On February 8, Russia celebrates the Day of the Military Topographer - professional holiday military and civil servants, without whom it is difficult to imagine a full-fledged conduct of hostilities, reconnaissance, command and control. Surveyors and topographers are called "the eyes of the army." Their service is less dangerous than the service of scouts or paratroopers, but the army needs no less. A lot depends on the results of the service of military topographers - both the effective actions of the army, and, accordingly, the number of losses, and the equipment of positions and fortifications. Over the centuries, military topographers and surveyors have made and are making a huge contribution to strengthening the defense capability of our country.

The roots of military topography go back to pre-revolutionary Russia. In 1797, His Imperial Majesty's own Map Depot was created, renamed in 1812 into the Military Topographic Depot, under which the Corps of Topographers functioned since 1822. After the revolution, the military topographic service retained many military specialists, in particular, the first head of the Corps of Military Topographers of the Red Army was Colonel of the Imperial Army Andrejs Auzans. One of the most glorious and difficult pages in the history of military topographic service was the Great Patriotic War. Military topographers prepared more than 900 million sheets of topographic maps for the needs of the fighting army. Many topographers and surveyors died in battles, being at the most advanced edge of the front as part of the active armies.

During the second half of the twentieth century, the military topographic service in the Soviet Union was constantly strengthened and improved. Special attention was paid to the issues of professional training of military topographers. Unlike many other services and branches of the military, the military topographic service was lucky with an educational institution - the military topographic school in Leningrad maintained continuity in relation to the pre-revolutionary School of topographers (1822-1866) and the Military topographic cadet school (1867-1917). In 1968, due to the large-scale development of military affairs, the Leningrad Military Topographic School was transformed into the Leningrad Higher Military Topographic School. This unique educational institution was able to "survive" after the collapse Soviet Union, but in 2011 it was transformed into a faculty of the A.F. Mozhaisky.

Difficult years for the domestic military topographic service began in 1991, with the collapse Soviet state and the cessation of the existence of the powerful Soviet Army. In the first half of the 1990s, a distinct anti-war line prevailed in the country, which was also manifested in the state's inattention to the problems of the army and military service. Naturally, the crisis also affected the military topographic service. Many true masters of their craft, professionals with a capital letter, were forced to leave for civilian life. But, nevertheless, for many officers, warrant officers, sergeants and soldiers, the service continued. The consequences of an inattentive attitude to the needs of the military topographic service had to be sorted out soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union - in 1994-1996, when the First Chechen War was underway. And I had to disentangle it terribly - with blood Russian soldiers and officers.

Since the topographic maps have not been updated for a long time, many of them did not reflect the real changes that have occurred in the area during this time. Professional surveyors say that maps of busy areas - urban and rural settlements- it is necessary to update at least once every three to four years, in extreme cases - once every five years, at least. Indeed, during this time, a variety of changes take place - some buildings and structures are being built, some are being demolished, the transport infrastructure may change. Therefore, during the Chechen campaign, in which military topographers who were part of the group of Russian troops also participated, many maps had to be corrected already on the ground. While the troops were fighting, the topographers studied the terrain and made changes to the maps, and then immediately handed over the "fresh" sheets to the commanders and officers of the belligerent units and subunits.

By the way, the Russian troops operating in 2008 in the combat zone in Georgia and South Ossetia also faced this problem. Here, in the post-Soviet period, many settlements have changed their names, which seriously complicated the tasks of the Russian military. Therefore, topographers, as in Chechnya, had to promptly correct old maps and transfer them to the units.

Modern conflicts require the use of more and more high-precision, and this, in turn, increases the requirements for the quality of topographic and geodetic information with which the military topographic service supplies the troops. Even during the hostilities in Chechnya, analog topographic maps began to be used for the first time, which made it possible to significantly facilitate the tasks of using a number of units. Helicopter pilots and commanders of the border guard units showed particular interest in 3D terrain models, as the topographers later emphasized.

By the end of the 1990s. the country's leadership nevertheless realized that even in the changed world political situation Russia cannot exist without a strong army. Moreover, the "overseas partners" were not going to abandon their aggressive policy - they launched an attack on Yugoslavia and started further expansion of NATO to the east. At the same time, the risks of local conflicts increased, including against terrorist groups that have become active on the southern borders of the country and on the territory of the republics of the North Caucasus. Therefore, the state embarked on a course towards the gradual strengthening of the armed forces. This also applied to the military topographic service. By the beginning of the second campaign in Chechnya, the military topographers were much better prepared than for the first. It was possible to produce new special maps, to update the provision of troops with topographic maps, including electronic ones, which made it possible to more accurately determine the coordinates of targets, the location of terrorists and their bases.

Throughout the 1990s, from 1992 to 2002, the Military Topographic Directorate General Staff The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were led by Lieutenant General, Candidate of Technical Sciences Vitaly Vladimirovich Khvostov (pictured), an experienced topographer who graduated from the Leningrad Military Topographic School and the Military Engineering Academy, who had experience of participating in hostilities in Afghanistan. In the 1980s, Khvostov was in charge of the topographic service of the Turkestan Military District, which gave him invaluable experience. It was during the years when Vitaly Khvostov was in charge of the Topographic Service of the RF Armed Forces that military topographers had to take part in the first and second Chechen campaigns.

In 2002, a new chief of the VTU General Staff was appointed - Lieutenant General, Doctor of Military Sciences Valery Nikolayevich Filatov. Like his predecessor, General Khvostov, General Filatov was a professional military topographer - he graduated with honors from the Leningrad Higher Military Topographic School, then the Military Engineering Academy and higher courses for the training of leading personnel in the field of defense and security of the Russian Federation at the Military Academy of the General Staff. In 1996-1998. he headed the geodetic faculty of the V.V. Kuibyshev, and then in 1998-2002 was the deputy chief of the Military Topographic Directorate of the General Staff. Under the leadership of General Filatov, a large-scale improvement of the country's military topographic service continued, topographers and surveyors received new equipment, and topographic and geodetic information was updated.

In 2008-2010 The topographic service of the RF Armed Forces was headed by Major General Stanislav Aleksandrovich Ryltsov, a graduate of the Omsk Higher Combined Arms Command School, who served in the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff, and then was appointed head of the VTU.

In 2010, he was replaced as head of the department by Rear Admiral Sergei Viktorovich Kozlov, a career naval officer, a graduate of the navigational faculty of the M.V. Frunze. From 1981 to 2010, for almost thirty years, Sergei Viktorovich Kozlov served in the Navy of the USSR and the Russian Federation, going from an engineer of the electronic navigation service to the chief navigator of the Navy. In 2006-2010. Sergey Kozlov headed the Department of Navigation and Oceanography of the Ministry of Defense - the hydrographic service of the Navy, and in 2010 headed the Military Topographic Directorate.

In 2015, a new head of the Military Topographic Directorate of the General Staff was appointed - the Topographic Service of the RF Armed Forces. Colonel Alexander Nikolaevich Zaliznyuk, who heads the service at the present time, became him. A graduate of the Leningrad Higher Military Topographic School and the Geodetic Faculty of the Military Engineering Academy of V.V. Kuibyshev, Colonel Zaliznyuk went through all the hierarchy levels in the topographic service, rising from the photogrammetric department of the aerial topographic detachment of the Moscow Military District to the chief engineer of the Military Topographic Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Recently, the state has been trying to solve the problems facing the military topographic service. You have to do a lot. In the "dashing nineties" many mapping factories were forced to switch to the production of products for general consumption. Chronic underfunding affected the quality of the equipment of the topographic service. Now, at least, funding has begun to grow, which means that it is possible to update and improve the material and technical part, pay decent salaries to officers and contractors. V last years space geodesy is actively developing, the capabilities of which make it possible to significantly improve the topographic and geodetic support of troops. Thanks to space geodesy, it is possible to launch rockets with greater accuracy, and ammunition is saved during exercises. The digital information obtained by means of satellite imagery is processed, and electronic topographic maps are compiled.

For obvious reasons, military topographers today pay special attention to the southern borders of Russia. It is here that the risk of local armed conflicts and terrorist acts is highest. In connection with the need to solve the problems of topographic support of troops in the South of Russia, in 2012 the 543rd Center for Geospatial Information and Navigation was created. Among its tasks, a special place is occupied by the practical study of the terrain with the help of special equipment. In 2014, the Crimean Peninsula returned to the Russian Federation, which means that military topographers have more work to update the maps of Crimea, which from 1991 to 2014 was under the control of Ukraine. In January 2018, military topographers received a new Volynets mobile digital topographic system (PCTS), which allows them to correct and supplement existing maps already in the field. In an interview with reporters, the head of the press service of the Southern Military District, Colonel Vadim Astafyev, said that the new complex allows you to scan the area and convert the information received into maps, as well as create 3D terrain models, which is very important in modern conditions of warfare.

Although progress in science and technology today greatly simplifies the work of military topographers, nevertheless, today service specialists have to operate on the ground, including in areas with a complex mountain landscape. Fighting in Syria showed that, despite the latest technology, not in all cases, unit commanders can rely on electronic cards. Traditional cards come to the rescue, which are also improved and modified - for example, now they are created using special markers that are not subject to the effects of water, but are made on silk, which allows you to safely carry such cards in your pockets without fear of damaging them.

The Syrian campaign also actively uses three-dimensional maps, tested during the hostilities in Chechnya. For example, three-dimensional maps of Aleppo and Palmyra were used, which significantly increased the effectiveness of the Syrian army's actions to destroy terrorists. It is difficult to imagine missile launches, flights of our military aviation with strikes on enemy positions, without topographic support.

Thus, the profession of a military topographer today remains very important and in demand; it is impossible to imagine the armed forces without military topographers. Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates all active military topographers and veterans of service, civilian personnel on the Day of Military Topographer, wishes them successful service, absence of combat and non-combat losses and continuous improvement of military topography capabilities.

February 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. For the anniversary, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has prepared a book "History of the Topographic Service Units". The authors are: reserve officer of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Military Sciences, Chief Researcher of the Research Center (topogeodetic and navigation support) of the 27th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which became part of the Scientific and Analytical Center for Problems security IA "Arms of Russia", E. Dolgov and reserve officer of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, researcher of the Research Center (topogeodetic and navigation support) of the 27th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation S. Sergeev. ">

14:39 / 28.01.12

The histories of the units of the topographic service are integral parts of the history of the fatherland

February 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. For the anniversary, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has prepared a book "History of the Topographic Service Units". The authors are: reserve officer of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Military Sciences, Chief Researcher of the Research Center (topogeodetic and navigation support) of the 27th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which became part of the Scientific and Analytical Center for Problems security IA "Arms of Russia", E. Dolgov and reserve officer of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, researcher of the Research Center (topogeodetic and navigation support) of the 27th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation S. Sergeev. We offer you an annotation for this wonderful book.

February 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. This date is attributed to the formation in the structure of the Ministry of War of the Russian Empire of the Military Topographic Depot (since 1816 - the Military Topographic Depot), whose duties included: “... collecting, compiling and storing maps, plans, drawings, topographic and statistical descriptions, magazines and reports on hostilities, projects and dispositions of an offensive war, and in particular an essay, from all collected materials, thorough notes and tables from historical military operations "(Notes of the Military Topographic Depot, part I. -1837, -S.19).

Over the next several decades, the growth of the domestic military topographic service was carried out, new large structures were created: the Corps of Military Topographers (for performing topographic surveys); lithography, and then a cartographic institution (for the publication of topographic maps and plans); warehouse of cards (for storing cards and issuing them to the troops); geodetic department (for performing high-precision geodetic works); mechanical workshop (for the manufacture of topographic and geodetic instruments and instruments); a military topographic school (for the training of officers-topographers); the geodetic faculty of the Academy of the General Staff (for the training of surveyor officers), etc.

At the end of the 19th century, the first permanent large field topographic surveys were formed in the structure of the Corps of Military Topographers. The "area of ​​responsibility" of each survey for performing topographic works was, saying modern language, whole strategic directions. An officer with the rank of lieutenant general was appointed the head of the shooting. Extensive topographic surveys of the terrain on a large scale were carried out by junior officers, and highly educated officers with the ranks of colonel and major general were the executors of accurate geodetic work.

At Soviet power the structure of the Corps of Military Topographers was not only preserved, but constantly enlarged and improved. Surveys were transformed into field topographic detachments, and the cartographic establishment into the Military Cartographic Factory. The corps was renamed to the Military Topographic Service. In the 1930s, dozens of new topographic, geodetic, aerial photography teams and warehouses for topographic maps were created, a Research Institute and optical-mechanical workshops were formed.

During the Great Patriotic War military units and enterprises of the Military Topographic Service and military military topographers (in armies, corps and divisions) carried out a large amount of work on topographic and geodetic support of operations.

Main activities: creation or updating of topographic maps for vast territories; publication of topographic maps in millions of copies, their transportation, storage and delivery to the troops; provision of troops and staffs with topographic maps and catalogs of coordinates of geodetic points; preparation of special maps and photographic documents of the area in direct preparation and in the course of hostilities; production of terrain models; control of the accuracy of the binding of elements of artillery combat formations; intersection of landmarks on the ground; tactical interpretation of aerial photographs and determination of the coordinates of enemy targets; topographic survey of the area; topographic training of troops, etc.

In the course of the war, the mapping of potentially dangerous politically-military regions did not stop: the Far East, China, Central Asia, Iran. To carry out all these tasks in the rear and at the fronts, dozens of specialized units and enterprises of the Military Topographic Service were additionally created or reorganized accordingly.

The volume of cartographic work in the interests of the Armed Forces was so huge that after the end of the Second World War, a significant part of the units of the Military Topographic Service was not reduced. On the contrary, new highly productive units appeared - stationary aerial photo-topographic and aerial-photo-geodetic detachments. The topographic service in the branches of the Armed Forces and combat arms received further development.

By 1970-1990 The USSR Military Topographic Service carried out orders of the Armed Forces in the following areas: mapping of continental strategic regions; creation of a world space geodetic network and justification geocentric system coordinates for the use of missile weapons; creation of large-scale digital maps for precision weapon guidance systems; creation of electronic topographic maps for automated systems command and control of troops; improvement of mobile means of topographic and geodetic support for solving urgent tasks in the operational-tactical link; creation of spacecraft observation means and new topographic and geodetic equipment; training of military topographers, etc.

All the tasks assigned to the national military topographic service for 200 years were and are being solved by military topographers, brought together in regular military teams - parts of the Topographic Service. Until recently, the history of creation and development, even a relatively complete list of these parts, was not in the military history literature.

In 2012, for the anniversary of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation prepared a book "The History of Units of the Topographic Service". Authors - officers of the reserve of the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation E.I.Dolgov and S.V. Sergeev, publishing house "Axiom", 642 p.

The authors decided to present the two-hundred-year history of the Corps of Military Topographers and the Military Topographic Service in the form of a short encyclopedic dictionary for all the main structures that have been part of the Service from the beginning of the 19th century to the present - governing bodies, topographic and geodesic detachments, cartographic units and factories. warehouses of topographic maps, astronomical and geodetic observatories, educational and scientific institutions, optical and mechanical enterprises, temporary formations, etc. Numerous facts stated in the articles are supported by extracts from orders and directives. In total, the book includes short description more than 320 military units of the Topographic Service and more than 200 photographs, most of which have not been previously published.

The facts and events in the book reveal historical periods Service development for 200 years. However, the events of the 20s - 80s are described in the most detail. XX century. It was during this period that a radical reorganization of the Service took place, the formation of topographic and geodetic support of military operations (based on the experience of the Great Patriotic War), as the most important type of operational support for troops and an integral part of military science, the formation of topographic services, radical technical and technological re-equipment of parts of the Service, access to space cartographic, digital and navigation-geodetic technologies.

The last years of the functioning of the Topographic Service of the RF Armed Forces are characterized by significant organizational and staff changes associated with the transition to a new look of the Armed Forces. But an adherent of conservative views on the structure of the Service, having familiarized himself with the facts of cardinal organizational and staff decisions of the 30s, 40s, and subsequent years with the help of this book, will understand that the changes caused by the requirements of the times have always been and will continue. The only tasks that remain unchanged for military topographers are the tasks facing them related to the creation and delivery of the required information about the terrain to the troops and headquarters. The efforts of unique military specialists - geodesists, topographers and cartographers - will continue to focus on solving these problems.

The Military Topographic Service of the Armed Forces (MTS Armed Forces) of the Russian Federation has a long history, rich in glorious events.

Peter's reforms at the beginning of the 18th century radically changed the organization of the Russian cartographic school. Maps began to be created on the basis of Western European geographical cartography. In Moscow, in 1701, at the School of Mathematics and Navigation, the training of surveyors began, who began instrumental survey of Muscovy, and at the Civil Printing House, opened in 1705 in Moscow, they began to print maps and atlases according to European models. In post-Petrine times (1763), the General Staff (GS) was established, whose officers in Peaceful time carried out geodetic surveys of individual regions of the country, camps, routes and produced maps for the needs of the army.

The General Staff was engaged in these works from 1764 to 1797. In 1797, as part of the Retinue of His Imperial Majesty (H.I. Russian army... In this depot, there were units responsible for the redeployment of troops and their provision with maps.

In 1812, the Map Depot was renamed the Military Topographic Depot - VTD (since 1816, the Military Topographic Depot).

Since 1822, VTD headed the Corps of Topographers (after 1866 - the Corps of Military Topographers - KBT) as part of the Suite of E.I.V.

This corps did not differ in numbers - in different years no more than 600 ranks served in it, including officers who were distinguished from other army officers by a special uniform, which was recorded in the 22nd volume of the illustrated "Historical Description of Clothes and Armament of Russian Troops." In the period from 1825 to 1848, numerous changes were introduced to the officer's uniform. In 1826, officers' trousers with high boots and leggings with stripes were replaced by long dark green trousers with light blue edging in the side seams; officers of the Corps of Surveyors in the summer, when combat officers are in summer trousers with boots, are assigned the same summer trousers, dark green and of the same cut.

In 1827, for the distinction of ranks, gold forged stars were installed on the officer's epaulets in the same form and order as in the other troops of the army infantry and cavalry described above.

In 1829, officers, while they were on the set, outside the capitals, were ordered to be in half-uniform, that is, in a frock coat with epaulettes, without a sword and in a forage cap. Topographers who are promoted from senior management to the rank of officer are allowed to wear a silver lanyard.

1830 - topographers installed stripes only on chakchirs or dark green pantaloons, and on gray leggings, set for marching time, have only one edging.

1832 - officers are allowed to wear mustaches.

1835 - the commanders of the company of surveyors, instead of the general army uniform, received a uniform similar to that assigned to the officers of the Corps of surveyors, but without sewing and aiguillette and with epaulette epaulettes made of black cloth, not velvet. Buttons in the company of the Military Topographic Depot were installed with a grenada about one fire, and in other companies - with the number assigned to the company, which is also extended to the lower ranks.

The lower ranks were recruited mainly from the cantonists of the military orphan's departments, but in order to enter the topographers, they had to pass an exam in the following subjects: arithmetic, algebra up to 2nd degree equations, planimetry, calligraphy and drawing plans. Their maintenance cost four times less than the officers.

The training of soldier-topographers was carried out, for example, in the Chuguevsky Slobodsko-Ukrainian military settlement, where the headquarters of the Chuguevsky uhlan regiment was located. In the gallery of the city of Chuguev there is a watercolor "View of the Corps of Military Topographers in Chuguev".

This is how Ilya Efimovich Repin recalls the Corps of Military Topographers in Chuguev in his book “The Distant Close”: “So, after long expectations and dreams, I finally got to the most coveted place of study, where they paint with watercolors and draw with ink ...

Large halls were lined with long wide tables, on the tables to large boards were attached geographic Maps, mainly parts of a Ukrainian military settlement.

At the headquarters there was a lithographic workshop and a corps of military topographers (according to some sources, a school of topographers).

And what colors! Miracle, miracle! (The treasury furnished the surveyors extensively and richly; everything was expensive, first-rate, from London.) My eyes were wide-eyed.

And on a huge table, my gaze suddenly rested on the two soles of boots with spurs up. It was a topographer lying on the whole table with his chest down and painting the borders of a huge map. I didn't think there were paper sizes like these cards. What I liked the most was that many of the plates had large tiles of Newtonian fresh paint. They seemed to be quite soft: they themselves float to the wrist.

Afterwards I learned that topographic students from different cavalry regiments were assigned to the corps of surveyors, where I ended up, they wore the uniforms of their regiments ... Soon a handful of ten cantonists followed us from other halls past us for their teacher, also a surveyor; everyone has a written notebook in their hands. The teacher pointed to the place on the map with a stick, and they loudly shouted the names of countries, rivers, mountains, cities, seas, bays, straits, etc.

I really liked these cantonists in military jackets and leggings ... They so boldly answered their teacher's questions and quickly indicated the places on the maps. Everything was studied quickly, loudly and cheerfully - both the complex German Confederation and the specific system of Russian princes and principalities. I learned all this after, when I began to study right there ...

After leaving school, the schoolchildren became topographers of the 1st class, having served in the non-commissioned officer rank for at least 8 years, they were promoted after a strict examination to the officers of the KVT.

In its bulk, the KVT was replenished not by the nobles, and when the question of admitting noblemen to the Corps of military topographers was raised, the head of the chancellery for the quartermaster wrote: “A nobleman cannot remain a topographer for a long time, but should be in a noble regiment».

The aim was to keep the surveyors (i.e. soldiers) on the survey as long as possible in order to make them quite experienced surveyors.

Indeed, topographers from the cantonists, staying on the set from 8 to 12 years, acquired such experience prior to their promotion as officers, with which they successfully performed the work.

In 1857, the military settlements were abolished, in connection with which the corps of military topographers in Chuguev ceased to exist.

But the history of the Russian Corps of Military Topographers did not end there. The building has existed for over a century. During this time, his officers in peacetime carried out numerous topographic surveys and geodetic determinations in different parts of the country, and in wartime - reconnaissance and survey of the terrain in the areas of hostilities. Military topographers did not shine with gold aiguillettes at parades in the capital. In forests, swamps, deserts and mountains, they honestly and conscientiously applied images of streams and ravines, tracts and gorges, remote villages and farmsteads to clean film boards. In this they were assisted, to the best of their tsarist capabilities, by Emperor Nicholas II.

After 1863, the Military Topographic Depot consistently changed its names and was partially reorganized, and in 1912 new samples of the uniform of military topographers were introduced.

At first it was the Military Topographic Part of the Main Directorate (GU) of the General Staff, then the Military Topographic Department (WTO) of the General Staff (transformed into the General Staff - General Staff), the Military Topographic Directorate (VTU) and again into the WTO.

The head of the VTU (VTO) was simultaneously the chief of the ITC and enjoyed the rights of the head of the division.

This body of the central military command carried out control functions in the part related to the publication of maps in imperial Russia, and also supervised the conduct of geodetic, topographic and cartographic works carried out in the interests of the Armed Forces and the Russian state, until 1918. In the historical sketches of the KVT, many of the achievements of military topographers are described in detail.

Significant milestones illustrating the history of the activities of military topographers until 1918 were:

• the transformation of the Depot of Maps into the Military Topographic Depot in January-February 1812;
• the formation of the Corps of Topographers in February 1822;
• the great Baltic chronometric expedition of 1833;
• transition to a verst scale series of maps;
• the creation in 1854 of a geodetic department at the Academy of the General Staff;
• compilation of a "catalog of trigonometric and astronomical points";
• reforming of topographic and geodetic units and management bodies of 1863-1877;
• topogeodetic support (TGO) of the Danube army in Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878;
• mapping of Manchuria and the Caucasus;
• development and leveling of polygons of the new triangulation since 1906;
• creation of a new two-color topographic map;
• building up the card publishing capacities of KBT;
• topogeodetic support of troops during the First World War (1914-1917).

In 1918, the WTO was again renamed the WTU of the All-Russian General Staff, and in 1919 it became the Office of the KVT and after a while was transformed into the Military Topographic Service (MTS).

• Office of the Corps of Military Topographers (UKVT) of the Headquarters of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army (RKKA):
• VTU of the main department of the Red Army (7th department);
• Office of Military Surveyors;
• The 7th Department of the MTC of the Headquarters of the Red Army;
• WTO of the Headquarters of the Red Army;
• The Department of the Military Topographic Service (MTS) of the Headquarters of the Red Army;
• Office of the MTC;
• VTU GSh KA (Red Army);
• VTU GSh SA (Soviet Army);
• VTU General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia.

After the Civil War, military topographers had to switch to the metric system of measures and organize aerial photographs of the terrain to solve numerous topographic tasks, carry out work on TGO of troops that took part in military conflicts on the borders with China and Finland, and carry out topographic development of territories on the western borders of the USSR. The training of new personnel for the military-technical cooperation also continued. Magazines were published by cadets in topographic schools.

Heavy trials fell on the military-technical cooperation at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War. In 1941, this service lost 148 officers, 1127 sergeants and soldiers. The geodetic team consisted of a small group of soldiers (6-7 people) with a corporal at the head. The head of the team was a surveyor with the rank of sergeant to senior lieutenant, who graduated from a special school or college. The teams had at their disposal a 30-second theodolite, metal measuring tapes, topographic maps, catalogs of coordinates of points of the state geodetic network (GGS), an adding machine, office accounts, ten-digit tables of logarithms trigonometric functions("Peters tables"), construction tools (saws, axes, shovels), a medicine bag with medicines, food, a horse-drawn carriage and fodder for horses. The soldiers had rifles, the corporal had a PPSh submachine gun with ammunition. The team leader had a revolver of the "revolver" system and a pair of grenades, as well as a certificate for the right to perform special works in the appropriate area. In 1943, military topographers changed their shape.

The initial geodetic basis on the territory of our country was the coordinates of the centers of the points of the GGS network, which at that time was quite rare. On the territory of Poland, the coordinates of the centers of the points were used, determined at one time by the Corps of Military Topographers of the Russian Army. In Germany, the coordinates were determined from the results of mathematical processing of the coordinates of several contour points measured on the map, and the reference directions were calculated from astronomical observations using coordinate tables bright stars compiled by A.M. Petrov, who commanded the 75th geodetic detachment (GO) during the war.

During the heavy battles for Stalingrad, a military topographer of the 2nd Guards Army of the Guard, Senior Lieutenant-Technician Sergei Aleksandrovich Salyaev, took part in its defense.

For service in the ranks of the Red Army, he was awarded with orders World War II and the Red Star, medals "For Courage", "For Military Merit", "For the Defense of Stalingrad" and "For the capture of Konigsberg." At the end of the war, S. A. Salyaev continued to serve at the Research Institute of Military and Technical Cooperation (now the Research Center for Topogeodetic and Navigational Support - Research Center TGNO 27 Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of Russia), and then worked as the head of the department of the Central Order "Badge of Honor" of the Research Institute of Geodesy, Aerial Survey and cartography named after F. N. Krasovsky.

After 1945, military topographers took part in mapping the regions of the Far North, the Far East and the Pamirs, developed space technologies for solving topographic problems, conducted astronomical and geodetic surveys on the Antarctic continent, created domestic systems of electronic and digital maps, developed topographic and geodetic techniques and took part in creation of the GLONASS global navigation system.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that the difficult 1990s were marked by numerous problems for military topographers. Reduction of funding for the Armed Forces, low salaries, the state's inattention to the elementary needs of military specialists - military topographers also had to go through all this. Many of them were forced, due to circumstances, to go to civilian life and, I must say, having a good practical education and great experience, as well as "bright minds", perfectly settled in civilian companies.

After all, the need for highly qualified specialists in the field of topogeodesy is felt in the most important sectors of the Russian economy. At the same time, many officers of the "Soviet temper" remained on military service and made a huge contribution to the formation of military topography already in post-Soviet Russia.

In connection with the termination of the existence of the USSR in 1991, the Military Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of Russia was formed, which in the following 1992 was transformed into the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

In modern conditions, old paper cards have long been replaced by electronic ones, which are much more convenient to use. Military topographers are equipped with the latest mobile geodetic systems that record the smallest changes in the terrain while moving along the route. At the same time, the army does not completely abandon paper maps - after all, technology is technique, and in case of its failure or interruptions, the old, tested, grandfather's map can also come to the rescue.

An experimental Center for Geospatial Information and Navigation has been established in the Southern Military District. Technical equipment The Center makes it possible to carry out the tasks assigned to military topographers both directly at the place of permanent deployment and in the field, if necessary moving out to the terrain.

While providing reliable, accurate and promptly received geospatial information for automatic command and control systems, high-precision weapon systems, headquarters and commanders of army units, military topographers of military-technical cooperation use the latest developments in the field of digital and IT technologies, the GLONASS global navigation satellite system, mobile navigation and topographic systems ...

In general, the activities of military topographers in peacetime have a slightly reduced significance compared to the time when the war is going on. Of course, employees always have work and tasks that they must perform at any time, but the fact is that the work of military topographers in a war can be key to victory not only in local battles, but in general. How many situations history knows when knowledge of the area, as well as information about the presence of such knowledge in the enemy's possession, can save the lives of millions of people. Therefore, the profession of a military topographer has always been held in high esteem from the moment of its official appearance in the Armed Forces, first of the Russian Empire, and then modern Russia.

Corruption, low rates of rearmament, inconsistency of reforms, lack of qualified personnel - the military topography in Russia approached its bicentennial anniversary with the same list of problems as the entire Russian army.

A sharp decrease in the volume of funding for the army in the early 90s and the subsequent cuts in personnel had a strong impact on the ability of the military topographic service to carry out current work, and on plans for re-equipment. The first to suffer was the most labor-consuming and, accordingly, financially costly part of the work of topographers - updating the maps.

Irreversible aging processes

According to Soviet instructions, maps of the most important inhabited areas should be updated at intervals of six to eight years. Others - 10-15 years. The huge size of the country did not allow to withstand these norms even in Soviet time... Only maps of the border regions of the Soviet Union were regularly updated. Strict requirements were imposed on the quality of their renewal. Control, in addition to the topographic units of the military district, carried out the work, was carried out by the Military Topographic Directorate of the General Staff and the headquarters of the border districts that were part of the KGB of the USSR. The areas of basing and possible military operations of the foreign contingents of the Soviet army: the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, the Central (Czechoslovakia), Northern (Poland) and Southern (Hungary) groups of troops were also subjected to careful mapping. The quality of these cards is still highly regarded by professionals.

"Now anyone can buy, though already outdated, but officially still secret Soviet topographic maps via the Internet."

The maps of the interior regions of the country were updated at intervals, at best, once every 10 years. In Soviet times, they included the entire territory of the European part of Russia, except for the Kaliningrad region and the border section from the Gulf of Finland to the Barents Sea, and the entire North Caucasus, including, for example, the territory of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. As for hard-to-reach remote areas, the updating of large-scale topographic maps for them was carried out only by separate orders of the General Staff. At the same time, according to experts, the annual aging of a topographic map at a scale of 1: 50,000 is up to three percent, and its discrepancy to the terrain in 10-15 years can reach 40 percent. Lack of funding in the 90s led to the fact that the planned map renewal was suspended.

The crisis of military topography clearly manifested itself a few years after the collapse of the USSR - during the war in Chechnya.

Tourist scheme for military action

By the beginning of the 1994-1996 Chechen war, the troops had a map of the republic's territory on a scale of 1: 50,000 - the main working map for tactical officers. It was compiled as a result of the map update carried out in the period 1982-1984. The next update was planned for 1992-1994. For obvious reasons (the general financial crisis and the transfer of the Chechen Republic under the control of the separatists), it was not carried out.

With detailed plans for settlements, the situation was even worse. The plan of the city of Grozny on a scale of 1: 5000, which was available in the General Staff, was drawn up in 1979. It lacked many key facilities that were built later, including the State Bank buildings, the complex of buildings of the Chechen Pedagogical Institute, the road junction on Oktyabrskaya Square (Minutka), etc. During the assault, a fierce struggle broke out over these facilities. As a result, the tourist map of the city, published in 1987, became the most relevant cartographic material at the disposal of the Russian troops for the city of Grozny.

Of course, the high losses incurred by the federal group during the storming of the city are explained by a variety of reasons, primarily a general underestimation of the enemy's forces, poor combat training of Russian troops, and mistakes in planning an operation. However, some of the losses could have been avoided if the troops had modern maps. As the territory of the republic came under the control of the federal forces, military topographers updated maps on a scale of 1: 50,000 of the territory of the Chechen Republic. It was completed by mid-1996. Thanks to this work, during the second Chechen war of 1999-2009, the troops had significantly fewer complaints about the quality of maps.

Topographers go to civilian life

In addition to the planned updates of the maps, the technical re-equipment of the topographic service was also curtailed. The geoinformation systems developed for the needs of the military, although they passed tests, did not appear in service in the 90s. The same fate befell automated topographic complexes.

Collage by Andrey Sedykh

The most ambitious project - the GLONASS system, originally created for military needs, was officially put into operation on September 24, 1993 with an orbital constellation of 12 satellites. In December 1995, the satellite constellation was deployed to the full complement of 24 vehicles. However, in addition to the lack of funding, the technical shortage of Soviet satellites also affected - a low resource. By 2001, the number of operational satellites was reduced to six and the system was no longer able to function effectively. In fact, GLONASS was to be deployed anew. The introduction of satellite navigation devices in the troops was no longer discussed - there was no money to establish their mass production and purchase by the army. The personnel problem became the main problem for the topographic service.

The low level of wages caused a rapid outflow of highly qualified specialists to the civil sphere. By the end of the 90s, the military topographic service in Russia had practically lost its ability to provide the army with modern cartographic information.

In contrast to military civilian cartography in Russia, all these years have developed quite successfully due to the growing market demand for cartographic products. The emergence of private ownership of real estate caused an increase in the need for large-scale cadastral plans of settlements. The development of cellular networks entailed the need to digitize and partially update maps at a scale of 1: 100,000 for the entire more or less inhabited territory of the country in order to plan the development of a network of base stations.

"Portable" market capture

In connection with the stagnation of the GLONASS program, the Russian market was captured by portable navigation devices based on the American GPS system. To create navigational maps for them, in 2005–2011, maps of a scale of 1: 25,000 of all settlements were digitized, and road graphs were drawn up for almost the entire road network of the country. The demand for the creation of other types of modern cartographic products - digital orthophotomaps, three-dimensional terrain models, etc. has also increased. According to the market demands, the technical re-equipment of civilian companies has taken place. First, geographic information systems (GIS), such as Panorama, originally developed for the military, were adapted for civilian needs. Over the 90–2000s, GIS "Panorama" has undergone significant evolution without any government investment and today is practically not inferior in capabilities to the best Western-developed GIS ERDAS. Geodetic companies received modern equipment: high-precision satellite geodetic instruments Javad GNSS, phototheodolites, laser rangefinders, electronic total stations, laser scanning devices, high-resolution digital aerial cameras, hyperspectral cameras, thermal imagers, etc. suppliers. The technical equipment of the military topographic service of the Armed Forces remained at the level of the 80s at best.

This led to the fact that the capabilities of civilian private cartographic companies in terms of creating modern digital maps and three-dimensional terrain models significantly bypassed the capabilities of the military topographic service. This state of affairs raised the question of direction further development military topography.

Purely Russian version

The development of military topography could follow several paths. Or, at the cost of significant financial costs, the military topographic service is restored to its Soviet level, that is, with thousands of employed servicemen performing the entire range of topographic and cartographic support of the Armed Forces. Or the development is proceeding according to the principles adopted in the armies of Western countries, when the military department orders maps from civilian private companies and their regular updates. At the same time, the military topographic divisions of the army are engaged in work only directly with military information. It includes plotting tactical and operational information on maps, topographic and geodetic binding of artillery and missile forces, topographic and geodetic preparation of troop bases, and preparation of special maps. As a result, a third, purely Russian option was chosen - the production of cartographic products for law enforcement agencies will be concentrated in its hands by a specially created state corporation.

The leadership of the Ministry of Defense, apparently, did not have any expressed position on the issue of cartographic support. The position of officials of the Federal Agency for Geodesy and Cartography (Roskartografiya), which became part of Federal Service state registration, cadastre and cartography. This structure, leading its history from the Main Directorate of State Survey and Cartography of the NKVD of the USSR, issues licenses for cartographic activities. Despite the fact that private companies currently have all the capabilities to provide the army with high-quality cards at an affordable price, government agencies managed, using their leverage, to keep the production of cards for the Armed Forces in their hands.

The first leverage was the secrecy of topographic maps.

In secret to the whole world

Until now, any topographic map with a scale of 1: 50,000 and larger is secret. The company working with these cards is obliged (in addition to the license from Roskartografiya) to obtain a license from the FSB to work with documents constituting state secret... To obtain it, the company must have in its composition the first department that controls access to cards. The loss of a map with a scale of 1: 50,000 and larger is a crime under Article 284 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Loss of documents containing state secrets”, punishment for this is up to three years in prison (in Soviet times, a similar article provided for up to seven years in prison). In modern Russia, there are a number of precedents when this article was applied. At the same time, topographic maps of the entire territory of the USSR were kept at the headquarters of military districts located outside Russia, for example, the Carpathian and Kiev. After 1991, the leadership of Ukraine and Belarus did not need to maintain secrecy on the maps of territories that had become foreign, and topographic maps of the entire territory of Russia appeared on the free market abroad. Now anyone can purchase even outdated, but officially still secret Soviet topographic maps via the Internet.

An even more amusing situation has developed with high-resolution satellite images. In our country, any space image with a resolution of more than 10 meters was considered secret. In order to use it in Russia, the company, having purchased such a picture from a Western (!) Supplier, had to order the FSB to declassify it. The absurdity of the current state of affairs became obvious to everyone with the launch of the Google Maps project in February 2005. Color images with a resolution of up to several meters of previously top secret objects such as the Zapadnaya Litsa submarine base have appeared in the public domain. It should be noted that in all Western countries, not areal, but object secrecy is used: the free distribution of large-scale topographic maps and images of strictly defined objects - military bases, training grounds, ship parking areas, areas of hostilities - is prohibited. For some time, the professional community discussed the option of canceling the secrecy for topographic maps at a scale of 1: 50,000 and larger. However, officials insisted on maintaining the secrecy of all topographic maps. This allowed them to keep in their hands the financial flow generated by the issuance of licenses to carry out cartographic activities and work with classified documents. Of course, over the years, private companies working in the field of cartography have found a lot of ways to bypass these restrictions, but in general, the preservation of the institution of secrecy remains the main factor holding back the development of private cartography.

Harness the flow of funds

The second lever was the administrative resource - the officials managed to convince the country's leadership that the maps supplied by private companies to the market are not accurate enough, and the transfer of the production of topographic maps to private hands threatens the country's security. A typical example is the situation with navigation charts for the GLONASS global navigation system. In early April 2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the issue of cartographic support for GLONASS, where he attacked the cartographic industry with criticism. The prime minister demanded that the members of the government figure out why the creation of digital maps is so slow. At the same time, the authors of the report for Putin lost sight of the fact that the creation of navigation maps for users of GPS receivers of the country's territory is proceeding quite successfully. By now, the network of road graphs covers almost the entire territory of the country, there are only problems with the saturation of navigation maps with point information. However, the desire of government agencies to straddle the flow of funds allocated by the government for the creation of navigational charts ultimately won out.

The result of the efforts of the officials was the appearance of the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of March 12, 2012 No. 296 on the formation of the open joint stock company Roskartografiya with a 100% stake in the state. The OJSC is being created on the basis of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Moscow Air Geodetic Enterprise” by adding 32 other enterprises of the cartographic and geodetic industry, including airborne geodetic enterprises, an experimental optical-mechanical plant, and cartographic factories. The declared priority area of ​​activity of JSC Roskartografiya is the implementation of geodetic and cartographic activities in the interests of the state authorities of the Russian Federation, as well as in order to ensure the defense capability and security of the state. Seems to be, new structure monopolizes the production of cartographic products in the interests of power structures and, above all, the Armed Forces.

Geoinformation systems of a new generation

As for the actual Military Topographic Service, in the course of the army reform it was transformed into the Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Its structure includes the Military Topographic Directorate of the General Staff, topographic services of four military districts and topographic services of the combat arms. Since the middle of the last decade, the rearmament of the topographic service has been proceeding at a slow pace. The paramount issue is equipping the service with modern geographic information systems.

GIS of the new generation are multifunctional software systems with which you can create digital multilayer maps of any scale, work with raster and vector images, convert maps from one format to another, create databases. They support both Western WGS84 and Russian (SK-42 and SK-95) coordinate systems. Currently, the main for the topographic service is the GIS "Integration" developed by JSC "NIITP". At the same time, in the civil cartography market, the GIS of the "Map" series developed by ZAO KB "Panorama" was more popular. Once the GIS "Map" was a civilian derivative of the GIS "Integration", however, over the years of its existence in market conditions and competition with Western GIS, it has undergone a great evolution and surpassed the military branch in terms of functionality. In 2009, the Ministry of Defense was adopted by the GIS "Karta 2005" of the company ZAO KB "Panorama", and in 2011 its modified version, "Karta 2011", was certified. It is worth noting that the variety geographic information systems used by the Armed Forces (for example, the Department of Navigation and Oceanography of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation has adopted the GIS "Neva"), is an obvious drawback, since it complicates the training of personnel in their use.

Recovery of GLONASS

The commissioning of the GLONASS global navigation system should be of great importance for the topographic service. In August 2001, in order to restore the functioning of GLONASS, the federal target program "Global Navigation System" was adopted, according to which it was planned to provide full coverage of the territory of Russia with navigation signals already at the beginning of 2008, and the entire globe by the beginning of 2010. The deployment of the system ran into a number of technical and organizational difficulties, but as a result of the "five-day war" its funding was increased.

By the end of 2010, the number of satellites was increased to 26 and the system began to function steadily. Compared to the American GPS system, GLONASS has a low resource spacecraft and less positioning accuracy. The third generation of GLONASS "Glonass-K" satellites, developed by Academician MF Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems, is called upon to eliminate these shortcomings. They differ from satellites of the previous series with a guarantee period of active existence of 10 years, reduced weight and installation of the equipment of the international rescue system for those in distress COSPAS-Sarsat. The first such satellite was launched on February 26, 2011. The overall successful deployment of the orbital group is overshadowed by the slow pace of deployment of navigation devices in the troops. The mass production of portable receivers has not yet begun. Probably, a more or less massive supply of tablet computers to the troops should be expected after the commissioning of a plant for their production, the construction of which is being carried out in Zelenograd by the Rusnano corporation.

An important stage in the technical re-equipment of the topographic service was the creation in January 2012 in the Southern Military District (the city of Korenovsk, Krasnodar Territory) of the first Center for Geospatial Information and Navigation in the Russian army. It was formed on the basis of several parts of the topographic service of the Southern Military District based on the analysis of the experience of the "five-day war" of 2008. The tasks of the center include comprehensive topographic and geodetic and cartographic support of troops, monitoring the state of the radio navigation field of GLONASS satellite navigation systems. It is equipped with all the key technical innovations in military topography - the Violit-M geoinformation modeling systems, the Volynets mobile digital topographic system, and the Tompak mobile navigation and geodetic complex. The center in Korenovsk is experimental and the Ministry of Defense plans to use the experience of its operation when creating similar centers in other military districts. However, when recruiting and equipping them, two key problems of the Russian army will inevitably affect - personnel and corruption.

The fruits and victims of military reform

In the course of the reform of military education, the St. Petersburg Higher Military Topographic Command School, which trained military surveyors and topographers for a century and a half, was first transformed into a branch of the Military Engineering University with two faculties - geodetic and topographic. In 2006, the university was demoted to the level of the faculty of topogeodetic support and cartography of the A.F. Mozhaisky Military Space Academy. It is worth noting that the need of the Ministry of Defense for specialists was less than the number of graduates and the school trained more specialists for civilian cartography than for military one. In this regard, the downgrade of his status looks logical.

Much more questions are raised by the fate of another victim of the military reform - the 27th Central Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, a specialized research institute of military topography. At first, the Ministry of Defense decided to withdraw the institute from Moscow to the Moscow region, and to sell the vacated buildings and territory on the market, ostensibly for the purchase of apartments for officers. Many qualified employees of the research institute did not want to move from the capital, resigned from the institute and quickly found jobs in civilian companies. And a little later, an order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation of May 24, 2010 followed, according to which, as a result of the reorganization of the 29th Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, it entered as a structural unit (research center) in the 27th Central Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.

As a result of the measures taken, the unique research institute with a seventy-year history was essentially reduced to the level of a department. What consequences these transformations will have for the military topographic service is not yet clear, but it is obvious that the service is clearly not coping with the issue of providing itself with high-quality specialists. Private companies of civil cartography and the recently formed JSC "Roskartografiya" have great financial opportunities to attract them.

The growth in funding for military topography inevitably led to an increase in the abuse of this funding. In May 2010, the Moscow Garrison Military Court sentenced high-ranking employees of the 29th Research Institute of the Russian Ministry of Defense - its chief, Major General Nikolai Konon, the head of the financial planning department, Lieutenant Colonel Valery Govorkov, and the head of one of the institute's departments, Colonel Rifat Mukhudinov. They were found guilty under the article “Fraud committed on an especially large scale”. From 2003 to 2006, Konon and his subordinates entered into 15 fictitious contracts for the performance of work in the interests of the institute with a total value of over five million rubles. But in fact, this work was carried out by the staff of the institute. In addition, General Konon from 2003 to 2007 gave instructions on the transfer of funds to the accounts of one-day firms. For four years, more than 18 million rubles were stolen. To date, Konon is one of the few Russian generals convicted of corruption.

Thus, answering the question whether the military topographic service will be able to become a modern high-tech structure, of course, one must count on the success of the army reform as a whole. And yet, the root of all today's problems of Russia's military topography is in matters of personnel and financial resource management.

Dedicated to indefatigable workers - military topographers of the Soviet Army, who honestly and conscientiously performed their military duty to the Motherland ...

History

The origin of military-technical cooperation in Russia dates back to the beginning of the 18th century, when individual officers (or groups) were allocated from the quartermaster units of the combined-arms headquarters, who were entrusted with drawing up elementary topographic documents (collecting information about the area, performing route surveys, etc.).

The credit for this belongs to Peter I. Possessing a broad outlook as a statesman, Peter I was aware that the creation detailed map Russia was to become a permanent task of the state, a function of a specially created apparatus.

At the beginning of 1763, the staff of the Special General Staff of the Military Collegium was approved, in which it was allowed to have 40 surveyor officers to carry out surveys and draw up maps. This was the beginning of the creation MILITARY TOPOGRAPHY SERVICE Russian army.

From 1763 to 1797, a special General Staff, created at the Military Collegium, was involved in photographing camps, fortifications, routes and creating maps.

In 1797, His Imperial Majesty's own Depot of Maps was created, which laid the foundation for the Military Topographic Depot of the Main (General) Staff of the Russian Army.

In 1812 it was renamed the Military Topographic Depot, which had been in charge of the Corps of Topographers from 1822 (after 1866 - the Corps of Military Topographers). This body of the central military administration exercised control functions in the part concerning the publication of maps in imperial Russia, and also supervised the conduct of geodetic, topographic and cartographic work carried out in the interests of the army and the state, until 1918.

Until 1923, the military topographic service continued to be called the Corps of Military Topographers and was subordinate to the Military Topographic (successor to the Military Topographic Depot of the Russian Imperial Army) management of the All-Russian State Headquarters.

From 1918 to 1941 The Military Topographic Directorate has undergone a number of renames:
- Military Topographic Directorate of Vseroglavshtab;
- Office of the Corps of Military Topographers (UKVT) of the Headquarters of the Red Army;
- Military topographic department (management) of the Headquarters of the Red Army (GU Red Army);
- Office of Military Topographers of the Headquarters of the Red Army;
- Department of the military topographic service of the headquarters of the Red Army.

In the Soviet Army, the MTC SA was part of the headquarters service, which had its own organs in the headquarters of formations and operational formations, as well as special units and institutions (topographic, aerial photo-topographic and geodetic detachments, cartographic factories and units, map warehouses, etc.), mainly engaged in the preparation of topographic maps and geodetic data on the territory of probable theaters of military operations, topographic training of troops and research work in the field of cartography, geodesy and aerial photography. In wartime the most important task The military-technical cooperation of the SA was the topographic support of the military operations of the troops.

Since 1991, the Military Topographic Service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation was formed.

Tasks

Before the reform of 2008, the Military Topographic Service of the Russian Armed Forces solved the following tasks:
- Clarification of the mathematical parameters of the earth;
- Creation of a world space geodetic network;
- Production and timely updating of topographic maps;
- Providing troops and services with topographic and special maps;
- Operational provision of theater maps and exercises;
- Interaction with Roskartografiya on the issues of creating maps.

Structure

Before the 2008 reform, the structure of the Military Topographic Service of the Russian Armed Forces included:
- Military Topographic Directorate of the General Staff with subordinate units;
- Topographic services of military districts (armies and units) according to the scheme:
- Topogeodetic detachment;
- District part;
- Warehouse of cards;
- The trample of the army.
- Top services of the branches of the Russian Armed Forces;
- Top services of power structures of Russia.

Gallery

Large emblem of the Military Topographic

Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed

Forces of the Russian Federation

Military lapel badge

Military Topographic Service of the Armed

Forces of the Russian Federation