Penal satchel charges need a increased timer of 4-5 secs. The range of the throw must be increased.
Penal squads are overall the most useless unit in the whole Russian tech tree imo. They need a slightly cheaper base cost 300MP or a faster build time. Either you only get 1 Penal squad in the early game or you use them to fill lost squads in the late game. They are effectively useless though for early game usage due to MP/time constraints.
They are a decent unit and have respectable small arms fire, evevn without the flamer upgrade.
Don't their rifles make them an interesting soft counter for light vehicles? Just in case someone doesn't go guards...
Faster build time would be great, russian buildings takes ages to complete as it is.