four types in the earlier kits. 

Some Western observers have stated that this reduces its ability to detect certain agents, but in reality the newer tubes simply detect a wider variety of agents than their predecessors.  It is true that a very few agents are not detected by the kit, but these agents are no longer in common military inventories.

Another noted problem with the kit is that the procedures for using it are extremely difficult to carry out while wearing a protective suit. In addition, the glass ampoules are fragile and break easily.

Here are some of the most informative sources that we have used in compiling this information for you.  We hope you can find them as useful as we have.

• Jane's NBC Protection Equipment 1995-1996 8th edition, edited by Terry J. Gander, published by Jane's Information Group, Alexandria, VA, 1989

• Jane's NBC Protection Equipment 1988-1989, edited by Terry J. Gander, published by Jane's Information Group, Alexandria, VA, 1989

• FM-100-2-3 The Soviet Army: Troops, Organization, and Equipment, by Department of the Army, published by US Government Printing Office, Washington D.C., 1984