Russia’s Tekhnodinamika Testing Parachute System for Dogs

Russian firm Tekhnodinamika is in the final stage of testing a parachute system for military dogs.

The parachute harness is designed both for single jumps of a parachutist with a dog and for tandem jumps where the dog and its instructor jump separately.

The landing of a dog is now possible from a height of up to 4000 M, but, according to the deputy director of the design center, chief designer for parachute construction of the Tekhnodinamika holding Alexei Kozin, the issue of increasing the height to 8000 M is being worked out. In this case, a special oxygen equipment will be provided  so that the dog can breathe easily while jumping, a Rostec release said.

“We have carried out a full development cycle: from the creation of documentation to preliminary tests. After that, the system was handed over to the State Flight Test Center of the Ministry of Defense,” - Alexey Kozin of Teknhnodinika explained. - The harness is similar to a vest firmly attached to the body of the animal, which reliably fixes the spine. It adapts to dogs up to 45 kilograms.”

Test parachutist Andrei Toporkov said, “We have already completed eight jumps. The dogs adequately endure the flight and even observe the clouds through the window. When the door opens, wind and noise appear - the animals tense up, but thanks to the dog handler they calm down.

Therefore, during the jump with the dog handler, there were no problems. It was more difficult without him - you had to get to know the dog in advance, stroke it, feed it, so that later the dog would trust you. And you yourself shouldn't be afraid - the dogs feel everything,” he said.

It was a discovery for the testers that even from a height of three kilometers a dog observes the ground - at some point it tries to "catch" it with its paws. It used to be thought that dogs couldn't see that far. After landing, all four-legged test participants felt well and were ready to carry out commands.

The dog parachute system is an initiative of the Ivanovo parachute plant "Polet" of Tekhnodinamika. Its state tests are planned to be completed by the end of 2021, after which it can be accepted for supply to the Russian Ministry of Defense.