In the foreseeable future, the Russian army may abandon the use of 5.45-mm cartridges. The reason is simple - lack of penetration ability of bullets of this caliber. In particular, even a regular police body armor cannot penetrate such a bullet.
This is what the collection “Rocket-technical and artillery-technical support of the RF Armed Forces-2018” writes.
As the publication authoritatively notes, in the future it is possible to abandon the use of 5.45-mm weapons in the Ground Forces because of the insufficient penetration of bullets for personnel in personal protective equipment at medium and increased firing ranges.
Experts also suggest that military designers need to send their thoughts to the modernization of small arms of 7.62 mm caliber and ammunition for it.
By the way, in the Russian army there are mainly two calibers of small arms - 5.45 and 7.62 mm. This applies to rifles, and machine guns, and machine guns.
Recall that a cartridge of 5.45 mm caliber was developed in the early 1970s. It was comparable to the NATO main ammunition of 5.56 × 45 mm. In addition, he overcame a distance of at least 100 meters further than his larger lead "brother." In addition, he showed increased accuracy. And the reduction in the mass of the cartridge allowed the shooter to increase the wearable ammunition by an average of one hundred cartridges. For comparison: 200 7.62 mm cartridges weigh as much as 300 5.45 mm cartridges.
The statement of the military almanac, of course, shook the public close to military developments. However, as noted by a number of experts, reasoning on a similar topic appeared slice as soon as the cartridge went into service. To date, this kind of arms reformation of the Russian army is purely theoretical speculation and is not considered in practical terms.
