Russian Military To Be Fully Rearmed By 2020

[Ryan Ruck]

cylon,
You don't post in almost a year and then pop in with this pearl of wisdom?

I'm putting you on official notice that if this is going to be the extent of your posting (as it looks like it has been so far), your membership will be revoked. Keep in mind, "It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Besides, its fall and school should be started back up. Maybe you can do a project on Bastogne or even the Pacific Theater instead of D-Day this year.

[Ryan Ruck]

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...

Russia Boosts Arms Spree to $613 Billion, Seeks U.S. Technology

September 20, 2010

Russia plans to spend 19 trillion rubles ($613 billion) over the next decade to equip its armed forces with the latest weaponry, including what may be the first purchases of U.S. military technology since World War II, according to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov.

The Defense, Finance and Economy Ministries are in the final stages of approving a plan to increase the 2011-2020 arms budget by 46 percent from the previous estimate of 13 trillion rubles, Serdyukov said yesterday, after returning from talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Washington.

“This is the minimum we need to equip our armed forces with modern weaponry,” Serdyukov, 48, said at his Moscow office. “We could ask for a bigger number, but we need to understand that the budget cannot afford such spending, so 19 trillion is a serious amount of money that will provide considerable orders for our defense industry.”

Serdyukov is looking abroad for arms Russian companies can’t provide, breaking with predecessors who sought to keep the country autonomous in weapons procurement. He has been lobbying for a bigger budget since at least May, when President Dmitry Medvedev said the military should triple the ratio of “state- of-the-art” equipment in its arsenal to 30 percent by 2015.

The Defense Ministry’s proposal will push that figure to 70 percent by 2020, Serdyukov said.

To achieve the targets, Russia wants to acquire technology from its former Cold War adversaries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, including the U.S., Serdyukov said.

Helicopter Carriers

The Defense Ministry will seek bids for helicopter carrier ships by the end of this month and expects companies from France, Spain and the Netherlands to compete against domestic defense contractors, Serdyukov said. The ministry has said the winner may sell two carriers to the Russian navy and agree to help build two more in Russia.

“We are not interested in buying finished products,” Serdyukov said. “We want to gain know-how in the technologies and produce them on Russian territory.”

Serdyukov became the first Russian defense minister with no military or intelligence background in February 2007, when then- President Vladimir Putin asked him to reshape the country’s 1.13 million-member armed forces. Prior to that he was federal tax chief for three years and ran a furniture company in St. Petersburg, where Putin was deputy mayor in the 1990s.

Serdyukov, who has reduced military personnel by about 130,000 since taking office, said he’s seeking to build “a compact and mobile army” and plans to use all the tools at his disposal, including foreign weapons. Medvedev called for an overhaul of the armed forces and their communications systems after the five-day war with U.S.-ally Georgia in August 2008.

‘Revolutionary Development’

“We are interested in many things, most importantly in communications, in everything that has to do with information technology,” Serdyukov said. “We would also be interested in some high-precision weapons.”

The Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies forecast in June that Russia, the largest arms exporter after the U.S., would spend as much as $12 billion to buy defense technologies from European and Israeli companies over the next five years. That estimate may be increased if Serdyukov gets more money, said Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based research firm and an adviser to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

“Just having the Russian defense minister publicly expressing interest in acquiring U.S. military technologies is a revolutionary development,” Pukhov said by phone. “The military hasn’t bought anything legally from the U.S. since the lend-lease program in the Second World War.”

U.S.-Russia Discussions

Serdyukov said he and Gates talked about the issue on Sept. 16 in Washington, during the first official visit by a Russian defense minister to the Pentagon since January 2005. The two men signed agreements on future talks, including a revision of a 1993 memorandum outlining defense ties between the two countries

“We discussed that our cooperation in the military and technical sphere isn’t developing,” Serdyukov said. “We, of course, have an interest in some American technology and, I think, they have an interest in some of ours.”

The biggest hurdle to a U.S. deal is American legislation banning the transfer of sensitive technologies, Serdyukov said. Even if Russia can’t overcome these legal limitations, it will pursue talks with other countries, he said.

Russia has reached understandings with France and Germany and is building relations with Italy and Israel, Serdyukov said.

“Here we’re not talking about import but about organizing some production on Russian territory,” he said.

[cylon47]

the reason why i couldn't post was because i had no access to the internet for sometime cause i was busy with personal matters.

[cylon47]

don't call me a fool

[American Patriot]

Pardonnez-moi Cyclone - Cyclone, mais est «un vent qui souffle fortement et tout dommage" ...

And it seems that is what you're doing.

Ryan no more called you a fool than I did... yet.

You might do well to actually READ the quote and to understand what it said rather than to "Assume". Ever seen the movie "Bad News Bears"?

[cylon47]

OK i apologize i over reacted. can't we all be friends?

[American Patriot]

OK i apologize i over reacted. can't we all be friends?

Rodney? Is that you?

Look, I saw that you have posted your age... My youngest son is several years older than you. But he doesn't go around making one or two word posts, doesn't report people for things they didn't actually do, and surely would have listened to me at least by the second time I said something to him.

So... no, we "can't all be friends"... but we can certainly get along together.

I know you're trying to make your inputs on the site, and I'm sure you have some understanding of things that are going on here.

All we're asking is that YOU take a bit more time to make a thoughtful, perhaps informative post before you get booted off the site for trolling.

We don't take kindly to trolls - and while I can see you're trying to be a smart aleck about some of the stuff (which is fine) it's not being taken right by most of the other folks here basically because you came here initially, made a handful of weird, offhanded and usually unconnected remarks.... then never came back for months.

Now you're back. Three posts later, Ryan is jumping on you for your behavior and I don't blame him a bit. He is the owner of the site.

Me... I'm just the bulldog that tears people's heads off. I have no diplomatically redeeming features and I could care less if you stay... or go.

But, one more call down by anyone and I pull the plug on your IP address.

[cylon47]

i couldn't get online i had personal stuff to attend to mich keep me away from the computer

[American Patriot]

Irelevant, Sir. I don't care why you weren't here. We all run into hard times for one reason or another. I was pointing out that from the time you were here the first time, and even with the large break in time, your behavior didn't change.

And I did so here because, well, frankly you're really not up to speed on things and you're posting in this thread.

Go back up to your original post up there... no let me assist you:

we are all doomed to a horrible fate. why doesn't the us or un step in

Honestly...

What fate awaits us (from your point of view)?

Why are we doomed (from your point of view)?

Why doesn't the US step in? (My point of view is that the current administration and perhaps the last two got us in this mess and we PEOPLE let it happen).

Why doesn't the UN step in?

PLEASE!? The United Nations?

I'll answer that.

1) They have ZERO authority, ANYWHERE in the world. I would shoot the first one who stepping on MY property and demanded anything of me. Everyone else in this country with a lick of sense would do the same.

2) No one wants the UN here. No one NEEDS the UN here.

3) The United Nations is made up of a lot of countries who have no BUSINESS being in the UN in the first place, and in the second place shouldn't be in charge of their own sewer systems. Iran and other Muslim countries on the "Human Rights" committee? Oh my God.... how lame, how hypocritical, how WRONG.

And I could go on. I'll leave it to others.

Now... I suggest you do a little research on your own, and perhaps you come back and expound on why that was a pretty "dumb" question.

Honestly, I prefer not to have to teach someone about politics - I WILL if I must, but each of us really needs to come to grips with reality from our own perspective.

We don't spoon feed people around here, the Liberals do that. We do not.

[American Patriot]

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks to media after his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, November 26, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch/Files




Putin pledges $650 bln to modernise Russia's army

SEVERODVINSK, Russia | Mon Dec 13, 2010 10:58pm IST



SEVERODVINSK, Russia (Reuters) - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday that the government had pledged 20 trillion roubles ($646 billion) through 2020 to modernise and re-arm Russia's military.


Russia's armed forces have demanded an increase in spending to modernise its ageing infrastructure and weapons systems after years of insufficient funding, which undermined its performance in local conflicts after the break-up of the Soviet Union.


"We are allocating very serious, significant funds for the re-armament programme. I am even scared to pronounce this figure: 20 trillion roubles," Putin told government ministers and top military officers.


"We need to finally overcome the consequences of those years when the army and the navy were seriously underfinanced," Putin told the group at the SevMash naval shipyard in the northern town of Severodvinsk, on the White Sea.


Putin said the modernisation programme would focus on strategic nuclear forces, air-defence systems, communication, intelligence, a fifth-generation fighter plane and on the navy, which would receive about 4.7 trillion roubles.


(Writing by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

[American Patriot]

Russia's Weapons Get a Makeover

The Russian Armed Forces are scheduled to receive over 1,300 types of weapons from a draft arms procurement program until 2020, according to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Putin said Monday, "We will need to set up new or expand the existing production lines to manufacture 220 of the new types of weaponry.”

More than $640.7 billion will be used to acquire the weapons, according to Putin. The program upgrades 11 percent of military equipment annually and increases Russia’s share of modern weaponry to 70 percent by 2020.

Putin further disclosed that $150.7 billion will be allocated to modernize the Russian Navy. Russia is currently building nuclear submarines in Sevmash that should be adopted by the Navy in 2011.

[vector7]

While Russia scrambles to build 5000 new bomb shelters by 2012 for strategic nuclear strike.

[Ryan Ruck]

Would Russia Build A New MIRVed ICBM?

December 20, 2010

A story about Russia's working on a new heavy MIRVed ICBM is definitely not the kind of news that supporters of the New START treaty would like to land in the U.S. Senate in the middle of the treaty ratification debate. But since the story is out there it is worth taking a closer look at what's behind it.

First of all, it is hardly a news - the Rocket Forces issued a call for proposals for a new missile more than a year ago. The original idea was heavily lobbied for by the NPOMash design bureau that developed the UR-100NUTTH/SS-19 missile back in the 1970s and that seems to be eager to get back into the missile business. Naturally, NPOMash suggested that Russia needs "a new powerful liquid-fuel missile, with a launch mass of about 100 tonnes" - very similar to the UR-100NUTTH. It is hardly surprising that proponents of the project emphasized that the large throw-weight of the missile would allow it to carry a lot of missile defense penetration aids. Throw-weight of UR-100NUTTH is more than three times larger than that of the Topol-M/RS-24 line of solid-propellant missiles. Also, UR-100NUTTH-class missile would be able to carry the "magic" hypersonic maneuverable warhead, which was also billed as an answer to the U.S. missile defense plans (it was tested with it back in 2004).

Second, it should be noted that despite the lobbying, the project was not universally supported. The Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (MITT), which produces Topol-Ms, argued that there is not much future in liquid-fueled missiles and that its Topol-Ms (single-warhead and MIRVed) are completely adequate, missile defense or not.

As far as I understand, after some internal discussion the Ministry of Defense announced a call for proposals for a new heavy missile without specifying that it has to be a liquid-fuel missile. Although the announcement suggested that the missile will be ready for deployment in 2016, this timeline is definitely not realistic. In fact, it is not clear if the project will be approved at all - even if we assume that Russia might need a MIRVed missile (which it doesn't), the heavy R-36M2/SS-18 could be it - the Rocket Forces just announced that they will try keep it in service until 2026.

If the New START treaty enters into force, the idea of building a new ICBM would probably be quietly buried as making little sense. But if the treaty fails in the U.S. Senate, we would probably see it going forward in some shape or form. It would still make no sense, of course, but its proponents would have a chance to argue again that Russia needs something "to counter U.S. missile defense." Not to mention that without New START there will be no need to reduce the number of missiles and warheads.

This is of course, just one of the many reasons why New START should be ratified. But I believe it is an important reason - nobody, Russia included, needs a new heavy MIRVed ICBM.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russian Military To Receive 1,300 Types Of Weaponry By 2020

December 13, 2010

The Russian Armed Forces will receive over 1,300 types of weaponry in line with a draft arms procurement program until 2020, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"We will need to set up new or expand the existing production lines to manufacture 220 of the new types of weaponry," Putin told a meeting on the program, which is expected to be adopted by the yearend.

More than 20 trillion rubles ($640.7 billion) will be earmarked for weapons procurement, three times more than is allocated in the existing 2007-2015 program, he added.

The new program stipulates the upgrade of up to 11 percent of military equipment annually and will allow Russia to increase the share of modern weaponry to 70 percent by 2020.

Putin said that 4.7 trillion rubles ($150.7 billion), or almost a quarter of the total budget, would be allocated to the modernization of the Russian Navy.

"We now have more money and there are possibilities to expedite the construction [of submarines]," Putin said after visiting the Alexander Nevsky nuclear submarine, which is under construction at the Sevmash shipyard in the town of Severodvinsk in northern Russia.

Alexander Nevsky is the second of the Borey class nuclear submarines being built at Sevmash.

The Yury Dolgoruky sub has completed sea trials and could be adopted by the Navy in 2011, while the Vladimir Monomakh, and Svyatitel Nikolai (St. Nicholas) are in different stages of completion.

Russia is planning to build eight of these subs by 2015 and equip them with Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Set To Rebuild Its Nuclear-Powered Cruisers

November 12, 2010

The Russian Defense Ministry plans to overhaul its four Project 1144 nuclear-powered cruisers. Notably, the Admiral Nakhimov heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser will reenter service in 2012, after lengthy repairs (that will have lasted over a decade in total) are completed.

The possibility of the cruisers' return has been one of the most hotly discussed topics among analysts and enthusiasts alike. Everyone is keen to discover to what extent these warships meet current naval requirements.

Admiral Gorshkov's favorite project

Vladimir Chelomei, chief designer of the P-700 Granit (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) anti-ship missile, the new cruisers' main weapon, joked that only Admiral Sergei Gorshkov, Soviet Naval Commander, could afford such an expensive toy. The joke nearly soured his relations with Admiral Gorshkov, but Chelomei was right to assume that the warships, both massive and massively expensive, were something of an anachronism in the dawning age of multi-purpose ships that can accomplish a multitude of combat missions thanks in part to their versatile missile launchers.

The Project 1144 nuclear-powered missile cruisers were developed for attacking capital enemy warships. They were equipped with powerful air-defense systems and had substantial anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities. In addition to these auxiliary weapons, they had missile systems designed for highly specialized objectives.

These battle-worthy cruisers could only be used to shadow U.S. Navy carrier task forces.

This narrow specialization predetermined their future. A cash-strapped Russia was unable to complete all four cruisers, only commissioning the Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great) warship ahead of the Russian Navy's 300th anniversary in 1996. The other three warships remained moored alongside shipyard piers.

White elephants have a role to play

The Royal Navy uses the common idiom "white elephant" of unconventional warships whose designation and possible use are unclear even to specialists. These Project 1144 cruisers became exactly that for the post-Soviet Russian Navy which was no longer expected to track down U.S. aircraft carriers. Battle-cruisers not supported by other naval forces would have become sitting ducks in any hypothetical Russian-U.S. conflict. Key elements of Russia's military organization continued to degrade and were therefore unable to provide such support.

Moscow resumed the discussion of plans for rebuilding the cruisers once the Russian Armed Forces began to receive additional funding in the late 2000s. Their purpose was also reassessed.

Virtually all analysts agreed that the Project 1144 cruisers had to be totally overhauled and turned into multi-purpose warships.

Russia's defense industry was able to accomplish this objective by the late 2000s. Versatile artillery-and-missile systems were developed, making it possible to equip warships with numerous types of weapon designed specifically for particular objectives. New-generation combat-control systems facilitated naval task forces' collective defense, making it possible to exchange online data in real time and control several warships' firepower from a single command center.

These innovations being introduced to new-generation warships under orders from the Navy, also represent a new lease of life for the older cruisers. Moreover, the modernization of the Project 1144 warships will see them kitted out with a variety of up-to-date weapons systems and radio-electronic equipment, turning them into multirole platforms complete with powerful and diverse offensive weapons, air-defense and ASW systems.

The cruisers will be able to accomplish a host of different objectives, from providing coastal support for military operations onshore or deep within enemy territory to attacking enemy warships, submarines and aircraft. It will also become possible to upgrade their weapons with each specific combat mission in mind.

New task forces for new cruisers

Russia's warship fleet is gradually being transformed into a more sophisticated formation. Corvettes and frigates, now under construction, are to be supplemented with destroyers and amphibious assault ships in the upcoming decade. Weapons and equipment will be standardized across these ships. Interchangeable components allow greater flexibility in servicing and repairing ships of different classes. This will make it possible to establish inexpensive but hard-hitting task forces.

Multipurpose task forces like this, capable of accomplishing a variety of missions during peace-time and during active combat alike, can be expanded with upgraded guided-missile cruisers and new-generation aircraft carriers. These latter will be built, provided Moscow makes the relevant political decision.

Moreover, combat-ready small ships are an essential pre-requisite for the deployment of capital warships because the Russian Navy is now unable to operate amphibious assault ships, guided-missile cruisers and aircraft carriers. Its unprotected capital ships have to remain in port. In some cases, they put to sea with a random selection of other warships or conduct solo missions, calling at foreign ports.

This is how both the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and the only operational Peter Veliky heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser are used today. Hopefully, in wanting to rebuild the other three cruisers, the Defense Ministry has more ambitious objectives in mind.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russian Air Force To Procure 1,500 New Aircraft By 2020

December 1, 2010

The Russian Air Force will procure over 1,500 new aircraft and significantly increase the number of high-precision weapons in its arsenal by 2020, a deputy Air Force commander said on Wednesday.

"Overall, we are planning to acquire and modernize about 2,000 aircraft and helicopters by 2020...including more than 1,500 new aircraft and about 400 modernized," Lt. Gen. Igor Sadofyev told reporters in Moscow.

According to the general, in 2011 the Air Force plans to adopt Su-27SM, Su-30M2 and Su-35S multirole fighters, Su-34 fighter-bombers and Yak-130 combat trainers as well as Ka-52 and Mi-28N attack helicopters, Mi-8 armed assault helicopters, Ka-226 and Ansat-U light multipurpose helicopters.

"The priority for the strategic aviation is the modernization of 80 percent of existing Tu-160, Tu-95MS, Tu-22M3 bombers and Il-78M aerial tankers...and the extension of their service life," Sadofyev said.

He also said that the share of high-precision weaponry in the Russian Air Force arsenal would increase by 18 times, including the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) - by six times.

"In addition to a thorough upgrade of the aircraft fleet, the measures planned until 2020 will allow us to increase the share of high-precision weaponry to 70 percent of the total, or by 18 times," the general said.

Sadofyev added that the number of all-weather aircraft, capable of carrying out day and night missions would increase almost five-fold, and the share of UAVs would constitute about 30 percent of the total by 2020.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia To Develop New Heavy ICBM By 2020

December 20, 2010

Russia's state arms procurement program through 2020 provides for the development of a new heavy ballistic missile, a leading missile designer said on Monday.

The final decision should be made in 2012-13 by the expert community, not solely the Defense Ministry, said Yury Solomonov of the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology (MITT), the developer of the troubled Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile.

"This matter is beyond the Defense Ministry's competence. It is a matter of state importance," he said.

"Heavy ICBM" refers to a class of missiles with a heavy throw weight between five and nine metric tons and a length of over 35 meters, capable of delivering a large number of warheads in a single MIRV missile.

Russia's Strategic Missile Forces are still armed with Soviet-era SS-18 Satan and SS-20 Saber ICBMs with an extended service life and are expected to remain in service until 2026.

The SS-18 Satan is deployed with up to 10 warheads with a yield of 550 to 750 kilotons each and an operational range of up to 11,000 km (6,800 miles).

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Quietly Building Up Arms

January 4, 2011

Russia has been conducting a race to build up its military, but no one seems to be noticing. While the economic recession is causing many European nations to slash and downsize their defensive capabilities, Russia has been extending its reach militarily.

Did any of you catch the article about Russia purchasing not one but two helicopter carriers from France? The Mistral-class carrier also doubles as an amphibious assault craft, carrying ground forces and materiel. The Baltic states and Georgia are raising diplomatic hell over it but it appears that France is savoring the deal, worth over $1.5 billion.

The Baltic states have long raised concerns, keenly aware of the comments of Russia’s naval chief, Adm. Vladimir S. Vysotsky, who last year bluntly evaluated the potential benefits the equipment could have offered during the five-day Georgian war in 2008: “Everything that we did in the space of 26 hours at the time, this ship will do within 40 minutes.”

Not only that, but Russia is on track to build two more for a total of four over the next several years. This would help Russia become a major sea power– which it has not been since 1991.

As if this is not enough, this year Russia expects to bring in the new KA-52 attack helicopter into its military. This helicopter is in some ways, one of the most advanced in the world. It has been in development since 1993 and is now ready to help Russia with its war plans. And the KA-52 is a doosy.

Russia also has plans to expand and modernize its air force even further. It plans on providing itself with 100 of the advanced Sukhoi-35 fighters by 2015– and add a total of 1,500 new aircraft within the decade, including 25 new SU-34 fighter bombers within the next five years.

Russia is being abundantly clear with its military objectives in the next ten years. With its throwing its weight around in the Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Georgia in the last two years, we can expect more of the same from the former Soviet Union.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russian Navy To Receive New Nuclear Attack Submarine By Yearend

January 31, 2011

The Russian Navy will receive a new Graney class nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine by the end of 2011, a spokesman for the Malakhit design bureau said on Monday.

Construction of the Severodvinsk submarine began in 1993 at the Sevmash Shipyard in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk but has since been dogged by financial setbacks. It was floated out in June last year.

"The submarine is undergoing harbor trials at the Sevmash Shipyard and is getting ready for sea trials in May," the official said. "It should enter service with the Russian Navy by the end of this year."

Graney class nuclear submarines are designed to launch a variety of long-range cruise missiles (up to 3,100 miles or 5,000 km), with conventional or nuclear warheads, and effectively engage submarines, surface warships and land-based targets.

The submarine's armament includes 24 cruise missiles and eight torpedo launchers, as well as mines and anti-ship missiles.

In 2009, work started on the second sub of the Graney class, the Kazan, which will feature more advanced equipment and weaponry.

[American Patriot]

So you think the Russians are UP TO SOMETHING?

lol