Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SUPERPOWERS
A Revolution In Russian Military Affairs Part One
by Nikita Petrov
Moscow (UPI) Oct 21, 2008


Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. Photo courtesy AFP.

On Oct. 14 Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced plans to overhaul the national military establishment by 2012. However, many aspects of the proposed army reforms have yet to be clarified.

On the one hand, Serdyukov has listed numerous revolutionary concepts of interest to both civilians and the Russian military, including plans to cut the number of vacant officer positions.

Moreover, Serdyukov wants to eliminate undermanned Russian army units that were to have been deployed to full strength in case of an all-out war, and whose officers now guard obsolete military equipment, and to replace the four-level troop-control system with a three-level equivalent.

The army-division-regiment triad will now give way to the tactical command-brigade tandem comprising "modular" task forces that, in turn, would consist of motorized-rifle, tank and reconnaissance battalions, artillery and surface-to-air missile -- SAM -- battalions, as well as mobile telecommunications and logistics-support units.

Such units will operate in conjunction with air force units, receiving information from them and from Russian space units. Coastal-defense units and warships also will support them whenever possible.

The Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry have summed up the results of the August 2008 peace enforcement operation against the former Soviet republic of Georgia in the Caucasus that attacked its breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Even the most conservative Russian military leaders now realize that army brigades are the most progressive and effective fighting units. However, some generals doubt that such units can operate effectively everywhere. Their doubts are facilitated by Serdyukov's failure to explain changes in line with specific concepts and doctrines.

It is also unclear exactly for what conflicts the Russian army should prepare, and what theoretical enemies it could face in the next 15 to 20 years. Any army reform seems pointless without these basic assessments.

Under a scenario that would pit Russia against U.S. and NATO armed forces, it should expand its strategic nuclear forces and the aerospace defense system. At the same time, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and U.S. forces would continue to outnumber Russia's army and navy in the foreseeable future.

This can be explained by the national financial-economic situation, the current state of the Russian defense industry and the structure of its armed forces.

However, the Kremlin's force of intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and air-launched cruise missiles will always prevent Western leaders from taking any drastic action against Russia.

Russia's strategic nuclear forces now have 682 ballistic and cruise missiles with 3,100 nuclear warheads. The Strategic Missile Force has 430 missile systems, including 75 R-36-MUTTKH and R-36-M-2 Voyevoda (NATO designation SS-18 Satan) intercontinental ballistic missiles, 100 UR-NUTTKH Sotka (NATO designation SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missiles, 201 land-mobile Topol (NATO designation SS-25 Sickle) intercontinental ballistic missile systems, 48 silo-based Topol-M (NATO designation SS-27) intercontinental ballistic missiles and six land-mobile Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile systems.

(Part 2: Russia's future potential threats in Asia)

(Nikita Petrov is a Russian military commentator. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.)

(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

.


Related Links
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SUPERPOWERS
Russian Military Machine Running On Fumes Part Two
Washington (UPI) Oct 20, 2008
Russia's leaders are determined to massively increase their spending to expand and modernize their armed forces, but with global oil prices collapsing, where are they going to find the money to do it? Russia is the second-largest oil exporter in the world and the largest combined oil and gas exporter. Oil exports, which were only around $13 billion in 2001, are going to be well above ... read more


SUPERPOWERS
India Shoots For The Moon In Asian Space Race

NASA Returns To The Moon With Instruments On Indian Spacecraft

Waterless Concrete Seen As Building Block On Moon

Lunar Lander Teams To Compete For NASA Prize

SUPERPOWERS
Laser could aid search for life on Mars

Europe delays ExoMars mission, again

Phoenix Still Probing Mars For Secrets

Shooting Life On Mars

SUPERPOWERS
Simulating Survival In Space

Astrotech Awarded ATK Ares I-X First Stage Processing Contract

British defence ministry releases UFO files

Building A Safer Space Together

SUPERPOWERS
China To Launch FY-4 Weather Satellite Around 2013

Shenzhou 7 Astronauts In Good Health

Chinese Scientists Start Studying Samples From Shenzhou-7

China Sets Sights On First Space Station

SUPERPOWERS
Expedition 18 Crew Docks With Space Station

Expedition 18 Crew Launches From Baikonur

Space station crew might not be expanded

Expedition 18 Crew To Launch From Baikonur

SUPERPOWERS
SES Confirms Three New Arianespace Launches

NASA To Webcast IBEX Spacecraft Launch

New ASTRA 1M Satellite To Be Launched On 31 October

Ariane 5 Is Readied For A Dual-Payload Mission

SUPERPOWERS
Young Earthlike Planets May Glow Brightly Enough To Be Found

Exotic Weather On Distant Worlds

Tides Have Major Impact On Planet Habitability

NASA Supercomputer Shows How Dust Rings Point To Exo-Earths

SUPERPOWERS
NASA Launches IBEX Mission To Outer Solar System

MSV Awarded Patents For Next-Gen Satellite-Terrestrial Comms Network

Theory Explains Mysterious Nature Of Glass

Youngsters Flying High After Winning Top UK Space Competition




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement