(Newswire.net — November 3, 2017) — Russian stuntwoman Viktoria Kolesnikova amazed spectators in a daring walk through fire and explosion, proving the integrity of a new armor suit called “Ratnik” (the warrior).
By definition, women are more fragile than men, so it was only natural for a new armor suit production company to choose a beautiful model, but also a professional stuntwoman Viktoria Kolesnikova to test the suit.
She casually walked across the testing polygon, just like she’s walking in the park on a beautiful sunny day. But it wasn’t a regular stroll through the park by any means. Kolesnikova walked through blasts that launched shrapnel of dirt and stone at her, while a fire blaze wrapped her body. She walked right through the inferno of a simulated battlefield just like it was nothing.
Spectators, officials and journalists sighed with excitement while she pulled down her mask and let her long red hair lose. Kolesnikova was unharmed and the only proof of reality walking through the blasts and flames were the few smudges of soot left on her face.
“Standing inside a fire range is an amazing feeling. It’s beautiful and really just, ‘wow,’” Kolesnikova told Ruptly, who recorded a video of her walk. As soon as it appeared, the video become viral. But the real hero of this video is the special armored suit, light and adaptable yet bulletproof.
According to the developers, the material and suit design are already good enough to deal with bullets and blast fragments, but they are still working on boosting its flame retardant properties to withstand 30 seconds of continued exposure, up from the current 15 seconds.
The company that produced this prototype hopes to have a finalized product by 2020 to bid for military contracts as part of “the Warrior” (Ratnik) program.
The head of armor suit developer team at TsNIITochMash, Sergey Kitov, told journalists that the walk was a demonstration of the new fabric developed to withstand smaller projectiles and extreme temperatures. The suit also protects from kinetics threats such as explosion blasts.
Kitov said it didn’t take much persuasion to talk Kolesnikova into taking this walk. “You know. Our girls are fighters and eager to face any danger,” he said.