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VKK-15 suits are the latest generation of mass produced Soviet/Russian high altitude suits. Developed
sometime in late 1980s, this successor to venerable VKK-6 design has a completely different design
from all previous suits.
While all previous suits were a single piece suits with two separate rubber
pressure tubes running on outer sides of legs, then on the back and on to outer sides of hands,
VKK-15 high altitude compensation
part is overalls that do not cover hand areas. Also, unlike VKK-6 suits which had only high altitude
and anti-g compensations systems, VKK-15 in addition to the above mentioned has a built-in
ventilation system thus making it unnecessary to wear additional ventilation suit on top of it.
Another difference is that VKK-15 is the type of suit that could be used for outer wear, while
you would never see a pilot wearing VKK-6 on the airfield (except for when taking staged photos).
Because of that, VKK-15 overalls are issued in a set with a simple jacket that also has a hidden
rain hood in it's back pocket.
Overall, VKK-15 specs are similar to those of VKK-6 suits. In case of sudden lose of pressure
inside of the cockpit, VKK-15 suits allow pilots to survive at all altitudes up to 20km. At 20km,
VKK-15s are safe to use for a duration of 1 minute; at altitudes above 12km - for 3 minutes.
VKK-15K is a modification of VKK-15 suits for land based fighter pilots. It features high altitude
compensation, anti-g and ventilation systems. It could be visually identified from other VKK-15 types
by having three long extension cables for connecting to aircraft systems.
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| Upper front part of the VKK-15K overalls and jacket. Jacket's breast pockets are waterproof. |
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| Lower front part of the VKK-15K overalls and jacket. |
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| Jacket's left sleeve has two pockets; lower of which is a clear plastic center piece. |
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| To make it more comfortable to wear the suit, pilot can pull tubes that connect overalls to aircraft
systems through a special opening in the jacket. |
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| Jacket's right sleeve has only one pocket. |
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| Upper back portion of the VKK_15K overalls and jacket. |
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| Lower back portion of the VKK-15K overalls and jacket. |
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| Jacket has a hood which is usually stored in a special pocket located on the back of the suit. |
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| Hood, which is made out of waterproof material, can be pulled out in a matter of seconds. |
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| On the inside, jacket has one pocket in the right chest area. White tag is for the pilot to write his
name there. |
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| Like all Russian military issue suits, jacket has its own ID tag. It's rather similar to the tags found
on all other suits. First line is suit's designation, second is its serial (I've "deleted" it with my image
processing application) and third line is the size. |
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| And here is how overalls look like... |
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| ... |
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| This zipper helps to "open up" the overalls and make it more easier for the pilot to get into them. |
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| VKK-15K main visual difference - 3 connecting tubes. |
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| This is a pocket located in the left leg's thigh area. Note that pocket has 3 round openings on each
side. |
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| There is a similar pocket on right leg, but it does not have any openings. |
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| To the side of the pocket located on the right leg, there is a small vertical pocket. I'm not sure,
but it looks like it is for the parachute straps cutter. |
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| There are two similar pockets located further down the leg areas of the overalls. |
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| Here is how upper portion of overalls looks like from the back. |
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| Lower portion of the overalls from the back. |
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| ... |
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| Two zippers that run on the sides, these are used to make it more easier for pilot's to get into the
overalls. |
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| ... |
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| ID tag located on the overalls. It is interesting to note here that jacket and suit are of different
sizes. It appears that even though overalls and jacket are issued of the same size, pilots prefer to exchange
stock jacket for a larger size. |
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