Army Hand-to-Hand Combat (ARB)
Армейский рукопашный бойA Russian military applied sport with strikes, kicks, throws and holds, fought in a kimono and a helmet with a grille. It arose as a sport in 1979 at the first Airborne Forces championship.
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RussiaCharacter & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Army Hand-to-Hand Combat (ARB)
Armeyskiy rukopashnyy boy, abbreviated ARB, is a Russian military applied sport whose rules are approved by the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation, most recently by order No. 1154 of 2015. Ryabchuk and Poddubnaya (2024) describe it as a system that combines many functional elements of world combat sports and gained popularity through full-contact bouts. Under the rules, strikes with hands and feet, throws and holds are scored, competitors wear a white kimono and a helmet with a metal grille, and adults are also allowed to strike on the ground, while choking is prohibited.
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Irkhin et al. (2023) place the origin of ARB as a sport in 1979, when the first Airborne Forces championship took place. According to the Russian Wikipedia it was held in Kaunas at the sports base of the 7th Guards Airborne Division, while the peer-reviewed studies mention neither the place nor the division. We have not been able to verify a single founder in peer-reviewed sources, and the Russian Wikipedia states that ARB was created by specialists and physical training enthusiasts of the airborne and other troops. According to Irkhin et al. (2022), performance is expressed by sports qualification classes under the Unified All-Russian Sports Classification, the first of which can be obtained only from the age of 15. The Russian Wikipedia, by contrast, states that classes and titles can be earned only by soldiers from the age of 17. Irkhin et al. (2023) describe the period since 2016 as contradictory, with ARB's importance for the patriotic education of youth growing, but with growing competition from other combat sports and fewer children.
History
Irkhin et al. (2023) divide the development of ARB into four stages. From the 1920s to the 1970s, in their view, it was a matter of preconditions and hidden development, mainly within sambo, in the years 1979 to 1995 of its emergence and establishment in the army, in the years 1995 to 2016 of gradual development also in the police and in sports organizations, and from 2016 of a contradictory development. Among the predecessors on whose work ARB is methodologically based, the authors list, among others, V. A. Spiridonov, A. A. Kharlampieva and V. S. Oshchepkov. According to Irkhin et al. (2022), ARB was included in the Unified Sports Classification in 1985 as an independent sport, introduced in the Armed Forces in 1989 as a military applied sport, and in 1991 the 1st Armed Forces of the USSR Championship was held in Leningrad. Until 1994, according to the same authors, it was practiced only in army units. After Law No. 53-FZ of 1998 it also developed among civilian youth as an element of voluntary preparation for army service, but Law No. 329-FZ of 2007, according to the authors, gave it departmental status, which complicated its development among civilians.
How it differs
Irkhin et al. (2023) state that ARB as a sport grew out of various forms of close combat in the USSR, above all from sambo, and itself gave impetus to the emergence of other schools and sports of close combat. Kotko (2008) writes that since the 1990s various Eastern striking sports replaced sambo competitions in Russian power ministries, and later their combination with sport wrestling in army and militia versions. He distinguishes sport hand-to-hand combat from army combat, which in his view arose through a transformation of traditional karate. Davidenko and Bolotin (2022) classify ARB, alongside service and complex single combat, among military-applied and service-applied combat sports and state that the ratio of striking and wrestling actions in it is similar to that in mixed single combat and pankration. According to the 2015 rules, ARB combines a kimono with a helmet with a metal grille, strikes on the ground for adults and victory by joint lock, while prohibiting chokes.
Technique
The 2015 rules of the Ministry of Sport recognize strikes with the hands and feet, throws and joint locks as technical actions. Strikes may be aimed at the head, torso and legs except the inner thigh. Davidenko and Bolotin (2022) write that despite the great variety of strikes, grappling technique is of great importance in ARB. Garanin, Yakovlev and Volodin (2015) counted 309 hand strikes, 238 throws and 205 kicks in 84 bouts of a military school championship, and report that experts divide competitors into strikers, wrestlers and competitors of a combined style. Suvorov et al. (2022) define ground fighting as a fight in which both competitors lie or kneel and do not return to the starting stance. In 65 bouts of competitors of the first performance class, candidates for master of sport and masters of sport, they found 297 transitions to the ground, and of the successful attacks on the ground 33 ended in a joint lock, 28 in a knockdown and 12 in scored strikes.
Training
According to Suvorov et al. (2022), ARB training progresses from practising individual strikes, holds and throws against graduated partner resistance, through conditional bouts with one to three assigned techniques, to 10 to 12 minutes of free sparring at the end of the main part. Garanin et al. (2015) recommend emphasising hand strikes, counters, evasions and defence, then wrestling and joint-lock techniques, and kicks as a supplementary means. Irkhin et al. (2022) state that the first sports performance classes can be obtained under the Unified All-Russian Sports Classification only from age 15, and they regard this as one of the causes of children aged 7 to 13 leaving in the second and third year of training. Russian Wikipedia, however, states that classes and titles can be obtained only by soldiers from the age of 17. Kotko (2008) criticised the use of ARB in the patriotic education of children without adapting its dangerous rules, and proposed rules for pupils in the third and fourth year that ban kicks to a downed opponent and to the head of a standing one.
Ranks and progression
Irkhin et al. (2022) state that on registration of the All-Russian federation in 2001, representatives of about 52 regions of Russia joined it, whereas at the time of the study there were 63 regional federations in all federal districts. According to them, the number of athletes grew until 2010 to a peak of 500,000 people, and no more than 100,000 remained at the time of writing, a figure they take over from Ashkinazi et al. They mention the years 2007 to 2016 as a period of organisational development of children's and youth ARB. A chart in Irkhin et al. (2023) shows the numbers of participants in the Russian championship for the years 1994 to 2020 as between roughly 150 and 288. Irkhin et al. (2022) also mention the continuous improvement of protective equipment since the early 1980s, as they rank ARB among the toughest combat sports.
Competition
The rules of the military-applied sport ARB were approved by the Russian Federation Ministry of Sport in order no. 1154 of 14 December 2015, which replaced the rules from 2014. A bout has one round, lasting 3 minutes for men and juniors, 2 for youths, and 4 and 3 in the final respectively. Competition takes place on a 12 by 12 metre tatami with an 8 by 8 metre working zone, men in weight categories from 60 to 85 kilograms and over. A helmet-mask with a metal grille, protective vest, groin guard, gloves, shin and instep guards and a white kimono with a red or blue belt are mandatory. A hand strike to the torso scores 1 point under the rules and to the head 2, a kick to the legs 1, to the torso 2 and to the head 3 points, throws 1 to 3 points, and a knockdown adds 3 points. Clear superiority comes from a knockout, two knockdowns, an applied joint lock or disqualification of the opponent. Among other things, finger strikes to the eyes, chokes, strikes to the groin, neck and back of the head, and jumping with the feet on a downed opponent are prohibited, and kicks to a downed opponent only for youths. Ryabchuk and Poddubnaya (2024) tested electronic scoring with tablets and video recording in 2022 and 2023.
Today
Irkhin et al. (2023) describe the period since 2016 as contradictory. In their view, ARB is gaining importance for the patriotic education of youth and preparing young men for military service, but competition from other combat sports grows and the number of children falls. Valentina Kosachuk (Moskovskij komsomolec, 2011) wrote that ARB is developing in many regions of Russia but hardly leaves the country, has no world champions and does not seek the Olympic Games. Ryabchuk and Poddubnaya (2024) name among current competitions the Saint Petersburg championship, the MTO Military Academy championship and the Cup of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Suvorov et al. (2022) list as workplaces the coaching staff of the regional ARB federation in Moscow and the Kaskad club in Saint Petersburg.
Did you know
Irkhin et al. (2023) state that in 1923 V. A. Spiridonov led a self-defence section in the Dinamo sports society, and count it among the preconditions for the emergence of ARB. Russian Wikipedia attributes the origin of ARB to martial arts enthusiasts and sports instructors of the Airborne Forces with the participation of Vasily Margelov, commander of the Airborne Forces, but peer-reviewed sources do not document this. Russian Wikipedia, citing the federation, states that the first Airborne Forces championship in 1979 took place in the settlement of Gaižiūnai near Kaunas, at the 242nd training centre of the Airborne Forces. Garanin et al. (2015) list among ARB competitions the Armed Forces Cup in memory of Yu. Islamov.
Frequently asked questions
When did armeyskiy rukopashnyy boy come into being?
Irkhin et al. (2023) place the origin of ARB as a sport in 1979, when the first Airborne Forces championship took place. The Russian Wikipedia gives Kaunas as the place.
Are strikes on a downed opponent allowed in ARB?
Under the Ministry of Sport rules of 2015, kicks to a downed opponent are prohibited only for youths, while adults may strike on the ground. Jumping on a downed opponent with the feet is prohibited.
How is scoring done in ARB?
Under the rules of 2015, a hand strike to the torso scores 1 point and to the head 2, a kick to the legs 1, to the torso 2 and to the head 3 points, and a knockdown adds 3 points.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.