Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
February 5 2003 at 3:38 PM No score for this post
(Login TsarSamuil) Forum Owner from IP address 212.181.9.227
What Is the Fate of Russian Army?
PRAVDA.Ru
Ilya Tarasov
Translated by Maria Gousseva
Hero of Russia, Air Force Colonel, member of the Duma defense committee, Yeugeny Zelenov gave an interview to PRAVDA.Ru correspondent.
For many years already we have been witnessing a paradox answers to which cannot be found: how was it possible that country seriously destroyed and plundered after WWII managed to create such a great army? And why the same army that used to inspire fear is very poor and ragged in peaceful time? Now it’s actually very important to know if the Russian army has a chance to recover its mighty image.
- What is the reason of this miserable state of the national army? Even in hot spots (Chechnya, Abkhazia) where soldiers get additional payments and enjoy some privileges, they still drag out a miserable existence.
First of all, the liberal course of Yeltsin’s epoch brought the army to the present-day condition. And the second cause is the liberal economic course. Our economy is currently in a sad state; those positive changes that we observe have no considerable importance for formation and rehabilitation of the army.
Army, like any other organism is easy to be destroyed, but restoration is an extremely difficult process. The reason why the Air Force was very strong after WWII was thanks to the patience of our people, Soviet people were ready to pull in the belts in order to help protect the country from enemies. The times were extremely severe, but people after WWII remembered perfectly well what enemy means and understood it was very important to protect themselves from enemies. And that was one of priorities for the country.
At present, the state budget is our enemy. It is not so big to be effectively distributed between all institutions of the state. Let’s take the social policy for instance, where the number of problems is enormous. That is why the government has to face a dilemma: for which spheres financing should be increased, and which ones must be deprived of their rightful shares. When there is no financing, it’s no use to speak about any reforms, as no reforming is possible without money.
No wonder that budgetary assignment for army reform is insignificant. Over 5% GDP was appropriated for defense from the state budget in 1997, now the sum makes up only 2.6% (it is two times less as compared with 1997). Why is it so? It is considered that the country has no actual enemy and there is no outside threat, this is the reason why attitude of the state to security problems is careless. However, it seems that neither deputies that distribute budgetary financing, nor the government realize that the present-day situation is just an imitation of a lull, and the problem of national security is currently very acute.
Now the world is on the verge of another war. It’s obvious for everyone that the USA carries out its foreign policy ignoring opinions of other countries and influential international organizations. Contrary to opinions of other states, the USA seems to have taken a decision to attack Iraq. And Iraq is unable to resist the USA, and other countries cannot stop America.
Do you think that hypothetically this situation cannot repeat in Russia? At present, the problem of national security is actually very pressing, and we must employ all available resources to strengthen our army.
This year budgetary assignment for national defense made up 344 billion rubles, which makes up 4.7% of budgetary spending. Certainly, the sum is not enough to revive the army. What is more, in addition to financing we must develop our military doctrine, which is rather vague now. We are to be ready for waging of two local wars, not more, budgetary financing should be appropriated adequately to these objectives. But even under such conditions these sums are not enough, we can hardly maintain military operations in Chechnya.
- How much money is spent on these purposes?
It is a closed part of the budget which cannot be published. By the way, the USA openly declares how much is spent on military operations in different countries; information about war spending in Afghanistan and Iraq is available to the population. All taxpayers have access to this important information.
As for reforms in the army, we speak about transforming it into the army on a contractual basis. Enormous financing is necessary for this purpose. To my mind, it’s currently very important to equip the army with arms and military technique. At present, nothing is done to settle the problem. Russia’s army gets just few samples of military technique, in most cases old machines are repaired to prolong their life time.
The time is changing quickly. There are already pre-production models of fifth-generation arms, but financing is not enough to complete development of these models and to start tests. If the situation with army financing, especially financing of arms production doesn’t change, the system of Air Force and Navy will vanish by 2006 at all.
- What can be done to prevent such lamentable consequences?
Certainly, we must first of all guarantee necessary budgetary financing in order to maintain the present-day army operating at least. As for new military technique, much effort is spent to preserve the scientific and technical potential of the army. Design bureaus are still working on developments, there are pre-production models of new technique and weapons. However, this work is so much insignificant that it is unlikely that Russian army may get new weapons and technique in the nearest future.
For example, no additional finance for combustive-lubricating materials for the army is provided in the budget this year, the army needs 20.2 billion rubles more for these purposes. It means that combat training cannot be effective and adequate in the army. One pilot must have 70-100 hours of flight per year, but with the amount of kerosene “provided by the budget” he will be able to perform only 25-30 hours of flights. A driver of a battle machine must cover 450 kilometers per year at training grounds, but with budgetary financing for combustive-lubricating materials he will be able to cover only 50 kilometers. You see, the level of military training depends upon financing very much.
What is more, military men have to work only two hours per day instead of eight hours, as they have no opportunity to be occupied with military service completely. It is quite natural that military men may start thinking that army doesn’t need them at all.
I served in the army for a very long period myself. I had no privileges for payment of public utility bills, as military men have now. But I was paid quite enough to maintain my family adequately.
Now allowances of military men are not enough for normal life. The sum of allowances will be indexed in October, but this won’t be enough all the same. Let’s imagine that the budget will oblige military men to wear camouflage only. It is actually very comfortable and economical to wear camouflage, but in this case the army will lose its prestige. I remember that when I was a lieutenant, I was extremely proud to wear my full dress uniform, I was proud to be a Soviet officer. Do we now often see military men in a full dress uniform? There is no full dress at all; by the way, it is not only a material, but rather a moral stimulus for military men. When military men have no opportunity to wear the full dress uniform, they lose their military bearing. To tell the truth, military uniform is not the most important problem, but we must enhance the prestige of all aspects and attributes of the army.
We must determine priorities. I understand that the priority of national security is currently very pressing because some states make independent decisions in the military sphere. It is not ruled out that Russia may be threatened from outside as well. I speak about this probability just hypothetically, but any state must anticipate any hypothetical situations and take all possible measures to guarantee national security. But for this very purpose any state must have efficient army that will be able not only to wage two local wars, but also would be able to protect the state from outer enemies.
This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on Oct 1, 2003 9:52 AM
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday approved the Defense Ministry's plan to switch the core of the armed forces to volunteers during the next four years, and the military announced a wage hike for contract soldiers.
During a meeting with top military brass, Putin endorsed the plan that envisages hiring some 167,000 volunteers between Jan. 1, 2004, and the end of 2007 to fully staff the best, high-readiness military units, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
In brief televised remarks, Putin urged the military to quickly finalize the plan so that the Cabinet could approve it by June and include corresponding funding in next year's government budget.
Putin has long urged gradually phasing out conscription and forming a leaner contract military by around 2010, but Ivanov -- who has faced anger among top brass over the cuts and the cost and speed of the planned transition -- said last fall that the transfer would not be total and that "conscription will remain forever" to prepare reservists. In September, the Defense Ministry started a pilot project to fully switch the Pskov Airborne Division to volunteers, intending to set an example for the rest of the military.
"The experiment should be over by the year's end, and we will have the first airborne division fully staffed by contract soldiers," Ivanov said Wednesday on Rossia television.
Ivanov also said it had been decided to increase a volunteer's minimum monthly pay to 5,280 rubles ($168) starting March 1.
The wage hike only applies to the Pskov division, and makes a Pskov soldier's pay roughly equal to that of a lieutenant elsewhere in the military.
MOSCOW - The Russian military plans to recruit volunteers from other ex-Soviet republics as part of its plan to switch from conscription to a mostly volunteer army, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in an interview published Wednesday.
Such volunteers would be granted Russian citizenship after three years of flawless service, Ivanov told the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda.
"So you're motivated to serve better than a Russian citizen, because one blunder - and you're fired (losing the chance to get a Russian passport)," he said.
Most other ex-Soviet republics are mired in poverty, with average salaries far below Russia's average wage of about US$100 a month. The recruitment plan is apparently modeled on the French Foreign Legion, which has long attracted non-citizens for combat missions outside France.
"We may get a good contingent, people who are much healthier than those whom we recruit now," Ivanov said.
Russian military units stationed in such ex-Soviet republics as Tajikistan and Armenia already rely heavily on local volunteer recruits, but up to now the military in Russia proper has recruited only Russian citizens.
Ivanov said it was decided to hire volunteers from other ex-Soviet republics because Russia's steep population decline was putting potential recruits in short supply.
In September, the Defense Ministry launched a pilot project to switch the Pskov Airborne Division to solely volunteer service, setting an example for the rest of the military. Ivanov said the experiment would cost about 2 billion rubles (US$64 million) a year.
During the next stage of the reform, the ministry plans to hire some 170,000 volunteers between Jan. 1, 2004 and the end of 2007 to fully staff the best, high-readiness military units, Ivanov said. He said it would cost a minimum of 100 billion rubles (US$ 3.2 billion).
Ivanov said the military would try to avoid ethnic conflicts among volunteers from different nations by distributing them among different units.
The 1.1-million-strong Russian military currently has about 130,000 contract soldiers, according to official data. The military has found it increasingly difficult to round up enough conscripts because of widespread draft-dodging fueled by fears of the war in Chechnya, miserable conditions and rampant hazing of young conscripts by older soldiers.
All Russian men aged 18-27 are required to serve two years in the military, but most avoid the draft through college deferments, health exemptions or bribes.
The president decided to see, why the Russian army has outdated arms.
The war in Iraq has proved it once again - the technological predominance of one of the belligerents is the guarantee of success in a war. There can be one conclusion made about it: the Russian defense technology is of little use for modern armed conflicts. Otherwise, Saddam would still remain the president of the country.
The Russian tank corps used to count 63 thousand machines. It kept Europe and Asia in awe. Russian Army Command used to say that Soviet tank troops could reach the English Channel or the Yellow Sea within just three days. Nowadays, this defensive shield has become outdated and smaller in its number - only 20 thousand tanks. The Russian Defense Ministry says that every fifth of those tanks can be considered as a modern machine. Furthermore, they are T-72 and T-80 tanks - developments of the 1970s and the 1980s. It is worth mentioning that Baghdad counted on those tanks too.
However, even a "modern Russian tank" is a machine that was produced ten years ago. The Russian Defense Ministry has not ordered any tanks for ten years at Russian defense enterprises, with the exception for several dozens of T-90 tanks. Yet, their meagre number does not change anything. The Defense Ministry is not going to purchase any tanks in coming years.
This depressive situation can be seen in the Russian aviation and navy as well. As it turns out, an enemy is strong and powerful, but we are poor and defenseless. There has been a lot of things said about the army reform, about the modernization of arms, taking into consideration the fact that the export defense enterprise RosOboronExport exhibits certain pieces of the Russian defense technology at various prestigious shows. Yet, things are right where they started. Moreover, Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin has recently stated that the defense spending would be cut during 2003-2005 (together with the spending on the social field and science).
However, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (President Putin) decided to establish law and order in the system of the Russian defense industry. As it was announced on April 19th, Major-General Alexander Burutin was appointed for the position of the presidential advisor for issues of the defense industry and state defense order. Burutin can be categorized as a successful military official. He is a young person for an official (47 years old), already a major-general, he has been serving in the General Headquarters for long (eleven years), although he has not been noticed for having any links with the defense industry. The period of his services in the General Headquarters shows that Burutin is aware of the problems in the field of both the Russian defense industry and the army reform.
One may assume that the president expects his new advisor to prepare an analysis of the situation around the defense budget for the year 2003. The deficit of the defense budget has increased by billions of rubles according to the results of the first quarter. Generals say that the lack of money occurs on account of the price growth on food, military uniforms and medicines. The situation with fuel for the army is even worse: fuel rose 15 or 20 percent in price, although the federal budget does not stipulate any compensation about it. Let's see, if the new presidential advisor manages to cope with the situation.
Russia, ex-Soviet republics set up rapid reaction force.
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April 29 2003, 5:01 PM
Russia, ex-Soviet republics set up rapid reaction force.
Jang Group
PUGUS, Tajikistan: Russia and five former Soviet republics have set up a joint military command to oversee a rapid reaction force amid increased security risks in Central Asia, their leaders said Monday.
The announcement was made after a summit here by the leaders of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which make up the Collective Security Treaty Organization (DKB).
"The main goal of the DKB is to assure the security and territorial integrity of the member countries. To work more efficiently, we had to create the appropriate instruments," Russian President Vladimir Putin told journalists after the summit, held at the summer home of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmanov outside the capital Dushanbe. "For the first time, a joint general staff of the armed forces of DKB member states has been created -- we have defined its composition and its financing," said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The summit also named Nikolai Bordiuzha, the 53-year-old former head of the Russian Security Council, secretary general of the organization.
The DKB was set up in 1992 to boost cooperation on shared security threats such as terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime. The leaders also said that they would set up a system to facilitate arms sales between member countries.
"According to the DKB, if there is a threat of aggression against one country, other member state can give help, including military aid," Nazarbayev said.
The doctrine is similar to that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an alliance that was founded to counter the growing Soviet threat in Europe after World War II.
Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus, said the grouping moved to focus on building up its common armed force following the war in Iraq, launched by the United States and Britain without the backing of the United Nations.
"The situation in the world has prompted us to do this -- we must ensure the security of our countries and our people," Lukashenko said.
"We have noticed that certain forces within the United Nations are attempting to break the global system and its key link, the United Nations," he said.
Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev said his country would welcome an air rapid deployment force and would officially open a base to house the aircraft in June.
Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov visiting Russian troops based in Tajikistan. Yuri Kochetkov / AP
President Vladimir Putin and his counterparts from Armenia, Belarus and three Central Asian states agreed Monday to add meat to the bones of the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization by appointing a new chief of the post-Soviet military-political bloc and making plans to set up a rapid reaction force in Central Asia.
The leaders of the six member nations, which also include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, picked Russia's former border guard chief Nikolai Bordyuzha to serve as the organization's secretary general, signaling their intention to transform it from a paper tiger into a full-fledged military-political alliance. Previously the organization was run by career Russian diplomat Valery Nikonenko, who had no experience in military planning.
In another demonstration of their aspirations to increase defense cooperation, they set a Jan. 1 deadline for establishing a headquarters for the rapid reaction force in Central Asia. This regional force will reportedly have 6,000 servicemen and some two dozen warplanes deployed in Kant, Kyrgyzstan.
"We were working persistently to make its work efficient, and it was necessary to create certain instruments for that," Putin said at the six leaders' joint news conference at Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov's country residence outside Dushanbe.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said Monday's talks were "a turning point" in the organization's history that would make its members "comrades-in-arms," The Associated Press reported.
While yet to deploy the rapid reaction force, the pact's members already have their air defense forces jointly monitoring the skies within and without the former Soviet Union and are establishing an air force base in Kant.
The base, where more than a dozen Russian Su-27 interceptors, Su-25 attack planes and Il-76 transport aircraft are already based, will be inaugurated as the Collective Security Treaty Organization's air base in July, Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev said at the news conference. About 500 personnel are there now, according to reports in the press.
Putin also held separate talks with Rakhmonov on Monday and won his consent to give the 201st infantry division the status of an official Russian military base in Tajikistan.
Whether or not this division becomes part of the organization's rapid reaction force, its 14,000 troops and the Kant-based warplanes would be able to provide sufficient combat support to any of the three Central Asian nations if they came under attack from lightly-armed Islamic militants, as Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan did in the late 1990s, independent experts said.
And the plan to establishment a joint headquarters shows that the members want to ensure that such support is planned in advance and systematized, according to former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Vitaly Shlykov and Alexander Pikayev of the Carnegie Moscow Center.
The appointment of Bordyuzha to the post of general secretary is also a sign that the Kremlin is serious about giving military capabilities to the organization, known as ODKB. The fact that Bordyuzha served as Russia's border guard chief, secretary of the Security Council and chief of the Kremlin staff and finally as Russia's ambassador to Denmark "speaks for itself," Pikayev said.
Yet, no one should expect the alliance to become a new Warsaw Pact, the experts said.
Only Russia could be expected to commit ground troops if an ODKB member came under attack, even though the collective security treaty obliges all signatories to lend assistance, according to Pikayev, Shlykov and Ivan Safranchuk of the Center for Defense Information.
The reason is that none of the three Central Asian countries has armed forces that could be rapidly deployed, while Belarus and Armenia have no vital interests to defend in Central Asia.
While the three Central Asian republics are in the alliance to ward off the threat that Islamic militants pose to their secular regimes, Belarus is mostly concerned about the expansion of NATO in Europe and Armenia about Turkey's military might looming over the South Caucasus.
"There is a diversity of security azimuths that cross only in one place -- Russia," Safranchuk said. Russia views Belarus, the South Caucasus and Central Asia as zones of its vital interests.
The alliance legitimizes Russia's military presence in Central Asia, allowing the Kremlin to both counterbalance the U.S. military presence in the region and interdict security threats posed by Islamic militants, the experts said.
"To put it simply, Russia would rather fight in Osh [in Kyrgyzstan] than in Chechnya," Safranchuk said.
ODKB stems from the so-called collective security treaty that Russia and five other former Soviet republics signed in Tashkent in 1992. Three more former Soviet republics joined the treaty in 1993.
However, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan later pulled out of the treaty, with Tbilisi demanding withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia and announcing that it would like to join NATO.
This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on Apr 29, 2003 5:07 PM
Igor Savin
The Rossia online newspaper
05/07/2003 12:41
The 21st century has brought fifth generation weapons to the planet. Are we ready to meet the challenge?
This is not a fantasy or a Hollywood movie where space aliens take out their super-powerful guns and wipe entire cities and villages off the face of the earth without establishing direct contact with the poor aborigines. This pseudo-aesthetic horror has become our everyday reality.
Even in the early 1990s, when, during the Desert Storm operation, the Americans made attempts to test new military tactics and use new high-tech weapons, many analytical centers just shrugged their shoulders: they still considered the Kalashnikov gun to be superior to computers and laser-guided weapons. However, already during the US aggression against Yugoslavia, when the Americans used optically guidance missiles and bombs with carbonic threads to deactivate power lines without destroying the nuclear power plants, analysts realized that a new era of non-contact wars had begun. And this fact was proven by the Americans in Iraq once again when it took three weeks to dissolve Saddam's army of 400,000 soldiers in the Mesopotamian desert. The US's cold silicon chips and noiseless laser beams were fighting against Iraq's hot hearts and Kalashnikov guns. The 21st century has brought fifth generation weapons to the planet. Are we ready to meet the challenge?
When, in the 1980s, the Soviet military opened another large-scale construction site near the city of Nurek in the Soviet republic of Tadjikistan, US authorities became seriously alarmed and made a protest against the USSR. They thought our country had started construction of a military-purpose laser complex. Soviet diplomats had to reassure the scared Americans and explained that the complex was meant for optoelectronic surveillance, analogous to US's GBEODSS (Ground-Based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance).
The creators of the new complex called it a "window." The complex could survey objects in space at a height of 40,000 kilometers, define their trajectories precisely and find out to what country the objects belonged and for what purpose they were meant.
This "window to space" was developed at a design bureau of a plant in Krasnogorks in the Moscow region under the direction of chief designer Chernov. First, an experimental model of the complex was built right on the premises of the enterprise. But when construction was started not far from the hydroelectric power station in Nurek, a civil war broke out in Tadjikistan. Specialists could recommence construction work only after 1996. In November 1999, the complex was finally put into operation.
In addition to surveillance over military objects, the complex can perform civilian service as well. It can survey not only objects of terrestrial, but also of extraterrestrial, origin, such as asteroids, comets, meteors, meteorites, etc.
In October 1984, the USA launched its Challenger shuttle for the 13th time. When the shuttle flew over Lake Balkhash (in Soviet territory at that time), it suddenly lost contact with the Earth, devices on board the shuttle were lost and the astronauts themselves felt ill. The Americans held a thorough investigation of the incident and learned that the crew and the space vessel had suffered from something arising from the USSR. An official protest followed. After that, American space objects never suffered such faults over Soviet territory.
Our prospective friends calmed down, but it was only in 1989 that a US delegation was shown a part of the laser complex meant for aiming at remote objects. The apparatus was called Terra-3, and it had been aimed at the space shuttle.
Development of a space gun started in the 1970s; Nobel Prize laureates Prokhorov and Basov and Academicians Khariton and Velikhov worked on the problem. The whole of the world was on the threshold of Star Wars at that time, and the Soviet complex was (and is still now) the most advanced example of such a thing at that time. The fact was proved by the "innocent trick" played when Soviet Marshall Dmitry Ustinov issued an order to direct a laser beam at the US space shuttle, which was flying at a height of 365 kilometers.
The Russian tank Black Eagle (object 640) can be seen at military exhibitions from a distance only; its shape is disguised under camouflage net. The tank is very powerful: it weighs 50 tons and the turbine engine is of 1,500 horse-powers. The Black Eagle is 80 centimeters lower than the new T-80 tank.
The tank's main 125-caliber gun can fire regular shells and guided anti-tank missiles. They are developed by skilled specialists in the Russian city of Tula and can break through armor 1,000 millimeters thick. This means that even the most powerful tank in the West, the Abrams, with front armor of 800 millimeters, won't stand up to Russia's Black Eagle.
The turret of the Russian tank resembles turrets of Western last-generation tanks in size and configuration. It is equipped with built-in dynamic protection covering a sector of 120 degrees, approximately. Dynamic protection units are installed in the front of the roof as well. There are 12 tube-guided arms on each side of the turret (which means the Black Eagle is equipped with a Drozd active protection system). Laser emission receivers are placed on the top of the turret, which shows that the tank may be equipped with a radio countermeasures system.
The tank has a combined sight with a built-in laser ranger that can operate in the daytime, as well as at night. The commander of the tank is provided with a thermal imaging surveillance device. It is not ruled out that information obtained by both devices can further appear on the displays of a commander or a gunner. The on-board information complex of the Black Eagle tank controls all the basic systems of the machine. It can also perform automated information exchange with other tanks and higher commanders. This is the first time that a Russian tank has been turned into a powerful analytical computerized center. The designers also focused on better safety for the tank crew. Tank ammunition was traditionally placed under the floor in a battle compartment; when it blew up or was hit with a missile, the whole of the crew was consequently killed. In the new tank, ammunition is transferred to the after-part of the turret and separated from the battle compartment with an armored partition. This measure makes the tank crew feel safer.
This smart machine, which aims not only at liquidation of enemies but also cares about the safety of its crew, was developed by Russian designers. What the Russian government has to do now is buy the machine for the army. It promises to do so regularly.
"The newest Russian main battle tank (MBT) named Chiorny Oriol (Black Eagle) was shown for the first time at the second VTTV-Omsk-97 International Exhibition of Armaments, Military Equipment and Conversion Products ended early September in Omsk, Sibe-ria region, Russia. The tank was demonstrated at a dis-tance of 500 meters from the spectators. During the demonstration, the tanks tur-ret, gun and armament system were carefully concealed.
Chief of the Main Armour Command of the Russian MoD, colonel-gen-eral Sergei Mayev, and Deputy Director General of Rosvoorouzhenie company, Sergei Bukharov, who have inspected the tank on a closed proving ground of Omsk Transport Machinebuilding Plant (OTMP), refused to comment on its characteristics.
However, as well-informed special-ists in Moscow report, the Chiorny Oriol represents a mobility test-bed of a 21th century tank and is a result of radical upgrading of the T-80U MBT carried out under the direction of the Designer General Boris Kurakin. The selection of the T-80U as a base for development of the 5th generation MBT derives from the fact that it is rightfully considered as the best MBT in the world which suc-cessfully combines all the basic performance characteristics: speed, maneuverability, fire power and protection system.
The Chiorny Oriol has the same overall dimensions as the T-80U does, nevertheless it has a lower silhouette which makes it less distinctive on the terrain. The experts believe that in terms of combination of the basic characteristics such as maneuverability, fire power, armour piercing capability and protection this MBT will surpass the Western MBTs such as M1A2 Abrams, Leclerk and Leopard-2 by a factor of 1.5-1.7."
(source: RUSSIA AND CIS's AEROSPACE & MILITARY MARKET)
New Sovietskiy T-12UM1 "Black Eagle" Main Battle Tank:
The T-12UM1, also called the "Black Eagle" was originally a development of the T-80, though so considerable rebuilt as to be called a new design, intended for export use. It featured numerous machine guns and the standard 125 mm smoothbore cannon. The design was rejected by the Russian government, preferring to go with the more capable T-95 tank. It was exported to India, China, Korea, and numerous other countries.
It featured numerous machine guns and the standard 125 mm smoothbore cannon. What wasn't standard was the entire layout of the turret and crew compartment. Because of lessons learned from the Gulf War and the Serbian conflict, it was decided that the crew needed to be separated from the ammunition and the auto loader in order to improve their survivability. In previous designs the auto loader and its carrousel were located in the middle of the crew compartment, and an ammunition fire invariably resulted in the death of the crew.
As a result of the redesign the turret of the T-12 features an, especially for a Russian design, rather large bustle. In the bustle all of the ammunition was stored horizontally, and an entirely new auto loader selected and slid the rounds into the breech of the gun. The entire auto loader and ammunition store were separated from the crew compartment by a large armor plate, which meant that even after an enemy hit ignited the ammunition, the crew had a good chance of survival. It also meant that with the new auto loader design, the T-12 had an even lower profile than previous tanks.
However, during the 2012 war with the Ukraine, the Russian government needed more tanks, and fast, so they took over production of the T-12 and requested a version of the Black Eagle armed with a 152-mm main gun in place of the 125 mm main gun and the co-axial machinegun.
Quick production of this variant, designated the T-12U, began, in time to see service during the war.
After the resurgence of the SSSR, the T-12U was integrated into their tactical formations, providing a more numerous counterpart to the T-95, just like the T-80UM1 provided a more numerous counterpart to the T-90U.
Huge numbers of these tanks were built, but the only export customer was Cuba, the only communist countries on the planet other than those of a "Maoist" slant, IE, China, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, the center of the so-called "East Asian Bloc", along with the broken and defeated India after their 2012 war with the USA.
That changed after the Mega-Damage revolution, when relatively cheap Mega-Damage tanks were in great demand, and the resurgent African nations purchased very large numbers of these tanks.
Some also ended up in countries of South America that felt threatened by Argentina and her allies in the second major "Bloc", the Argentinean Bloc. The T-12UM1 is hence a fairly common tank in post-Rifts Earth, as are versions of it armed with a 125-mm gun and a second railgun, rebuilds of the original Black Eagles sold en masse to China, Korea, ect, and likewise mega-damage converted by those countries.
Because the tank was originally an export model with an extra 5 mm railgun and a 125-mm smoothbore, that version is exceptionally common throughout Rifts Earth and called the T-12M1, while the version shown here with the 152 mm Smoothbore and only one 5-mm railgun is far more common in the old SSSR and less so in other areas of the world, though some small kingdoms along the south coast of the old American Empire actually have T-12UM1s, as they were recovered from storehouses in what remains of Cuba during exploratory missions there.
Model Type: T-12UM1
Vehicle Type: Main Battle Tank
Crew: Three (Driver, Gunner, and Commander).
M.D.C. by Location: [1] Tractor Treads (2): 100 each
[2] Weapons Turret: 300
152 mm smooth-bore gun: 100
10 mm turret mounted Railgun: 50
5 mm Railgun: 25
Multi-Option Jammers (2): 25
Reinforced Crew Compartment: 200
[3] Main Body: 450
Notes:
[1] Depleting the M.D.C. of a tread will immobilize the tank until it is replaced. Replacing a tread will take 1D6x10 minutes by a trained crew (2 replacements are carried on board) or three times as long by the inexperienced. Changing the tread is only advisable when the vehicle is not under attack.
[2] The Weapons turret is unmanned by the crew, and can be destroyed without otherwise damaging the vehicle. This makes the tank very survivable, and it can retreat and have a new weapon's turret fitted relatively quickly.
[3] If all the M.D.C. of the main body is depleted, the vehicle is completely shut down and is unsalvageable.
Speed:
Ground: 55.9 mph (90 kph) maximum road speed; 43.5 mph (70 kph) off-road.
Maximum Range: Unlimited (Nuclear Fusion power supply; 5 years.)
Statistical Data:
Height: 7.15 feet (2.18 meters) to top of commander's cupola.
Width: 18.33 feet (3.59 meters)
Length: 28.9 feet (8.8 meters) not including gun barrel
Weight: 65 tons (59 metric tons).
Power Source: Nuclear fusion reactor; Must be refueled every five years, otherwise effectively unlimited.
Cargo Capacity: Minimal, enough for equipment with crew.
Black Market Cost: 3,500,000 Credits to build, usually double that to buy one today. If fitted, any extra weapons systems will add to the cost of the tank; T-12s are usually found very heavily modified, though they are quite common.
Tank crews often personalize them with their pay in the armies of the assorted warlords to be considerably different from these Soviet-Era specifications. T-12UM1s (Normally simply called "T-12s") still in the service of the New Sovietskiy, however, follow these specifications to the letter.
Weapon Systems:
152 mm Smooth Bore Cannon/Missile Launcher: Mounted in the tank's main turret. The T-12UM1 enjoys a +2 to strike for the main gun using the laser targeting sight (not for the ATGMs). The T-12UM1 can also fire the AT-25 ATGW through the 152 mm gun; Truly a multi-purpose weapon that is considerably effective against enemy armor and robots alike.
Maximum Effective Range: Direct fire range is 2,500 meters. Has a quadrant site that allows the Sabot (APSD) rounds to be fired indirectly out to 10,000 meters. Range for missiles varies with Medium range missile type; Usually AP are carried (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
Mega-Damage: (HE): 2D6x10 with a blast radius of 25 ft. (HEAT): 3D6x10, blast radius of 10 ft. (AP): 3D8x10. (APSD): 2D6x10. (PLASMA): 4D6x10+5, blast radius of 30 ft. Mega-Damage for missiles is as per medium missile type; almost always Armor Piercing (Go to Revised bomb and missile table).
Rate of Fire: Twice per melee.
Payload: 38 gun rounds. Usually 7 HE, 8 HEAT, 8 AP, 9 APSD, and 6 Plasma. An additional round can be stored, ready to fire, in the main gun. If they are available, this is usually a plasma round so that the tank can deal with a surprise attack of any type. With the exception of the New Sovietskiy, most powers in Russia have extremely limited supplies of Plasma rounds; Substitute them for one more each of the other types of rounds, and if a round is carried in the barrel, it will probably be HEAT. Also carried: Six AT-25 ATGMs; These are essentially a surface to surface version of the standard Rifts medium range missile. Armor piercing versions are standard, though plasma and even fusion versions were made. All of these rounds are stored horizontally stacked in the large turret bustle, and are ready to feed into the autoloader. In essence, the bustle is part of the autoloader assembly.
Bonuses: +2 to strike at all times with cannon shells from the laser sight; No penalties to fire when vehicle is moving. APSD shells have a +4 bonus for long range fire from the Quadrant sight, but only when the vehicle is not moving. No Bonuses for firing the AT-25s.
10 millimeter Railgun: Mounted in a mini-turret atop the main turret, this gun has a 360 degree swiveling fire-arc and is capable of tracking aerial targets even directly overhead the T-12UM1.
Effective Range: 4,920 feet (1,500 meters)
Mega Damage: Single shot does 2D4 and 20 round burst does 1D6x10+10
Rate of Fire: Equal to combined hand to hand attacks of gunner; usually the commander.
Payload: 1200 rounds (60 bursts).
5 millimeter Light Railgun: Mounted on the opposite side of the turret from the 10 mm railgun and controlled by remote from inside the tank without the bonuses for the 10 mm railgun.
Effective Range: 2,000 feet (609.6 m)
Mega Damage: One round does 1D4 M.D.C. to M.D.C. targets or 6D6x10 S.D.C. to soft targets. Twenty round bursts do 4D6 M.D.C; Forty round full bursts do 1D4x10
Rate of Fire: Equal to combined hand to hand attacks of gunner; usually driver.
Payload: Carries 4,000 rounds total (100 full bursts or 200 half-bursts)
Multi-Option "Shtora-8A" Jammers (2): These are multi-purpose jamming devices designed to stop incoming missiles and confuse an enemy targeting the T-12UM1
Effect: Each firing launches two Chaff rockets, two Flare rockets, and the tank begins emitting a large cloud of smoke, both standard and Anti-Laser Prismatic aerosol; The Chaff rockets detonate and spread Chaff over the area, the flare rockets floating down by parachute; Effects last for one minute (4 Melee rounds.) The Chaff rockets have a 20% chance of interfering with the course of enemy missiles each (40%, total) that are radar guided so that they miss the tank. The flares have the same percentages, except with IR-guided missiles. The Anti-Laser prismatic aerosol causes -4d4 damage to any laser beam striking the tank (With the exception of X-ray lasers and variable frequency lasers; X-Ray lasers suffer no damage modifiers, and variable frequency lasers do not suffer the penalty after two test firings into the cloud to find the right frequency.), and adds a +4 difficulty to targeting the tank with a laser guidance system or visually.
Rate of Fire: Usually once every four melee rounds; Effects are not cumulative.
Range: Around tank only; Rough distance of 80 ft (24 m) around tank.
Payload: Sufficient for twenty firings; One of each type of jamming option from each side of the vehicle.
Sensors:
Anti-Aircraft Radar: Range of 10 miles (16 km); Capable of tracking up to 10 targets simultaneously, this radar serves to guide the 10 mm Railgun in engaging aircraft (+2 to targeting aircraft and missiles with the 10 mm Railgun), and providing early warning of incoming aircraft and missile attacks; The radar can be programmed to shut off immediately if it detects an aircraft firing a missile, incase the missile is a radar-homing HARM type. The radar is highly ineffective against ground targets (-60% to sensor rolls.)
Quadrant sight for long-range targeting of Sabot rounds: +4 to firing the long-range Sabot rounds only, when the vehicle is not moving.
Data-interlink transmitters: For using targeting data from scout vehicles for firing the Anti-Tank missiles or Sabot rounds. Bonus varies on the quality of the data being provided, but all data would allow the tank to fire over obstacles if the scout vehicle is in the right position. The normal effective battlefield range is 5 miles (8 km).
Full Infrared viewing mode: Range of 2 miles (3.2 km), with IR searchlight (+3 to detecting targets with IR when in use, however, +3 to detecting the T-12UM1 with IR equipment when in use, as well.)
Two Periscopes: Has up to x100 magnification for commander and driver to view out of while maneuvering the vehicle. Visual targeting sight with same magnification possible for gunner.
Laser targeting system for main gun: range of 3,000 meters.
Special Notes:
Tank is fully NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) protected, and all equipment is hardened against EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse).
Note on Variants: Versions of the Black Eagle sold abroad before 2012 that were also converted to Mega-Damage vehicles will have the same stats, but replace the main gun with a 125 mm gun with the same shell and missile load as the T-90UM1, and add a second 5 mm Railgun co-axially mounted with the main gun and operated by the gunner.
Russian armed forces are over one million men strong now.
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May 14 2003, 9:39 AM
20:07 2003-05-13
Russian armed forces are over one million men strong now.
There are some 1,162,000 officers and men serving in the Russian armed forces at the moment, Russian Chief of the General Staff Gen. Anatoly Kvashnin has told Rossiiskaya Gazeta, in an interview to be published in the newspaper's May 14 edition.
Thus, Russia's army now has a million-and-a-half fewer servicemen than a decade ago. But the present number is sufficient for manning forces used in strategic deterrence as well as general-purpose forces, Gen. Kvashnin says.
The Chief of the General Staff believes that the country should be defended by people with adequate professional training. According to him, mercenaries now account for 21 percent of the Russian army's privates and non-commissioned officers, which means that every fifth man is a professional soldier. Gen. Kvashnin says that Russia's permanent readiness units will soon be made contract-based whereas in other types of units, mercenaries will be taken on only as junior commanders to train conscripts, he said. Successful candidates will have at least six months of military service behind them, he added.
The draft system will remain in Russia for several more years, Gen. Kvashnin announced. The length of military service for the draftees is now being determined, he added.
Re: Air Force Colonel Yeugeny Zelenov, Interviewed about the Fate of Russian Army
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May 14 2003, 10:21 AM
PICTURE LINK, CLICK ON IT!
Systema Russian Martial Art is the practical self-defense system used by the Russian Special Forces and is designed for real life situations.
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The T-90S is the latest development in the T-series of Russian tanks and represents an increase in firepower, mobility and protection. It is manufactured by Nizhnyi Tagil of the Russian Federation.
The T-90S is in service with the Russian Army and in February 2001, the Indian Army signed a contract for 310 T-90S tanks.
ARMAMENT
The T-90S armament includes one 125 mm 2A46M smoothbore gun, stabilised in two axes and fitted with a thermal sleeve. The gun tube can be replaced without dismantling inside the turret. The gun can fire a variety of ammunition including APDS (Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot), HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank), HE-FRAG (High Explosive Fragmentation) as well as shrapnel projectiles with time fuzes.
The T-90S gun can also fire the 9M119 Refleks (NATO designation AT-11 Sniper) anti-tank guided missile system. The range of the missile is 100 - 4,000 m and takes 11.7 sec to reach maximum range. The system is intended to engage tanks fitted with ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) as well as low-flying air targets such as helicopters, at a range of up to 5 km. The missile system fires either the 9M119 or 9M119M missiles which have semi-automatic laser beamriding guidance and a hollow charge warhead. Missile weight is 23.4 kg. The guns automatic loader will feed both ordnance and missiles.
Also fitted is a coaxial 7.62 mm PKT machine gun and a 12.7 mm air defence machine gun. A 5.45 mm AKS-74 assault rifle is carried on a storage rack.
SELF-PROTECTION
The T-90 tank is protected by both conventional armour-plating and explosive reactive armour (ERA).
The T-90 is fitted with the Shtora-1 defensive aids suite which is produced by Electronintorg of Russia. This system includes infrared jammer, laser warning system with four laser warning receivers, grenade discharging system which produces an aerosol screen and a computerised control system.
It is also fitted with NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) protection equipment.
FIRE CONTROL AND OBSERVATION
The T-90S has the 1A4GT integrated fire control system (IFCS) which is automatic but with manual override for the commander. The IFCS contains the gunner's 1A43 day fire control system, gunner's TO1-KO1 thermal imaging sight which has a target identification range of 1.2 km to 1.5 km and commander's PNK-S sight.
The gunner's 1A43 day FCS comprises: 1G46 day sight/rangefinder with missile guidance channel, 2E42-4 armament stabiliser, 1V528 ballistic computer and DVE-BS wind gauge.
The commander's PNK-4S sight includes a TKN-4S (Agat-S) day/night sight which has identification ranges of 800 m (day) and 700 m (night).
The driver is equipped with a TVN-5 infrared night viewer.
PROPULSION.
The T-90S has a liquid-cooled V-84MS 618 kW (840 hp) four-stroke V-12 piston engine. This engine can be fuelled by T-2 or TS-1 kerosene and A-72 benzine, in addition to diesel. The tank can carry up to 1,600 litres of fuel in the main fuel tanks and fuel drums. The fuel tanks are reinforced with armour plating.
The tank is provided with a snorkel for deep fording and can ford 5 metres of water with equipment which can be deployed in 20 minutes.
The mechanical transmission includes primary reduction gear, two planetary final gearboxes and two planetary final drives. The running gear features torsion bar suspension with hydraulic shock absorbers at 1, 2 and 6 road wheel stations and tracks with rubber-metallic pin hinges.
The constituent parts of the 9M119M Laser-guided Missile of the Refleks Guided Weapon System.
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T 80U MAIN BATTLE TANK, RUSSIA.
The T-80 main battle tank has been in production since the late 1970's. KBTM of Omsk, Russian Federation, manufactures the T-80U for general use in infantry and tank units and the T-80UK command tank and XKBM, Kharkov, Ukraine, manufactures the T-80UD and the T-84. 320 T-80UD tanks have been ordered from Ukraine by Pakistan, and are being delivered. In August 2002, it was announced that South Korea is to purchase from Russia a number of T-80 tanks.
ARMAMENT
The T-80U carries the 9M119 Refleks (NATO designation AT-11 Sniper) anti-tank guided missile system which is fired from the main gun. The range of the missile is 100m to 4,000m. The system is intended to engage tanks fitted with ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) as well as low-flying air targets such as helicopters, at a range of up to 5km. The missile system fires either the 9M119 or 9M119M missiles, which have semi-automatic laser beamriding guidance.
The tank is fitted with a 125mm 2A46M-1 automatic smoothbore gun with thermal sleeve, which can fire between 6 and 8 rounds/minute. Loading is hydro-mechanical with a 28 round carousel container. 45 rounds are carried. The gun fires separate loading projectiles which have semi-combustible cartridge case and sabot. Ammunition can be AP (Armour Piercing), APDS (Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot), HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) and HE-FRAG (High Explosive-Fragmentation).
Armament also includes a 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun and a 12.7mm Utes (NSVT-12.7) air defence machine gun.
PROTECTION
The tank is protected by a combination of explosive reactive armour (ERA) at the front and gill type armour panels elesewhere. Other countermeasures include quieter running, gas-turbine engine which exhausts smokeless gases, improved heat insulation of roof and hatches, ventilation of the engine-transmission system, cooling system, smoke-laying system and smoke discharging system.
FIRE CONTROL AND OBSERVATION
The tank fire control system is the 1A42 which includes 1V517 ballistic computer, two-axis electrohydraulic weapon stabiliser, rangefinder sight stabilised in two axes as well as a GPK-59 hydro-semicompass azimuth indicator and an azimuth indicator for the turret rotation. This system permits firing on the move.
The gunner has the 1G46 day sight and also an infrared sight.
PROPULSION
The T-80U's gas turbine engine is the GTD-1250 which produces 920 kW (1,250hp). The GTD-1250 is a three shaft engine with two cascades of turbocompression. There is also an independent GTA-18 auxiliary power unit for use when the tank is stationary.
The tank has a planetary power transmission with hydraulic servo-system for increased mobility. The track and suspension system is fitted with RMSh track and rubber-tyred road wheels, torsion bar suspension with hydraulic telescopic double-acting shock absorbers. Maximum speed of the vehicle is 70km/h.
T-80UK COMMAND TANK
The T-80UK tank provides command and control capability for field commanders and enable communications with superior command. It is similar to the T-80U but has a number of additional features. It is fitted with the Shtora-1 countermeasures suite also fitted on the T-90 tank. Shtora-1 is produced by Electronintorg of Russia. This system includes infrared jammer, laser warning system, grenade discharging system and a computerised control system. Operational range is 200m.
The tank has a combined symmetric dipole antenna for both UHF and HF communications. This increases range when the tank is stationary - up to 40km for the R-163-50U radio and 350 km for the R-163-50K radio. An AB-1-P28 1kW benzene generator is provided to power communications when the tank is stationary. T-80UK also has a more advanced fire control system, automatic loader for the gun, built-in turret ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) and TNA-4-3 navigational aid.
T-80UM2
The latest version of the T-80U being developed is the T-80UM2, which is designed to engage targets while stationary or on the move. It has a new all-welded cast steel turret with ERA on the hull front and turret, an automatic loading system and relocation of the ammunition to the turret bustle for improved survivability. Other improvements include a computerised fire control system, thermal imaging sights for commander and gunner, and the Arena active countermeasures system.
The 152 mm 2S19 MSTA-S self propelled howitzer is designed to defeat unsheltered and covered manpower, weapons and materiel to division level. MSTA-S entered service with the Russian Army in 1989.
MSTA-S comprises a turret mounted on a tracked armoured 6 x 6 chassis which has been based on elements of the T-72 and T-80 main battle tanks. It is manufactured by Uraltransmash of Ekaterinberg, Russia. Uraltransmash also produce a towed version, called MSTA- B, and have developed two new variants, 2S19M with a computerised fire control system and 2S19M1 with a NATO standard 155 mm gun.
ARMAMENT
The howitzer's 152 mm gun is the 2A64, manufactured by the Barrikady State Production Association, Volgograd, Russia, which produces a variety of large-caliber artillery armament for the Russian Army and Navy. Elevation is from +68 to -3 degrees with 360 degree traverse.
There is also a 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun that is remotely controlled by the commander. Three smoke grenade dischargers are mounted on each side of the turret.
50 rounds of ammunition for the howitzer gun are carried onboard and 300 cartridges for the machine gun.
MUNITIONS
MSTA-S fires a variety of ammunition - HE-FRAG (high explosive fragmentation), HE-FRAG with base gas bleed, cluster projectiles with fragmentation submunitions and the Krasnopol laser-guided 152 mm projectile. It can also fire the 3RB30 jammer carrying projectiles which set up radio intereference to disrupt enemy communications. These have a range of 22 km and can jam frequencies between 1.5 to 120 MHz to a radius of 700 m.
The Krasnopol projectile has been developed by the KBP Instrument Making Design Bureau, Tula, and is designed to defeat armoured vehicles and weapon emplacements. It has inertial mid-course guidance and semi-active laser homing. The laser seeker is produced by LOMO of St Petersburg. The projectile has a range of 3 to 20 km, and can hit a target by the first shot without registration. Krasnopol is designated by the 1D15 (1D22) laser designator and has a 1A35 shot synchronisation system.
OPERATION
Ammunition and gun loading, laying and retargeting are highly automated, allowing maximum firing rate of 8 rounds per minute with onboard rounds and 6-7 rounds per minute with rounds from the ground. A battery of 8 MSTA-S can deliver 3 tons of projectiles on a target in one minute. The laying control system is co-ordinated with the fire control vehicle. All the onboard ammunition is stored in the turret and a mobile reloading tray allows loading and firing at all angles of laying without needing the gun to return to the loading position. A charge loading mechanism is also provided. The system provides automatic gun loading for projectiles and semi-automatic loading for charges. All the gunner has to do is hold the panoramic sight on the laying point. The commander also has control of the firing and laying equipment.
The design of the ammunition rack allows different types of projectiles to be stored in the same rack. The automatic loading mechanism can select the type of ammunition and control the loading and the number of rounds. Used ammunition cases are ejected automatically to reduce the build-up of waste gases.
There are separate conveyers in the rear of the turret that allow the loading of ground ammunition. Before the howitzer starts off, the projectile conveyer is folded and fixed on the turret and the charge conveyer is folded inside the turret.
PROPULSION
The 2S19 is powered by a diesel engine with direct injection and mixed supercharge. It is a high-speed, four-cycle, multi-fuel, liquid-cooled engine. The diesel engine has a maximum power of 574 to 617 kW (780 to 840 horsepower).
The running gear has torsion bar suspension with an adjustable damping system and automatic block mechanism without stabilising spades. Road speed is 60 km/hour with a range of 500 km.
MSTA-S entered service with the Russian Army in 1989.
This illustration shows the combination of both the Howitzer and laser designator engaging a target.
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BMP-3 TRACKED INFANTRY COMBAT VEHICLE, RUSSIA.
The BMP-3 infantry combat vehicle entered production in the late 1980s. It is in service with the Russia Army and over 600 have been exported to a number of countries, including United Arab Emirates (390 vehicles), Cyprus, Kuwait (110) and South Korea. Kurganmashzavod of Kurgan, Russian Federation manufactures the chassis and the Instrument Design Bureau (KBP) of Tula is responsible for the turret. It is a tracked, armoured, amphibious vehicle designed to engage armoured ground and air targets while stationary, on the move and afloat. South Korea agreed to purchase a further 30 BMP-3 vehicles in August 2002.
A command version, the BMP-3K, is available, which is the same as the basic BMP-3, but with additional communications and navigation equipment. A version designed for more sustained amphibious operation is the BMP-3F. Changes in construction allow movement afloat in Sea State 3 and firing with necessary accuracy in Sea State 2. The BMP-3F can endure continuous amphibious operation for seven hours.
KBP has upgraded the vehicle with a new turret. The upgraded vehicle is called the BMP-3M and the new turret includes a new automatic fire control system with digital computer, new ammunition loading system and additional armour protection. The BMP-3M will also be able to fire ammunition types including new 100mm laser-guided projectiles, new 100mm HE-FRAG (high explosive fragmentation) rounds and new 30mm APSDS (armour piercing discarding sabot) rounds.
ARMAMENT
The main armament of the BMP-3 is a 100mm 2A70 semi-automatic rifled gun/missile launcher, which is stabilised in two axes and can fire either 3UOF HE-FRAG (High Explosive-Fragmentation) rounds or 3UBK10 anti-tank guided missiles. Effective range for the HE-FRAG round is 4,000m. Muzzle velocity is 250m/s. 22 HE-FRAG rounds can be carried in the automatic loader, total ammunition load being 40 rounds. Rate of fire is 10 rounds per minute.
The gun fires the 3UBK10 anti-tank guided missile round, which consists of the 9M117 laser beamriding missile and container. This missile is used in the Bastion missile system (NATO designation AT-10 Stabber). The missile can engage tanks with explosive reactive armour (ERA) as well as slow, low-flying targets such as helicopters. Range is 100 to 4,000m. Hit probability is given as at least 0.8 with armour penetration of 600mm. Ammunition load is 8 rounds.
Armament also includes a 30mm 2A72 automatic gun, stabilised in two axes, which fires 3UOR-6 and 3UOR-8 rounds. Ammunition load is 500 AP (Armour-Piercing) or HE-FRAG rounds. Rate of fire is more than 300 rounds/min and range is 1,500 to 2,000m. There are also one 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun and two 7.62 bow machine guns.
SELF-PROTECTION
The BMP-3 can be fitted with the Arena Defensive Aids suite, developed by KBM Kolumna. The system consists of target detection and tracking radar, computer and processing unit and protective ammunition. The system is automatic: the radar passes tracking data to the computer, which selects the number of ammunition rounds and controls firing. The selected ammunition is then expelled as a directed field.
The hull and turret are constructed from aluminium alloy armour. Protection also includes steel external straps fitted on the turret, side armour displacement panels and a double-bottom at the front of the vehicle. NBC equipment includes a filter ventilation unit as well as hermetic sealing. This system is located in the rear of the vehicle, as is the ejection cooling system which, coupled with the reduced length of the gas ventilation system exhaust, serves to reduce the tank's thermal signature.
FIRE CONTROL AND OBSERVATION
The fire control system is automatic with manual override for both gunner and commander. It includes a 1V539 ballistic computer, 2E52 electro-mechanical armament stabiliser and 1D16 laser rangefinder. The gunner has a 1K13-2 main sight, a combined image-intensified day/night sight and PPD-1 standby day sight. The commander has a 1PZ-10 day sight and TKN-3 combined day and image-intensified night sight.
The French company SAGEM, with Kurganmashzavod and Peleng of Belarus, have developed the Namut thermal sight for the BMP-3. This sight is based on the SAGEM Athos eight - twelve micron three field of view thermal imager and is fitted to the BMP-3 ICV's delivered to the United Arab Emirates.
PROPULSION
The engine is the V-shaped UTD-29 diesel engine, which produces 500hp. The transversal mount of the engine enables the wheel drive, cardan shaft for the waterjet drives and electric bilge pump to be located underneath. Transmission is hydromechanical with a hydrostatic gearbox for the steering gear and power take-off for the water jets.
The BMP-3 vehicle weighs 18.7t and is capable of a maximum speed of 70km/h and range of 600km on roads.
The BTR-80 8 x 8 armoured personnel carrier, manufactured by the Gorki Mechanical Plant, is intended to carry personnel on the battlefield and provide close fire support. It can also carry out reconnaissance, combat support and patrol missions. It entered service with the Russian Army in the late 1980s and has since been used in a number of military conflicts, including UN peacekeeping operations. The vehicle is in production and is also in service with a number of other countries.
The following vehicles have also been developed from the basic BTR-80: BREM-K armoured recovery and repair vehicle; BMM armoured ambulance vehicle; RkhM-4-01 radiation and chemical reconnaissance vehicle; and 2S23 Nona SVK 120mm self-propelled gun, in service with the Russian Army since 1990. An enlarged version, the BTR-90 with improved armour protection, has been developed. The BTR-90 is capable of mounting a launcher for the Konkurs anti-tank missile system.
DESIGN
The fully amphibious BTR-80 is equipped to carry ten personnel: commander, driver/mechanic, gunner and seven troops. There are seven ball-swivel firing ports in the vehicle hull, four on the right and three on the left side of the vehicle, as well as ports in the upper hatches of the firing compartment. The hatches have armoured doors and are situated on both sides of the vehicle.
The BTR-80 is fitted with NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) protection system, automatic firefighting system, camouflage devices, bilge pumps and a self-recovery winch.
ARMAMENT
BTR-80 has a BPU-1 turret machine gun mount, which houses 14.5mm KPTV and 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine guns. The 14mm gun has a full 360° traverse with an elevation of 60° for improved effectiveness in air defence. The range of this gun is 2km. The range of the 7.62mm gun is 1.5km. Ammunition load for the KPVT machine gun is 500 rounds, with 2,000 rounds for the PKT machine gun. There are six smoke grenade dischargers, three fitted either side of the main gun.
PROPULSION
The vehicle is powered by a 7,403 four-stroke, eight cylinder liquid cooled diesel engine, which provides 260hp. It is capable of a maximum speed of 80km/h on paved road and 9km/h when afloat. Fuel endurance range is 600km on roads.
BTR-80K COMMANDER APC
The BTR-80K is intended to enable the infantry battalion commander to command sub-units and maintain communications with headquarters. It is based on the BTR-80, with the same 14.5mm and 7.62mm machine guns, but has a number of extra systems necessary for this mission.
These include: two VHF-173 radio sets, antenna device set for UHF antenna, IFF automatic interrogator, TNA-4 navigational aid, PAB- 2M artillery periscope aiming ring, TNP-165A night vision sight and TSh-4 interphone headsets with GVSh-T-13 head and chest set.
BTR-80A/80S
On the BTR-80A (in service since 1994) and BTR-80S, the standard BTR-80 turret is replaced with a modular armaments system. The BTR-80A is fitted with a 30mm 2A72 automatic gun and 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun. The 30mm gun has a maximum firing rate of 330 rounds per minute and can fire AP-T (Armour Piercing - Tracer), HEF-I (High Explosive Fragmentation - Incendiary) and HE-T (High Explosve - Tracer) rounds. The BTR-80S is equipped with 14mm KPVT machine gun and 7.62mm PKT coaxial machine gun. For both these modifications, the armament system can be altered to fit customer requirements. The armament sighting system is manual. The fire control system includes a dual magnification day sight and x5.5 night sight.
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KORNET E ANTI-ARMOUR MISSILE, RUSSIA.
Kornet E is the name given to the export version of the Russian Kornet missile system. The system, first shown in 1994, has been developed by the KBP Instrument Design Making Bureau, Tula, Russia and is in production and service with the Russian Army and has been sold to the Syrian Army.
Kornet is a third generation system, developed to replace the Fagot and Konkurs missile systems in the Russian Army. It is designed to destroy tanks, including those fitted with explosive reactive armour (ERA), fortifications, entrenched troops as well as small-scale targets. The system can be fitted to a variety of tracked and wheeled vehicles, including the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle, as well as serving as a standalone, portable system. The self-propelled Kornet missile system is manufactured by the Volsk Mechanical Plant, Volsk, Russian Federation.
MISSILE
The launcher fires Kornet missiles with tandem shaped charge HEAT warheads to defeat tanks fitted with ERA or with high explosive/incendiary (thermobaric effect) warheads, for use against bunkers, fortifications and fire emplacements. Armour penetration for the HEAT warhead is stated to be 1200 mm. Range is 5 km.
The missile has semi-automatic command-to-line-of-sight (SACLOS) laser beamriding guidance, flying along the line of sight to engage the target head on in a direct attack profile.
LAUNCHER
The tripod launcher includes optical sight, thermal sight, laying drives, missile launch mechanism and missiles kept in storage and transport containers. The operator uses either optical or thermal sight to detect and track the target. The thermal sight is designated 1PN80 and is produced by the State Institute of Applied Optics (NPO GIPO) of Kazan, Russia.
VEHICLE MOUNTS
The Kornet anti-tank guided weapon system is mounted on a cross-country, armoured chassis based on the BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle which entered production in the late 1980's and is in service with the Russian Army. BMP-3 is a tracked, armoured, amphibious vehicle. It has a 500 hp diesel engine, weighs 18.7 tons and is capable of a maximum speed of 70 kmh and range of 600 km. The vehicle is equipped with night vision devices.
The self-propelled Kornet missile system has the capability for automatic loading and the simultaneous launching of two missiles at a single target. Sixteen missiles can be carried. It has a crew of two.
KLIVER MISSILE/GUN TURRET
The KBP Instrument Design Making Bureau has recently developed the Kliver missile/gun turret based on the Kornet missile system, which can be mounted on a variety of vehicles including the Russian Army's BTR-80 armoured personnel carrier and BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle. It can also be installed on small ships such as coastal patrol boats.
The Kliver turret carries four Kornet missiles and a 30 mm 2A72 gun. The gun has a range of 4000 metres and can fire at the rate of 350 - 400 rounds per minute. There is also a 7.62 mm PKT machine gun. Total weight of the turret is around 1500 kg, including ammunition and missiles. The automatic fire control system includes ballistic computer, thermal sight, laser rangefinder and stabilisation system. The turret has a 360 degree traverse and an elevation of -15 to +60 degrees.
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TUNGUSKA M1 LOW LEVEL AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM, RUSSIA.
Tunguska-M1 is a gun/missile system for low-level air defence. The system was designed by the KBP Instrument Design Bureau in Tula, Russia and is manufactured by the Ulyanovsk Mechanical Plant, Ulyanovsk, Russia. It can engage targets while stationary and on the move, using missiles for long-range targets and guns for close-in defence. It is designed for defence against both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters and can also fire on ground targets.
Tunguska is in service with the Russian army and has also entered service with the Indian Army.
ARMAMENT
The Tunguska-M1 vehicle carries eight 9M311-M1 surface-to-air missiles. The missile (NATO designation SA-19 Grison) has semi-automatic radar command to line-of-sight guidance, weighs 40kg with a 9kg warhead. It is 2.5m long with a diameter of 1.7m and wingspan of 2.2m. The missile's maximum speed is 900m/s and can engage targets travelling at speeds up to 500m/s. Range is from 15 to 6,000m for ground targets and 15 to 10,000m for air targets.
Two twin-barrel 30mm anti-aircraft guns are mounted on the vehicle. These guns have a maximum firing rate of 5,000 rounds per minute and a range of 3,000m against air targets. This extends to 4,000m against ground targets.
FIRE CONTROL
The system has target acquisition radar and target tracking radar, optical sight, digital computing system, tilt angle measuring system and navigation equipment. Radar detection range is 18km and tracking range is 16km.
VEHICLE
The Tunguska-M1 system is mounted on a 34t tracked vehicle with multi-fuel engine. It has hydromechanical transmission, hydropneumatic suspension which allows for changing road clearance and hydraulic track-tensioning. The armoured turret has both laying and stabilisation drives and power supply. Air-conditioning, heating and filtration systems are fitted.
A Tunguska-M1 battery is composed of up to six vehicles and will also include a transloader as well as maintenance and training facilities.
The armoured turret has both laying and stabilisation drives and power supply. Air-conditioning, heating and filtration systems are fitted. A Tunguska-M1 battery is composed of up to six vehicles and will also include a transloader as well as maintenance and training facilities.
This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on May 21, 2003 12:24 PM This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on May 14, 2003 3:46 PM
The Russian army won't fight under the flag with an eagle and 8 stars, such is the design of a new flag
Nostalgia for the bygone greatness of the motherland (and Russia used to be actually a great country) is getting more and more widely spread in the minds of the Russian population. The ex-president wasn't fond of conservative patriotism, but the new president proved to be more far-seeing than his predecessor. Russia President Vladimir Putin confirmed the melody of the USSR's national anthem as a new melody of a Russian one; Russia's armed forces regained the red flags, etc. As for the flags, the armed forces will be soon given a new flag. President Vladimir Putin submitted a legislation on changing the Russian army flag for consideration to the State Duma.
According to the document, a new variant of the flag will have 8 five-point stars, four stars on each side of the flag's width. The stars will be placed in corners, the edges will be decorated with ornaments with the inscriptions "Fatherland", "Duty" and "Honor". The inscriptions are written in the Old Slavonic type. The present-day variant of the Russian army colors represents two eagles on each side. An eagle that is depicted on the Russian State Emblem is on the right side of the army colors, and a heraldic eagle of the armed forces is depicted on the reverse side.
The Russian Interned edition Gazeta.Ru held a special poll among former and present-day commanders concerning the innovations introduced by the presidential heraldry experts.
Retired Rear Admiral, ex-commander of the Typhoon submarine, deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Submariners' Union, Yury Beketov thinks the innovation to be some petty intrigues. "Do they have nothing else to do? Changing of the army colors is nonsense under conditions when majority of the population are living below the poverty line. Is this the main objective of the Russian armed forces? The chief task of the army is to guarantee the defensive capacity of the country. This includes perfect military training, mastering of military technique and supply of the army with such technique. Unfortunately, the country lacks money for these purposes. What is more, development of a new army colors also demands much money; this is not an objective that the whole of the government and the country should pursue now."
First class pilot, deputy chairman of the Russian Military Trade Union, Major Alexander Merzlov says: "Some time ago the army had a red flag with one star, the flag that was covered with the glory of the country's victories. Under this very flag the Soviet army won victories near Moscow, in Stalingrad and Manchuria. And now we are said to start the life from very beginning once again. They are attempting to make us forget the history and even to be ashamed of it. A new flag that is to be introduced into the army will be nothing as it is not backed with history and glory. Opinion of the military while discussing the new flag image is not taken into consideration. On the other hand, all the fuss about the army colors is just an attempt to distract the people's attention from other problems that are very pressing for the army now."
Drawing from US Defense Ministry and State Department booklet "Soviet Strategic Defense Programs", 1985 This is how American specialists imagined action of Sary-Shagan-based Soviet laser.
The first laser was built in Russia in 1961. In 1962 work was started on the military employment of lasers.
n the early 1960s newspapers and popular magazines were full of reports on a new "wonder" developed by physicists: an optical device for generating intense coherent light or "the laser". Scores of research institutes and laboratories vied with one another to develop new types and specimens of lasers. Brilliant physicists were fascinated by laser physics. As far back as 1961 fragmentary information leaking to the press implied that the advent of a new, this time laser, weapon was imminent. However, the real facts were hidden away by the dense fog of secrecy. The USSR's defense complex worked intensively, but preferred to keep silent about its work.
What was really going on at that time in the physicists' labs and defense oriented design bureaus? I put this question to Professor Pyotr Zarubin, now adviser to the Research and Production Association Astrofizika and former chief of the Main Directorate of the Ministry for Defense Industry, who spent 30 years coordinating research and development activities aimed at producing laser equipments, including the laser weapon.
- Scientific discoveries have always paved the way to the creation of new weapons. That is equally true for the laser. The early 1960s witnessed the development in the USA and some time later in the USSR of the first optical quantum generators, or lasers, as we now call them. Right after that, as well as a purely scientific interest in the creation of new sources of highly intensive narrow-beam optical radiation and the search for new applications, efforts were made to use the lasers in the military sphere. The Defense Ministry displayed keen interest in lasers.
- Is it true then that the practical realization of the laser weapon concept was initiated in the mid-1960s ?
- The first laser was built in this country in 1961. In 1962, as I recall now, work was started on the military employment of lasers. At that time a government decree was issued to promote laser research and development work, which objectively contributed to the creation of the first experimental lasers for military purposes. Incidentally, there is no difference between the military and civilian lasers: the former must meet additional, purely engineering, requirements, its "calling" is to withstand large temperature differentials and jolting, while having minimum dimensions and weight, high reliability, etc.
The first defense related activities in this field began in the USSR in 1964-1965. By that time special government decrees had been issued on the development of experimental military equipment. Concurrently, the USA launched a secret program which involved development of a laser weapon under the code name "The eighth card". In the USSR the laser research was pioneered by a team of scientists of the Physical Institute of the Academy of Sciences, led by A. M. Prokhorov and N. G. Basov. Before long they were joined by researchers from Moscow University where similar work was being carried out by the R. V. Khokhlov's group, State Optical Institute and many other research institutes and laboratories. A lively interest in lasers was also expressed by many research and production associations of the defense industry. The Vympel experimental design bureau engaged in antimissile defense and headed by General Designer Grigory Kisunko was among such collectives. Just a little later the Strela design bureau (now research and production association Almaz) joined in. At that time this bureau was headed by Andrei Raspletin.
This team tried to employ the laser for air defense purposes. The researchers who developed new types of lasers and made attempts at adapting them to the needs of the land forces included the well known designer and scientist Alexander Nudelman. In later years achievements in the laser field attracted the interest of developers of marine, aviation and space equipment...
- But who scored the best results in the development of laser weapons? Which firm?
- I know, for example, that the laser installation mounted at the Sary-Shagan range attracted considerable attention in the world. Even today one can still hear that the equipment was ostensibly capable of downing spaceships and satellites. It was then a big headache for the Americans and they sought to see the installation, and eventually did so in July 1989...
The development of the Sary-Shagan installation was initiated by the Vympel design bureau with scientific supervision provided by N. G. Basov of the Physical Institute. The experiment was aimed to probe into possible use of lasers for antimissile defense purposes. In the late 1960s work was started in Sary-Shagan on developing an experimental set which received the code name Terra-3.
Despite speculation in the foreign press, it should be pointed out that the Sary-Shagan installation was experimental and intended for investigation only. Indeed, work on another set, which included a high-precision experimental laser locator LE-1, began in 1969. By the way, the set was soon spotted by the American satellites, and in the mid-seventies and later years various American publications provided artist impressions of the laser installed in Sary-Shagan, drawn from the space photographs.
- What about the test results of the Terra-3 project ?
- When work got underway on the Terra-3 project the scientists still lacked a complete vision of a laser's potential, the effect exerted by its beam on the target and the way it should be directed to it; the latter task was no easier than development of the laser itself.
The portion of the Sary-Shagan laser, shown to the Americans in 1989, was used to aim the laser at a target.
The set was never commissioned and operated in full, nor was it assigned any combat missions. It was only used as an aid in investigations involving the direction of a low-power laser beam to aerospace targets and study of the propagation of the laser beam in the atmosphere. Ground tests involving firing at specific targets were no doubt carried out. A test target, say, a
missile, was fixed on the ground and its warhead was fired at. This helped determine the amount of energy required to hit the target. The experiments revealed that the Sary-Shagan Terra-3 set could not produce a laser beam capable of destroying the missile warhead.
- Were there any lasers to be used by the land, air and naval forces?
- Speaking about "destruction laser weapons" (i. e., the weapons used to disintegrate combat equipment structures), as far as I know, no one, and the USA proved no exception, achieved any positive result. The development of a laser with a beam strong enough to destroy an aircraft is not the main problem at all. I am absolutely convinced that such a laser can be developed. But how can you be sure that such a laser will be sufficiently compact, mobile, survivable, reliable and cheap to meet the requirements applied to any combat equipment? The present level of development of science and technology only offers a negative answer to this question.
Indeed, why knock down a helicopter with a laser if you can do it using a conventional missile, even the one fired from your shoulder? A laser capable of destroying certain military targets can be developed all right, but it cannot be moved to the battlefield because it weighs hundreds of tons.
It is quite another matter to use lasers as part of systems designed to counteract optronic military devices. I am quite positive that such systems can be developed.
- Well, now that the problem of "the destruction weapon" has been sorted out, what can you say about the laser weapon that affects the human eye? Has anyprogress been made in the development of the information weapon systems?
- Open any handbook on modern safety engineering and you will find out that even with a fairly low intensity the laser radiation is a hazard to every highly sensitive photodetector, particularly, to the human eye. The figures specifying permissible doses of radiation are well known both in this country and abroad. It must be stressed, however, that the tight of a low-energy laser may cause inadmissible irradiance when directly hitting the sensitive element. Therefore, one can assume that if doses exceed the said ones hundreds or thousands of times over, we will witness not simply risk to the human eye or photodetector; there will be risk of partial or complete blinding.
- Does this mean one can be blinded right on the battlefield?
- Yes. Very extensive research, involving tens of projects, was conducted on this matter in the USA. It is highly improbable that similar attempts were made in Russia. Once the Americans did so, we could not stay behind.
- Well, it is possible to develop a weapon that will affect the human eye or "the electronic eyes" of military equipment. But will it be effective? As in the case of the "destruction laser", it is much easier to disable running soldiers by firing automatic weapons than trying to blind
them with a laser.
- Of course, there is no sense in using a laser weapon against soldiers on battlefield, and it should not be made for this purpose. The laser can be effectively employed against a military equipment operator, that is, against the enemy using an optical information system (a sight, vision device, binoculars, etc.) to control a tank, armored personnel carrier or aircraft. If you disable an operator, you disable the powerful combat machine he controls.
- Do you believe laser weapons have any future at all, including in Russia ?
- Yes. In the meanwhile, far from all scientific and technological potential has been wasted. Research into laser technology, conducted in the USSR, was mainly financed from the military budget. When military expenditures were drastically curtailed, this affected both applied and fundamental science. Former parity in laser studies in the USA and the USSR seven-eight years ago has been disturbed. While the USA is also curbing military spending and reducing the scope of work, we are doing the same much more quickly here. As a result, Russia tends to lose its parity in laser technology.
One of the most Russian up-to-date mobile coastal defense missile system is the BAL-E .
The coast missile/cannon forces of all maritime states play an important role in the armed forces system.
The modern requirements for the conduct of coastal combat operations promote, first of all, the development of mobile coastal systems as they have evident advantages over the stationary systems because they are capable of ensuring the defense of long stretches of coast and movement to launching sites in different areas while providing sufficient concealment from the enemy.
One most up-to-date mobile coastal defense missile system is the BAL-E .
The BAL-E coastal missile system is designed to engage surface ships, boats, amphibious craft on their approach to the coast, among islands, in straits and skerries against hostile electronic countermeasures using antiship cruise missiles. It boasts high mobility and short time of deployment and readiness for action.
The system is capable of firing antiship cruise missiles both singly and in salvos with a high target destruction effectiveness. The life support system permits using the weapons in different climates, tropical areas inclusive.
The backbone of this coastal system is the H-35 active-homing inertially and radar guided antiship cruise missile unified for sea and coast-based carriers and kept in a launching transporting container.
As well as missiles, the BAL-E coastal system comprises two self-propelled command, control and communications posts, four self-propelled launchers, four transporter-reloaders and ground equipment to maintain all vehicles and prepare the coastal missile system for combat use.
The system may be supplied in different versions. In the basic version, one command, control and communications post is primary while the other is standby. Owing to the availability of two command, control and communications posts, the passive channel of the target designation system can be used to full capacity. The four transporter-reloaders ensure the conduct of a full repeated launch thereby materially increasing the combat effectiveness of the system.
All vehicles of the BAL-E system use similar cross-country truck chassis. The availability of night vision devices as well as navigation and survey equipment allow the vehicles to rapidly change launching and reloading sites after accomplishment of a combat mission and to dispersively relocate to a new area in any weather, day and night. All the vehicle systems are supplied with power at a launching site or during marches from a self-contained gas turbine-driven AC and DC source. In addition, each vehicle is provided with a standby power source driven by the truck chassis power takeoff shaft. Such a design approach to the problem of power supply, coupled with other measures, ensures the high survivability of the system and makes it possible to utilize all vehicles autonomously.
The effectiveness of combat employment of the BAL-E automated system depends directly on the stability, continuity, operational efficiency and secrecy of the battle management and communications system. The communications of the system possess all these qualities owing to data transmission digital methods, automated complexes used to establish communication, process and distribute information and ensure its secrecy.
The antiship missile system can fire single missiles from any launcher and in salvos of a desired number of missiles in any combination from different launchers at several targets, from positions located at an altitude of 0 to 1,000 m above sea level, with artificial and natural barriers in the direction of launch.
The self-propelled command, control and communications post is intended for:
- centralized combat control of the system during its movement to launching or alternate positions, changeover into and out of action and during firing;
- generation and transmission of commands and signals to the launchers and reception of their reports and confirmations; - collection, integration and display of data on the system condition during the accomplishment of a combat mission,
- enemy task forces and friendly ships within the missile system coverage by the information obtained from higher echelon command posts, remote observation posts and external reconnaissance and target designation assets;
- generation of target designation data on enemy ships within the coverage of its own radar operating in the active mode or own radar and that of the standby command, control and communications post operating jointly in the passive mode and transmission of target designation data to the launchers;
- generation of missile salvo launch commands with the distribution of the launchers to targets and transmission of these commands to the respective launchers;
- registration of digital and oral information.
The command, control and communications post is a combat control post mounted on the standard bearing points of the truck chassis and equipped with a self-contained power supply source. The combat control post is essentially a van divided into three compartments. The rear non-pressurized compartment houses the radar antenna and device for its lifting from traveling to working position. The front pressurized compartment accommodates the post crew, radar instruments and equipment, target distribution and missile launch control systems, means of automated communications and information traffic among users, night vision device, life support and other equipment. The instruments and equipment not attended during battle performance are installed in the medium compartment, which is also pressurized. These two compartments provide the climatic conditions required for normal operation of the equipment and crew.
The self-propelled launcher is designed to prepare and launch missiles, acting as part of the subunit or on its own, and also to store and transport missile launching transporting containers.
The launcher is made as a welded frame installed on the standard bearing points of the truck chassis. It includes the combat control post, self-contained power source and launcher. The combat control post occupies one compartment to house the crew, missile launch and test equipment, means of automated communications and information traffic among the command, control and communications post and the other launchers, surveillance and target designation sight, life support and other equipment.
The launcher is a welded frame with a cluster of eight launching transporting containers raised from horizontal traveling to firing position (35o) with the help of a hydraulic system.
The transporter-reloader is intended to transport a cluster of launching transporting containers with second salvo missiles to a launcher reload point and transfer the cluster to a launcher.
This vehicle is based on the truck chassis and includes a manipulating crane, self-contained power source, four hinged jack pads and a platform to install and secure a cluster of launching transporting containers (LTC) with missiles. The manipulating crane and hinged jacks are operated from the self-contained hydraulic system. The vehicle is fitted with a night vision device and radio set.
During system development, an experimental launcher was manufactured and dummy missiles were launched confirming the correctness of the adopted design.
A simplified diagram of sample combat employment of the BAL-E system is shown in the figure. In terms of indexes, structure and composition, the closest foreign counterpart is the US Harpoon GLASS system. Unlike the latter, the BAL-E system has a higher firing rate owing to shorter intervals between missile launches. A short interval between missile launches, especially during coordinated massive firing of several battalions (batteries), ensures a high density of missiles approaching the line of the area air defense of the enemy task force and, consequently, increases the fire effectiveness. In addition, the antiship cruise missile used in the BAL-E system has a higher effectiveness and smaller reflection surface, compared with the Harpoon missile. The comparison also revealed that our missile is lighter than the foreign missiles under consideration, which allows the placement of eight missiles on one launcher. This property is very significant as it facilitates coordination of salvo firing by the entire system. With the same number of launchers in a battalion, the BAL-E system permits attainment of the higher firepower.
Self-propelled launcher.
Self-propelled command, control and communications post.
Transporter-launcher.
The first annual Russian Army beauty contest has taken place in Moscow.
The event, designed to make military service more attractive, saw 16 finalists, ranging from privates to captains, perform song and dance routines and parade around in evening dresses.
The 'Beauty in Epaulettes' contest coincided with International Women's Day.
Earlier in the week, contestants donned combat boots and fatigues, posed on tanks and showed off their skills on the firing range.
Tatyana Posevnina, a junior sergeant and radio engineer from the Leningrad Military District near St. Petersburg, took the crown.
Women's Day was invented by feminists in the early 20th century to celebrate the advancement of women.
Re: Air Force Colonel Yeugeny Zelenov, Interviewed about the Fate of Russian Army
No score for this post
May 20 2003, 5:22 PM
2003-03-05
Russian Officer Jumps on Grenade.
AP
MOSCOW - A Russian officer smothered a grenade with his body as it exploded, suffering critical injuries but likely saving the lives of nearby cadets, the ITAR-Tass new agency reported Wednesday.
Thirty Interior Ministry cadets were training at a unit outside the Siberian city of Kemerovo on Tuesday when a cadet dropped a grenade after pulling the pin, ITAR-Tass reported.
Lt. Col. Igor Yakunin hurled himself onto the grenade as it went off, the agency said.
Yakunin, who was hospitalized in critical condition, was nominated for a state award by Kemerovo Gov. Aman Tuleyev, the report said. The commander of Interior Ministry troops in the Siberian Military District went to Kemerovo to investigate the incident.
As you well know superior USA government - leader of the "free" world has canceled the F-22 air "superiority" fighter program.
The main reason for that is a new very sophisticated Russian radar, which unexpectedly appeared on the market, and which will make F-117, F-22, B-2 radar signature as large as that of Boeing 737!
A miniature version of this RADAR was briefly tested in Yugoslavia. It was quite successful "field trial". One trial - one US stealth warplane down.
To me it is yet another evidence of superior Russian brainpower!
The new radar boasts one principal plus: its ability to function in the meter-wave band makes it invulnerable to homing and anti-radar missiles effective in other wave-bands. Secondly, the radar can detect so-called "invisible" aircraft, including STEALTH technology planes, F-22, F-117A, B-2 etc.
These radars are manufactured by Nizhni Novgorod Plant.
It is interesting to note that throughout its 78 year-long history, Nizhni Novgorod "Television" Plant has never kept a low profile, despite the fact that nearly 80% of the hardware it produced was ordered by the military.
Contrary to usual procedures, this enterprise always had fairly famous names. The names changed, as did production. Whereas in Spring 1917, the Electrotechnical Works (the plant's first name) commemorated its birthday by producing military field and outpost telephone versions for the warring army, now the plant specializes in the production of unique meter-wave radar sets.
The latest novelties, the radar sets, types 55Zh6-1 and 1L13-3, were shown twice, in 1992 and 1993, at Nizhni Novgorod
International Fair and at MOSAEROSHOW exhibition in Moscow. They attracted the interest of experts at the recent exhibition of weaponry in Abu-Dhabi.
Times have changed and now the plant can openly demonstrate its weaponry and offer it for sale. Now, let us consider the specifics of the radars, which impressed the specialists, both Russian and foreign, and led them to be frequent guests at the plant ever since. The 55Zh6-1 is a high tech, ground-based, three-coordinate circular scanner set operating in the meter-wave band.
It detects current (and future) airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, balloons and other air objects in the Diagram depicting the operation of 55Zh6-1 and 1L13-3 meter-wave radarface of the most intensive clutter and electronic countermeasures.
Both radar function in the meter-wave band makes it invulnerable to homing and antiradar missiles effective in other wavebands. Secondly, the radar can detect so-called "invisible" aircraft, including STEALTH technology planes. Indeed, this aircraft's invisibility is based on its special shape, which produces an extremely small signal return. In the meter-wave band used in radar technology, an aircraft's size is commensurate with wavelength, and its shape is no longer important. The "invisibility" of such aircraft is also due to their radio-absorbent coating.
However, to attain a marked decrease in "visibility" in the meter-wave band, one must ensure a substantial increase in the thickness of the "smearing".
This inevitably ends up with a greater mass of the aircraft and, consequently, a degradation in its flying characteristics.
The radar reveals its reliability in all meteorological conditions. It ensures fail-proof performance at minus 50 °C and can withstand almost unlimited heat.
Environmental humidity doesn't affect its performance. An apparently cumbersome antenna mast retains its serviceability under conditions of an ice-slick and 35 m/s wind.
The radar reveals good mobility. Its structures, devices and mechanisms are arranged on eight semi-trailers towed by trucks and can be moved by rail, air and water. It can be set up by a crew within less than 24 hours (22 hours, to be precise) without preliminary training, by merely looking in the manual. After turning on the power, it is operational within seconds.
The radar may be controlled equally well from the radar post located in the van and a remote control station equipped with seats for the commander (or operations duty officer), guidance navigator and operator. The remote station contains radar control equipment and three indicators. It uses a cable link and is effective at a distance of 1km from the radar. In addition, it allows connection of another similar radar.
The radar displays target position in a three coordinate system. Its coverage is 500 km in range, 40 km in height (16 deg. in elevation) and is unlimited in azimuth. The guaranteed detection ranges for a fighter flying at altitudes of 10,000 m and 20,000 m are 300 km and 400 km, respectively; the targets flying at an altitude of 500 m can be detected with confidence at a distance of at least 65 km. It has a fighter detection ceiling of 60 km. As well as the numerous indisputable advantages of the meter-wave band, the radar also preserves a coordinate measuring accuracy. The rms errors do not exceed 500 m in range, 850 m in height and 24 in azimuth.
The electronic altimeter determines target elevation as well as range and azimuth, and also ensures a fairly high rate of output of the coordinates in two modes: in semi-automatic mode, when the operator singles out the targets for tracking, and in automatic mode - the coordinates of the locked-on targets are produced by a special computer. By sending an interrogation radio signal via the "Parol" (password) IFF system, the target can be identified to establish its national status.
It also provides for an air situation simulator, which displays the picture on an indicator screen without emitting radio pulses.
This is extremely useful during the training of radar crews. It also comprises a built-in functional test and diagnostics system. Information can be obtained on full readiness of the radar for operation or location of a trouble within the shortest possible time. As the equipment is built of units and the optimum number of spares is furnished with a set of spare parts and accessories, the location and replacement of the faulty component do not affect, for all practical purposes, the promptness of the crew's actions.
The radar may be supplied with electrical power from industrial mains. If such a power source is not available, it can be powered by a self-contained power supply system, consisting of two Diesel-driven power plants (four 100-kW and three 50-kW Diesel-generator sets, including the reserve ones) and a distributor-converter. The self-contained system is energized and controlled from the radar post.
The radar's designers took into account safety and life-support systems and ensured that comfortable conditions were provided for the crew. The hermetic sealing of the work stations and equipment used to clean the outside air provide reliable protection for the crew against the ingress of the chemical and radioactive agents. The radar boasts an effective fire-protection system. An air conditioning system contributes to the work's convenience during combat operations.
The other meter-wave band radar, 1L13-3, is successfully employed to monitor air space and integrated in a system used to ensure air traffic control of military and civilian targets. It may also be used in an automated air defense or air force control system, or may be employed independently (e.g., as part of a rapid deployment force).
The radar is highly, mobile: its equipment is arranged on three trucks and one trailer. The crew sets up the radar equipment within 45 min. The radar makes it possible to feed at a high rate data on the positions of flying targets in two dimensions: in azimuth (unlimited) and in range (up to 300 km). The highest altitude a fighter aircraft can be detected at is 27 km. Like the 55Zh6-1, the 1L13-3 is equipped with an automatically controlled anti-jamming system, which uses multi-channel self-balancing and digital scan-mode selection equipment. It is also provided with monitoring and automatic trouble location equipment. The radar may be powered from the industrial mains or itsown electric power plant, comprising two 30-kW Diesel-generator sets.
The air conditioners guarantee operators' comfort, while the automatic fire-fighting system and filtering-and-ventilating units ensure their safety.
The most important feature is its ability to detect "the invisible" aircraft. Clearly, these radars are related to the world's most advanced class of military hardware.
The 5th international exhibition of military technique, technologies and land forces armament, VTTV-Omsk-2003 opens in the Russian city of Omsk.
175 enterprises and companies from Russia and the CIS are taking part in the exhibition. Over 150 foreign representatives from 32 countries including Belgium, France, Bulgary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, the USA, Iran, Mexico, Mongolia and the Netherlands, have come to the exhibition. In the words of Czech military attachÈ Rostislav Pilc, he is very much interested in the Omsk exhibition because of the products exhibited there. The attachÈ regularly attends exhibitions of military equipment, but sees many of the Omsk exhibits for the first time.
An exhibition pavilion covers the territory of 1,500 square meters where dozens of models of military technique of large size are exhibited. These are last modifications of tanks produced by the Uralvagonzavod works from the city of Nizhny Tagil, the Omsktransmash enterprise, armored troop-carriers from Kurgan, modern artillery and missile plants, almost all kinds of modern military trucks. Specialists and observers from Europe, America, the Middle East and South-Eastern Asia will see a wide range of machines for effective modern close combat; this is the TOS-1 heavy flame-throwing system and its modifications developed by designers of the Omsk design bureau of transport machine construction.
The exhibition demonstrates that Russia hold the newest intellectual weapons. Different high-precision pointing systems, remote control systems and software are exhibited on the stands of the Continent exhibition center. A stand of the Avtomatika works from Omsk is among them; the enterprise produces homing-guidance heads for air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles. Now the enterprise expects to get an order for equipment of 18 Su-30MK planes that Malaysia has recently bought from Russia. What is more, Avtomatika produces stations warning of radiolocation radiation for Su-30; the enterprise may get an order for the stations in September.
The Omsk research instrument-making institute, the Kozitsky Instrument-making works, the Irtysh industrial association are exhibiting high-technologies at the exhibition. The enterprises develop and produce element bases, quartz generators and electronics, the most essential components for the Russian civil and defense industries. What is more, the products are very much promising from the point of exporting; the stands with the exhibits drew particular attention of foreign guests.
A unique apparatus for underwater magnetic communication "Shelf" allows divers communicating with each other and with the base vessel. The Shelf apparatus was developed by the Omsk instrument-making research institute; originally it was designed for usage in the military spheres, the Navy particularly. The apparatus is highly appreciated for its effectiveness.
The largest exposition at the exhibition belongs to the Popov radio plant from Omsk; the enterprise produces unique communication equipment that is popular in Russia and the CIS. This Siberian enterprise designed and produced special communication equipment for the Russia President's plane. The exhibits of the exhibition are adequate rivals to products of the world's leading producers of communication facilities. Director General of the Rolero enterprise Ivan POlyakov told PRAVDA.Ru that the exhibition helps the enterprise not only demonstrate its products and accumulate orders; it also allows to see prospective level of the Russian defense industry-s development.
The 2nd International technology congress "Military technique, armament and technologies of double usage n the 21st century" will be held in the framework of the exhibition. There will be also several conferences, seminars, presentations dedicated to new technologies held during the exhibition.
The exhibition in Omsk provides a number of opportunities for many Siberian enterprises. According to Director General of the Russian Agency for Conventional Weapons Alexander Nozdrachev, the exhibition is always a good instrument of sale, it is similar to promotion of goods through advertising. The exhibition of military technique in Omsk represents a wide range of achievements made by Russian and Siberian scientists, including those in the sphere of double-usage technologies- usage. 30% of defense technique are exhibited in Omsk, 60% of them are technologies of double usage that urgently needs promotion.
Rosoboronexport representative in Omsk Vladimir Sosnin says that export of military and double usage technologies has increased ten times after the four VTTV-Omsk exhibitions held in the city. This is an excellent result, he says.
The State Duma, which is the Russian Parliament's lower house, passed the presidential bill on changing the flag of Russia's Armed Forces in the second reading and third (final) reading here today.
Specific amendments to the federal law "On The Banner Of The Russian Federation's Armed Forces, The Naval Banner, As Well As The Banners Of Other Armed Services And Other Military Formations" call for replacing the present-day scarlet banner with the red flag, which has an emblem on both sides.
The face side is to feature the state emblem, i.e. a two-headed golden eagle with his spread wide wings, a crown over each head, as well as the third big crown above. The chest of the eagle, which is holding the sceptre and the orb, depicts a silver horseman wearing a blue cape, who kills a black dragon with his silver spear.
Golden five-sided stars are depicted in each of the banner's four corners, that is, both on its face and reverse sides. The flag's contour is decorated with a woven golden ornament.
The flag's reverse side also features a two-headed eagle with folded wings, who is holding a sword and a laurel diadem in his claws. The word "Fatherland" is inscribed in its upper part; and the words "Duty And Honour" can be seen in its lower part.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov suggested changing the flag; his proposals were subsequently approved by the President. The new banner was based on 1883-vintage banners, as well as on early Red Army banners.
The flag seeks to bridge Russia's divided military past.
Russia's State Duma has approved a new banner for the army which mixes symbols from the Soviet and Tsarist eras. The lower house of parliament passed the bill on the new flag, which has a Tsarist double-headed eagle on a Soviet red background with Soviet gold stars, by 284 votes to 99. MPs on both the left and right have dismissed the banner as a poorly designed compromise and it has still to be approved by the Russian president to become law. Since Vladimir Putin came to office in 1999, other patriotic Soviet symbols such as the national anthem have been restored to the post-Communist nation.
'Hasty invention'
"The red flag hoisted by our soldiers [over Berlin in 1945] did not have double-headed eagles," said Communist MP Yuri Nikiforenko before Friday's vote. "Those who vote for it now will be damned by future generations." Andrei Vulf, a member of the liberal Union of Right Forces, said the new banner was poorly conceived. "The combination of stars and double-headed eagles shows that it was invented in haste," he said. Along with the eagle, the banner features St George and the Dragon - the symbol of Moscow - and the inscriptions "Fatherland" and "Duty and Honour".
Re: Air Force Colonel Yeugeny Zelenov, Interviewed about the Fate of Russian Army
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June 10 2003, 2:52 PM
RUSSIAN MISSILE CHIEF ASSASSINATED IN MOSCOW.
MOSCOW [MENL] -- The director of Russia's leading air defense firm has been assassinated.
The Russian executive was found dead in what could have been an attempt to seize sensitive documents on missile exports to Middle East clients, Russian sources said.
Igor Klimov, director of Almaz Antei, was found dead near his Moscow home on Friday. Russian police sources said he was shot once by an unknown assailant.
Officials said the assassin wore camouflage and then threw away his gun after the shooting. They said this was the mark of a contract killer.
Are faithful soldiers more predictable? Does the Russian army need regimental priests?
A seminar of the subject "Vicarial service in present-day army" was held in the Russian city of Ryazan on June 24. The seminar was organized by the RF Defense Ministry and the Moscow Patriarchate Department for cooperation with the armed forces and law enforcement structures. Main goals of the seminar are to determine objectives that the Orthodox Church pursues while working in the army, to find out the instruments it uses at that or plans to employ in the future.
How do confessions plan to help the army, what will they do for this purpose? Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Colonel-General Igor Puzanov voiced position of the ministry on the problem.
According to Igor Puzanov, values common to all mankind are connected with Christianity. Christianity is the basis on which, the deputy minister of defense says, economy, politics and other spheres can be based. May the church help in settlement of the serious problem of outlaw relations between younger and older servicemen?
The church sees its main objective in forming normal people, those who believe in the future, who are responsible for protection of their country and account for their good or bad deeds. The colonel-general thinks the above mentioned facts are quite enough to thank the church for. At that, he means not only the army but the whole of the society as well. Indeed, today soldiers do their service just within two years, after that they get back to the society.
There are just few true believers among us. "I don't think that the revived popularity of religion that we witnessed ten years ago in Russia can be called a true belief. To my mind, it is rather another extremity when people understand there is no need to be an atheist any longer, but on the contrary it is prestigious to be ranked among the believers," Igor Puzanov says.
True belief is something inherent to people's internal sphere, but not only the outward life connected with the traditional church rites such as baptizing. Belief is the art of living for other people, not for oneself. The deputy minister of defense adds: "I am absolutely sure that true believers can never do evil deeds. It is quite natural that faithful people treat military service more seriously than those who are addicted to drugs or alcohol."
"I am often asked if the Ministry of Defense will conclude a cooperation agreement with other confessions, such as the ministry has already concluded with the Russian Orthodox Church. I say that we do cooperate with different confessions. However, my opinion is that if another document were a panacea for all problems, we all would be standing in a long line to sign this document. Unfortunately, it is sad reality that many documents are still ineffective after they are signed. Clergymen may cooperate with the flock irrespective of the fact whether juridical agreements are concluded or not. The only thing now is to find out what confessions or churches want to help the army and what they may offer to help us."
Here are some fragments from works by the last Protopresbyter of Russian Army and Fleet Georgy Shavelsky written in 1915.
"A priest must remember that he shouldn't jeopardize his life without necessity, if a priest falls out it will be quite a problem for his military unit to make a substitution for him. He must show concern for slain and wounded soldiers of the regiment. I learnt these things from my own experience of ten battles in which I participated. In the very first battle, though, I acted as I shouldn't have to.
Brave doctor O. and me (we were together during the subsequent battles as well) settled in the line of the 9th company. Now it is quite a problem for me to explain why we did so. It seemed that the company's position was the most dangerous; we liked the commander of the company. However, there was no use of our staying in the thick of the battle. Lots of bullets and shells whizzed above our heads; we were tormented not by fear of the danger but because we realized our absolute uselessness staying there. We had to lie and couldn't stand up because the enemy could see the company's location. Thanks God, there were no seriously wounded soldiers and none was killed during that combat. At that very combat we understood where doctor and priest should better stay: next time we settled in the frontline hospital where we certainly were of more use for soldiers. Being there, I had a chance to encourage and comfort soldiers, I buried slain ones; I helped bandage and feed the wounded.
When the whole of the regiment participated in fighting, I tried to stay at a point where suffering soldiers could reach me and ask for help. Soldiers appreciated my presence during the fighting, as it encouraged and helped them. What priests say at the dangerous moments of fighting sticks to the memory forever. What is more, priests should give their blessing to soldiers before fighting and wish them God's help.
The Russian army and the Fleet are a school that educates thousands of Russians who in their turn spread the knowledge about the country. The duty of pastors is to bring up faithful sons of the church and the country."
According to the last Protopresbyter of Russian Army and Fleet Georgy Shavelsky, at wartime priests should pursue the same objectives as they do in peaceful life.
It is actually very important to make activity of the frothier service adequate to development of the international relations.
According to the FSB First Deputy Director Vladimir Pronichev, the frontier service will transform from an army organization into a special service. In accordance with the presidential decree, the RF Frontier Service is abolished starting with July 1. On the basis of the organization a frontier service was created in the FSB; it will be headed by Vladimir Pronichev.
In an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper Vladimir Pronichev said that experience of Russian and foreign frontier services is being considered now with a view to develop effective and civilized methods for protection of Russia's interests at the border. He added that thus the frontier service would transform from an army organization into a special service.
For this purpose a system of frontier departments is to be formed at the FSB; they will be in command of the frontier troops as well.
As the new structure develops, the FSB first deputy director says, it will switch to a completely professional basis which in its turn will reduce the conscription to the frontier services. According to Pronichev, it is actually very important to make activity of the frothier service adequate to development of the international relations, so that it might strengthen mutual cooperation. He says: "Frontiers must join not separate people."
The reorganization of the frontier service is aimed at simplification of the management system, at reduction of the numerous managerial staff and at creation of a more effective working system, Vladimir Pronichev says. He adds that nothing will change at the RF border so far; the above mentioned changes will concern only the central apparatus of the service. The next stage of the reorganization will include creation of effective regional departments. Vladimir Pronichev says that the Caucasus area will be of top priority for the service. The newly formed structure plans to cooperate with other departments with a view to avert all possible threats to the Russian population that may come from across the border. Particular attention of the service will be also focused on protection of the RF borders with Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
In addition to the above mentioned, the newly formed service will develop measures for protection of the sea biological resources. As the number of problems connected with the sector is considerable, the service will consider it one of the top priorities.
A Cossack rider jumping over a human hurdle. Igor Tabakov / MT
NOVOCHERKASSK, Southern Russia -- An invading French regiment is routed by a Cossack cavalry unit amid deafening cannon fire near the Tuzlovka River, a few kilometers outside Novocherkassk, the historic capital of the Don Cossacks.
After the lopsided battle, combatants from both sides sit down to drink vodka together while cannon smoke still lingers over the steppe.
But this is no mutual epiphany about the brotherhood of man. It is simply the Count Ataman Platov Don Military-Historical Club taking a break from oppressive 30-degree heat after recreating a War of 1812 battle for several hundred spectators.
The mock battle on Saturday -- set to loudspeaker music that included "Glory, Glory Hallelujah," "La Marseillaise" and the theme music for 20th Century Fox -- was one of the highlights of the final day of Novocherkassk's four-day festival commemorating the 250th birthday of Cossack hero Matvei Platov.
Platov, who commanded Cossack troops in the defeat of Napoleon's invading French army in 1812, lived his final years in this town about 30 kilometers northeast of Rostov-on-Don. After his death in 1818, the town erected a monument in his honor.
Cossacks from throughout Russia and abroad traveled to Novocherkassk last week to attend the festival, which kicked off on Wednesday morning with the laying of a wreath at the Platov monument and ended Saturday night with fireworks and a gala concert.
Cossacks, a group of warrior farmers who for centuries defended Russia's borders, were renowned for fanatical devotion to the tsar and the Orthodox Church, as well as for being fierce soldiers with unparalleled skill on horseback.
Napoleon once said he could conquer the entire world with Cossacks in his ranks, a quote oft-repeated by festival speakers and attendees.
The Cossacks suffered heavy persecution under Soviet rule, as a majority of them sided with the White Army in the civil war.
But since the fall of the Soviet Union, a Cossack revival has slowly taken place, and Novocherkassk's Don Cossack Dramatic Theater on Friday was the site of the First International Cossack Congress.
Two participants relaxing on the steppe near Novocherkassk. Igor Tabakov / MT
Congress attendees included atamans -- or elected Cossack leaders -- from Vladivostok to Kalmykia, and a slightly bored-looking General Gennady Troshev, who in February was appointed by President Vladimir Putin to the post of presidential adviser on Cossacks after having served as commander of the North Caucasus Military District.
Guests also came from other countries, including the United States, Canada and Germany.
For Faina Boldyrev, who came to the congress from Montreal with her husband, Andrei, it was her first time in Russia.
Boldyrev, 54, said her family, which left Russia shortly after the 1917 Revolution and arrived Canada in 1952, never lost its fear of persecution.
She said her father told them they were Kuban Cossacks in order to give them a false lead. Only later did she find out they were Don Cossacks.
"I have a brother who is 78 years old right now, and when I asked him if he wanted to come to this conference, he said, 'No way. They're going to come after me and send me to Siberia,'" Boldyrev said. "He's still scared after all these years."
The Cossacks carry an air of Slavic romanticism, with lively folk music and dancing and their traditional dress -- lambskin hats, tunics and baggy pants tucked into knee-high black boots.
But there is a darker side to Cossack culture, one associated with Jewish pogroms and violent conflicts with neighboring Muslims.
Even in recent years, Cossack gatherings have been rife with ethnic slandering.
Addressing a Cossack congress in Novocherkassk in February 1999, Albert Makashov, a retired general and then a member of the State Duma, did not mix words.
"We will be anti-Semites and must be victorious!" he declared.
But whether it was the understanding that hate-filled diatribes might not sit well with the foreign guests or an honest shift in focus away from ethnic conflicts, the restraint in conversations and formal speeches at the festival was palpable.
Sitting around a table drinking vodka with friends at equestrian games on Saturday, a middle-aged Don Cossack named Vladimir, who declined to give his last name, cut short his friends' conversation about Cossack-Muslim relations, muttering something about foreign journalists being connected to the CIA.
But before Saturday's parade, in a garden cafe near Yermak Square in central Novocherkassk, one ataman managed to squeeze in some Jew-baiting.
"The conspiracy by kikes and Masons is the greatest enemy of Russia," said Viktor Demyanenko, ataman of the Donetsk branch of the Great Don Army. "They have to run the entire world, and they already control almost all of it."
Speakers at Friday's congress stuck primarily to political issues, such as land reform, and kind words, to shouts of "lyubo!" -- the Cossack cry of approval -- from the audience.
The ataman of the Kuban Cossack Army, Vladimir Gromov, demanded that the Russian government return to the Cossacks their original lands, claiming that otherwise the Cossacks "would go the route of the American Indians -- foreigners in our own land."
Not all congress participants -- including Novocherkassk Mayor Anatoly Volkov -- agreed with Gromov's position, but there was more consensus on the importance of reviving educational institutions for Cossack children.
There are currently more than 600,000 registered Cossacks in Russia, 20,000 of whom serve in the military. But Cossack organizations are just beginning to form their own military academies to train their youth in the tradition of their warrior past.
This process has already begun in Novocherkassk, with the re-establishment of the Don Emperor Alexander III Cadet Academy.
Cossack riders performing stunts on horseback at Saturday's show. Igor Tabakov / MT
The academy was founded in 1883, but in 1920 the entire school was evacuated to Egypt after having fought for the White Army in the civil war. After two years in exile in Egypt, the school was relocated to Yugoslavia, where it continued until 1945.
In 1991, the academy re-formed in Novocherkassk and now has an enrollment of more than 200 boys grades six through 12.
The cadets were a ubiquitous sight at festival events and on the streets of Novocherkassk, fulfilling flag-guard duties at Friday's conference, marching in Saturday's parade in the center of town, and displaying their deftness with a shashka -- the Cossack saber -- before Saturday's battle re-enactment and equestrian contest.
Twenty cadets lined up in front of spectators to rapidly rotate their shashki, which were more than half as tall as many of the cadets.
Only a few nervous audience members moved to the side for a safer observation post.
"I like the speed of it and being able to handle a cold weapon," said cadet Stanislav Lebedinsky, 16, regarded by his peers as the academy's best sword handler. "It's a good thing. It may come in handy on the street.
"It also has to do with tradition," he continued. "The most important weapons for our ancestors were a horse and a sword. We want to be like them."
The horse-as-weapon theme set up the festival's most impressive event, the equestrian show that followed Saturday's battle re-enactment, giving Cossack riders a chance to perform startling stunts in the saddle to more "lyubo!" cheers from the audience.
Spectator Vasily Khopreninov, who described himself as a "pure-blooded Don Cossack," said he was not overly impressed with the show.
Khopreninov, whose best riding days appeared to be behind him, said the riders' exploits were nothing special compared to the abilities of their Cossack forefathers.
"They call what you're seeing out there 'expertise,'" he said, pointing to riders performing a stunt in which they swing themselves under the belly of their horses in full stride and land back in the saddle from the other side.
"Before the Revolution, every ordinary Cossack had to be able to do that before they could even go into the army.
"A Cossack was born on horse, and that's where he died," Khopreninov said, adding that his great-grandmother dismounted to give birth to his grandfather and promptly continued riding after she was finished.
Re: Air Force Colonel Yeugeny Zelenov, Interviewed about the Fate of Russian Army
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September 4 2003, 12:38 PM
Russia May Supply Air Defense Systems to Iran.
Pravda.Ru
09/03/2003 19:31
What does Washington think about it? [Who gives a rats ass? Öàð Ñàìóèë]
Russia may start supplies of modern anti-missile defense systems to Iran, the information became known from an interview of Radjab Safarov, the director general of the Russian Center for Modern Iran Studies, with the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun.
According to Radjab Safarov, a sensational proposition was first voiced by former chairman of the Duma Defense Committee, now late Lev Rokhlin during his meeting with Iran Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani that took place in the framework of an official visit of the RF Duma delegation to Iran at the end of February 1997. Radjab Safarov himself was member of the delegation as one of the deputies of Russia's defense minister.
The Japanese newspaper reports that the proposition voiced by Lev Rokhlin was as follows: as soon as Iran launches military satellites it will have a chance not only to trace all movements inside the country, at the borders and in the whole of the region within 24 hours; what is more Iran could ensure its security in the air with the help of different anti-missile and air defense facilities. The general said then: "As far as Iran has made a decision to build a nuclear power plant it is important to protect it from numerous enemies. Russia from its side is ready to supply modern air defense systems to Iran."
Radjab Safarov says that the top-authorities of Iran evinced great interest toward the proposition; they asked Russia to provide information about the price and performance specification of the system as the proposition hadn't been mentioned in the program of the visit originally. The Russian side claimed that the system cost $3-4 billion; construction of the system might take up to 3 years.
Iranian representatives participating in the talks told the general that they needed time to coordinate the proposition with the top leaders of the country. However, experts say that no official inquiry followed from Iran; the issue still remains unsettled.
Meanwhile, a Russian delegation headed by 2000 Nobel Prize winner, Duma deputy Professor Zhores Alferov is leaving for Teheran on September 19, 2003. The delegation is expected to stay in Iran for 5 days. It is not ruled out that supplies of the air defense system will be once again touched upon during the visit.
It should be mentioned that a regular session of the International Atomic Energy Agency devoted to Iran's nuclear programs is to open in Vienna on September 8. Having allowed the leakage of information about secret negotiations with Iran, Russia is raising its rates at the negotiations with the USA. After the end of the Iraqi war the whole of the world is experiencing waves of anti-American attitudes. Against this background the popularity of Russian air defense and anti-missile defense systems is gaining force.
Re: Air Force Colonel Yeugeny Zelenov, Interviewed about the Fate of Russian Army
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September 5 2003, 12:16 PM
Beautiful Presidential Escort To Accompany Putin.
Pravda.Ru
Maksim Dynnikov
09/05/2003 12:22
All parts and garments of the new uniform are handmade.
In the middle of September, an event will happen in Russia that will change the image of the state. President Vladimir Putin will view the parade of his new cavalrymen escort. The uniform and decorations for the new prestigious unit are currently being produced at the Association of Art Studios in the town of Lomonosov.
Yevgeny Grebenyuk, spokesman for the association, says, the works to design the uniform were started in 1994. "There are three companies in the regiment, a hundred military men in each of them. We received another important order on the threshold of St.Petersburg's 300th anniversary celebrations - to design a special uniform for the presidential escort. The special uniform consists of a rather heavy shako, belts, shoulder-belts, cartouches, and official decorations patterned on the Life Guards uniform as worn in 1812-1909."
All parts of the uniform are handmade. Such high-quality and historic similarity items are not produced in any other country of the world. The worst thing about the new uniform is the 800-gram shako - it will not be easy to wear it. That is probably why, the presidential escort will consist of big-headed men. However, Yevgeny Grebenyuk said, the average head size of an escort soldier was 56. Military men will have to wear shakos over woolen hats, because it will be a solely outdoor service.
Like the presidential regiment, the presidential escort consists of 300 military men. However, there were only 108 sets of uniform ordered. Probably, soldiers will be wearing them by turn. An escort is an elite cavalry unit. The regiment was dissolved after the perestroika, but now it is rising again under Putin's aegis. Barracks have already been built, but horses have not been purchased yet. The escort needs broken in, calm horses. Until recently, the president and his guests were escorted by motorcyclists that did not have to take care of their motorbikes' temper.
Yevgeny Grebenyuk did not agree to open a commercial secret and expose the sum that had been paid for the military equipment of the presidential escort. Yet, he said that Russia was not the most ceremonious country in the world as far as official ceremonies were concerned. Russia's expenses in this respect are a lot lower in comparison with the ones of Great Britain, for example. Yevgeny Grebenyuk believes, Vladimir Putin leads a much more humble life than his predecessor Boris Yeltsin did. Everyone remembers the scandal with Pavel Borodin and the huge sum of money that was spent on the restoration of the Kremlin halls. Eyewitnesses say, "the walls are made of gold there." Putin avoids Yeltsin's luxury - the president's office is a lot smaller and not so luxurious as Andreyevsky and Georgiyevsky Halls of the Kremlin. They say, Vladimir Putin has never sat on the Kremlin thrones. Moreover, they take the thrones away during official ceremonies.
Another symbolic place that was outfitted especially for Vladimir Putin is the office in the presidential train. Yevgeny Grebenyuk has personally visited the office: "The office looks very modest, it is only six square meters. There is a small bedroom next to the office and a small shower room." Vladimir Putin does not use the train often, though.
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This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on Sep 5, 2003 12:16 PM
Re: Air Force Colonel Yeugeny Zelenov, Interviewed about the Fate of Russian Army
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September 16 2003, 11:49 AM
Sunday, 14 September, 2003, 22:41 GMT 23:41 UK
Russian tanks for the memory.
BBC
The festival opened with a parade of vintage armour.
Russian tank troops marked their professional day on Sunday with the annual holiday, known as Tankman's Day, which honours the work of tanks and their crews during the Second World War. Although tanks, dreamed up in the Boer War to counter heavy machine guns, were first used in the First World War, they were not mass-produced until the 1920s. The first Soviet-built tank, a 7-ton vehicle with 8-16mm thick armour was produced on 31 August 1920. Some of the early Soviet tanks used French and British tanks captured by the Bolsheviks during the Russian civil war as their models.
Whatever its origins, it was not long before the tank became an essential part of any army. Its massive firepower, manoeuvrability, speed, cross-country capabilities and armour-plating make it a formidable opponent. Even today armoured troops are at the core of Russia's national mobile defence, says Sergey Mayev, chief of the main armoured vehicle and tank directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defence. State-of-the-art T-80 and T-90 tanks meet the Russian Army's present-day requirements, Russian television reports. They make up one third of all of the army's tanks. Nowadays, the troops don't often get new equipment, the television reports quoting military sources, as most of the output of the tank factories is sold for export.
Black Eagle.
But research and development continue and the next generation Russian tank is already in sight. The tank of the future is called 'Black Eagle' and will not resemble present-day machines, Mr Mayev says. "In brief, if you compare the T-34 tank, which they call the best tank of World War II, and the T-90 - if you draw some sort of line between the design of the T-34 and the T-90 - a similar line can be drawn between the new tank and the T-90."
But it was the armoured vehicles of the past and present that delighted spectators at the Museum of Armoured Vehicles and Equipment in Kubinka, near Moscow. A parade of vintage armour opened the festivities, Russian television said. And tank troops gave a display of their skill in manoeuvring and firing modern vehicles to mark their special day.
Re: Air Force Colonel Yeugeny Zelenov, Interviewed about the Fate of Russian Army
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September 23 2003, 11:13 AM
Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2003. Page 3
Israeli Army Signing Up Russian Snipers.
By Dan Williams
Reuters
TEL AVIV, Israel -- The Israeli army has begun using Russian immigrant soldiers -- many of whom are veterans of fighting in Chechnya -- as snipers to guard Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, Israeli security officials said Monday.
The unit, dubbed the Immigrant Legion, was created recently by recruiting several dozen Russian-born men aged 40 and over who were too old to qualify for reserve duty but had volunteered to serve in semi-official security squads, the security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli army declined to comment about the arrangement on Monday.
Security sources said that the volunteers included a number of veterans of the Russian military's fight against independence-minded rebels in Chechnya.
"These guys fought in Chechnya, but when they got to Israel they were considered too old for the draft," a source said.
"Eventually the military found their sharpshooter training -- and their dedication -- too good to ignore."
Snipers play a key role in Israel's ground forces operating in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants are spearheading a nearly three-year uprising for independence.
They have been used in track-and-kill operations against militants and to protect settlements and border territories.
Palestinians have accused Israeli snipers at times of targeting unarmed civilians and protesters.
Israel denies this.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said that snipers in the Russian army undergo a year of training and this gives those who eventually move to the Jewish state a qualitative edge over their Israeli counterparts.
Israeli snipers have only five weeks of training.
Several members of the Immigrant Legion also have doubled as sniper trainers, according to the security sources.
The sources said that as many as half of Israeli conscripts who become snipers in the regular army are also Russian-speaking immigrants -- despite having no prior military experience.
One security source called it a "matter of mentality."
The source said the new immigrants demonstrate greater patience -- an important characteristic for sharpshooters -- than do native-born Israelis.
The world-famous Uralvagonzavod Production Association/State Unitary Enterprise is involved in the series production of a variety of engineer support vehicles: - IMR-3 and IMR-3M obstacle clearing vehicles; - BMR-3 and BMR-3M armored mine-clearing vehicles; - MTU-72 tank bridgelayers; - BREM-1 armored repair and recovery vehicles (including modernized ones), and also the TBS-86 tank-mounted snow dozers.
All of them were developed by the Ural Transport Engineering Design Bureau/State Unitary Enterprise. The vehicles are based on the chassis of the T-90S battle tank recognized as one of the world’s best. Its powerplant, transmission, track and suspension system, rubber-padded track grousers, steering controls, crew and internal equipment NBC protection systems, main communications facilities and armament were used to develop the above engineer support vehicles, which makes them as mobile and maneuverable as MBTs and ensures their operation with tank units as engineer support assets. In addition, unified systems and units, fuel, oils and greases (including their foreign analogs), spare parts for the chassis, its maintenance and repair systems, as well as unified ammunition, training facilities and driving and gunnery training systems make their introduction and operation economically and organizationally feasible.
Their high power, cross-country capacity and reliability, powerful ditching, load-lifting and tractive equipment allow these vehicles to be used for civilian purposes (with their armament dismantled), for example, for eliminating the aftereffects of fires and accidents in residential areas, at industrial enterprises, and in areas of natural disasters.
OBSTACLE CLEARING VEHICLES.To provide troops with paths to move through debris and other obstacles in offensive or defensive operations, the engineer troops should be equipped with highly efficient obstacle clearing vehicles. The Ural Transport Engineering Design Bureau developed the IMR-3 and IMR-3M obstacle clearing vehicles through the modernization of the IMR-2 and IMR-2M vehicles, and launched them into series production within - one year. These vehicles are: - the IMR-3 intended to support the advance of troops and carry out engineer operations in areas with a high level of radioactive contamination; - the IMR-3M intended to support the advance of troops, including movement over radioactively contaminated terrain.
The vehicles differ in characteristics and design: - the IMR-3 features enhanced protection of the crew and internal equipment from penetrating radiation of nuclear explosion and gamma radiation of a radioactively contaminated terrain (gamma radiation attenuation ratio is 120 in the crew compartments), which is compensated for by reduced armor protection of the hull (driver’s compartment) and turret; - the IMR-3M features sufficient armor protection of the hull and turret but reduced protection of the crew and internal equipment against penetrating radiation (gamma radiation attenuation ratio is 80 in the crew compartments). In terms of their configuration and tactical and technical characteristics, both vehicles are identical.
- back-filling ditches, trenches and craters, as well as leveling and clearing of sites and roads; - making driveways and exit roads on slopes and banks of rivers, ravines, deep and wide trenches; - laying of trail roads in moderately broken terrain and mountainous and wooded country, as well as in snow-bound terrain; - making passages and clearing natural and artificial debris in category I-III demolition areas; - excavating and loading soil into containers and transport vehicles; - digging up air-raid shelter entrances and exits; - loosening category I-IV soil (with rock inclusions); - felling trees and pulling stumps.
An enclosed remote-control air defense machine gun enables the crew to destroy visible mines. The gun’s fire accuracy is so high that an experienced commander/operator can hit a mine fuze with one bullet or destroy a mine with a burst of three-five bullets.
The use of additional vehicle-mounted equipment — a treadway plow sweep complete with an electromagnetic attachment — enables the vehicle to plough off track mines planted in category I-IV soils and sweep mines planted in snow, as well as those equipped with rod-type and magnetic proximity fuzes.
The vehicles can operate at any time of the day and year and in any weather. All operations are performed by the commander/operator and the driver without leaving the vehicle. If required, the equipment can be operated by remote control. Thermoelectric microclimatic conditioners ensure required comfort and microclimate in the crew compartments.
Provision is made for a life-support kit enabling the crew to stay within the vehicle for two days. It contains food and water, water boiling and food warming appliances, as well as individual sanitary means.
The IMR-3 and the IMR-3M are the most advanced engineer support vehicles that are on a par with their foreign analogs. Their reliability, combined with high operation effectiveness in various terrain and climatic conditions, makes them indispensable for the armed forces of any country.
MINE-CLEARING ARMORED VEHICLES.Countermine warfare is one of the most acute problems facing many countries worldwide. One way to solve this problem is to use dedicated mine-clearing vehicles. In Russia, such vehicles are developed by the Ural Transport Engineering Design Bureau and built by the Uralvagonzavod Production Association.In recent years, two mine-clearing armored vehicles, designated BMR-3 and BMR-3M, have been developed and launched into production.
The vehicles were designed with a view to maximizing safety of the crew, mounted troops and internal equipment. The BMR-3 and BMR-3M are intended for route mine clearance while escorting troop columns. They provide for: - clearing of mines fitted with pressure-activated fuzes, bottom mines fitted with rod-type fuzes and mines with magnetic proximity fuzes; ploughing off track mines planted in category I-IV soils; - destruction of visible mines lying on the surface of soil or snow by fire of an enclosed air defense machine gun; - deactivation of radio-controlled mines.
The vehicle accommodates three sappers with personal weapons (assault rifles), mine detectors and cable for manual mine destruction. The vehicles can operate at any time of the day and year and in any weather.
The vehicles are equipped with various appliances and drives; communications, firefighting, blast and ABC protection means. Provision is made for an effective ventilation system to protect the crew and sappers from powder gases. Like the IMR-3 and IMR-3M obstacle clearing vehicles, the BMR-3 and BMR-3M are fitted with life-support equipment and microclimate conditioners (For more details see Military Parade, #2/2000).
MTU-72 TANK BRIDGELAYER The bridgelayer is intended to transport and lay a treadway bridge across 18m-wide obstacles (canals, rivers, ravines, etc.) for wheeled and tracked vehicles. If the bridgelayer set comprises two bridges, the bridgelayer is capable of laying a bridge across 30m-wide obstacles. The MTU-72 set consists of a bridge, power take-off assembly, transfer case, bridge transportation and laying facilities, outrigger-dozer and a hydraulic drive for special equipment. The vehicle is equipped with a 7.62mm RPKS light machine gun.
Special equipment comprises a mechanical transfer case with a drive for the hydraulic system pump, and facilities for transportation and laying of a single-span treadway bridge welded of aluminum alloy with a load-lifting capacity of 50 t. The bridge’s overall dimensions are: length - 20 m, interspan distance - 1 m, bridge roadway width - 3.3 m, length in traveling position - 11.64 m. The bridge deployment time (with the crew staying inside the vehicle) is 3 min in the daytime and 6 min at night.
The outrigger-dozer is used to ensure bridgelayer stability during bridge deployment and close-down, and self-entrenching. The time required for the outrigger-dozer to dig a trench in category I-IV soils is 30 min. The vehicle and the bridge can be transported separately by all means of transportation.
BREM-1 REPAIR AND RECOVERY ARMORED VEHICLE.The vehicle is intended to evacuate damaged battle tanks and other armored vehicles (including engineer support vehicles) from the battlefield, recover bogged-down tanks and other military vehicles and help their crews perform repair and maintenance in the field conditions. The vehicle is provided with the following equipment: a transfer case, tractive winch, auxiliary winch, load-lifting jib crane, spade-dozer, cargo platform, semi-rigid towbars, a hydraulic drive for special equipment, electric welding equipment, and jacks.
MODERNIZED BREM-1 REPAIR AND RECOVERY ARMORED VEHICLE The purpose, components and basic characteristics of the modernized vehicle are similar to those of the BREM-1 vehicle, except for: - the jib crane with a load-lifting capacity of 20 t (25 t when additionally equipped with pulley blocks) is provided with a jib whose span is 1 m longer than the standard one, which makes it possible to dismantle the turret in assembly (with the gun and its systems) from any battle tank; - the semi-rigid towbars are replaced with mechanized front and rear towing facilities allowing the vehicle to be coupled to a disabled vehicle and tow it with the crews staying inside the vehicles.
TBS-86 TANK-MOUNTED DOZER/SNOWPLOUGH.The dozer/snowplough is intended for bulldozing and snow-cleaning operations on troop movement routes, as well as for self-entrenching. The TBS-86 is a shovel with a built-in electrohydraulic drive, which is mounted on the hull bow of a Russian-made medium tank (special attachment brackets are welded to its hull). The electric power is supplied by the electrical power system of the tank. The vehicle can be used as a bulldozer or grader. All engineer support vehicles can be transported by railway and motor transport, river and sea-going vessels, as well as by air.
High performance and versatility of the above engineer support vehicles, combined with their relatively moderate prices, make them highly attractive to customers.
Ural Transport Engineering Design Bureau State Unitary Enterprise 38 Vostochnoye Shosse, Nizhni Tagil 622051, Russia Phone: (3435) 23-6493 Fax: (3435) 23-5474
This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on Oct 1, 2003 10:12 AM
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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October 3 2003, 10:56 AM
Russia to maintain military might.
Gazeta.Ru
Speaking at a meeting with top military brass, President Vladimir Putin focused on the nation’s defence potential and the further development of Russia’s armed forces. Addressing the gathering in Moscow, the head of the state said that Russia is able to modernize its ageing strategic arsenal, and on the basis of the Soviet-era reserve, maintain its military might for years.
The conference also examined a new national military doctrine outlining the potential threats to Russia’s security and setting tasks for the military.
On Thursday President Vladimir Putin attended a conference on reform and development of Russia’s armed forces held at the Defence Ministry. Addressing top military officials, Putin said Russia still possesses huge reserves of strategic missiles, which have not yet been on combat duty.
"I can tell you something that is already known to the Defence Minister, the chief of the General Staff and the commander of the Strategic Missile Troops, Russia possesses dozens of land-based heavy strategic missiles," he said.
Those missiles are what the West calls the SS-19 Stiletto missiles and the latest design, are “the most menacing”, Putin said. Built by Moscow's Khrunichev factory in the early 1980s, and designed to carry six nuclear warheads each, they have until now been stored in warehouses. "These missiles did not spend a single day on combat duty. Their service life is quite considerable, and their ability to penetrate any antimissile defence system is unparalleled," the president said.
At the same time, the Russian leader emphasized that Russia is willing to cooperate "with all states of the world, including our allies, in the very sensitive area of developing missile defence systems. The US president and I discussed this in detail at Camp David."
"We will carry out the modernization measures we have planned, in line with our national interests and developing world situation," the president stressed.
Touching upon the issue of army reform, Putin pledged, much to the joy of those present, that there would not be any further significant cuts to the armed forces. The reduction of Russia’s armed forces is on the whole complete, Putin said. "We are not planning any further significant reductions," he said.
The country's armed forces have been cut by more than half since 1992, Putin said. "That was a truly difficult and painful process. It was enough. That stage is largely over," he said. "The correlation between generals and the total personnel of the Russian armed forces has become much smaller than in the United States, the United Kingdom and France. I think that we now have a balanced composition of staff, which meets the requirements of defence," Putin said.
"Radical reforms that were vital at a certain stage have given way to long-term development and transformation that should result in increasing the army's potential," Putin said. Certain legislative amendments sent to the State Duma "will enable those who serve in our army for at least three years to obtain Russian citizenship in a streamlined procedure", Putin said.
We have to adopt an absolutely new system of mobilization training, the president said. "It should be adequate our current day requirements and also for new threats," he noted.The social security of servicemen should consist of growing salaries, insurance and mortgage loans, the president said.
In Putin’s opinion, the transition from national service to a 100% professional army will be completed by 2007.
“All the set parameters and deadlines must be strictly observed, and the formation of professional units at a permanent state of combat readiness must be completed by 2007," the president told the conference. He stressed that "the terms of mandatory army service should be reduced" at the same time.
"We took these decisions together with you, at your request," Putin said. He stressed that "the issue of attracting citizens of other countries to serve in the Russian army on a professional basis has been resolved". The president recalled that the relevant amendments had already been introduced to the legislation, enabling "those who have served in our army for at least three years to obtain Russian citizenship in accordance with a simplified procedure".
The conference also discussed the country’s new military doctrine, a document outlining potential threats to Russia's national security and setting tasks for the military. The document mentioned new, friendly ties with the United States and NATO, but noted that the alliance had failed to remove "anti-Russian components" from its military plans and political statements.
"If NATO is preserved as a military alliance with its existing offensive military doctrine, this will demand a radical reconstruction of Russian military planning and the principles of construction of the Russian armed forces, including changes in Russian nuclear strategy," the Defence Ministry said on Thursday.
Talking to the press after the conference the deputy chief of Russia, General Staff Baluyevsky, refused to elaborate on those changes, but voiced concern about NATO's "anti-Russian orientation" and what he vaguely described as the alliance's plans to "lower the threshold of using nuclear weapons."
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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October 14 2003, 10:35 AM
Militarization of Russia is Underway.
Pravda.Ru
Dmitry Chirkin
10/13/2003 16:41
A new military doctrine, compulsory military education at schools and compulsory periodic training of persons subject to the draft to come into effect
The RF State Duma approved the first reading of a bill on compulsory military training at schools and professional colleges, providing that students must also have compulsory periodical training. On Friday October 10, Russian deputies adopted amendments to the law "On military service and military duty" and the law "On education" which in their turn remove any contradictions that had existed between both documents.
In particularly, the law "On education" stipulates that military education at schools is possible only if approved by students themselves and their parents. At the same time, the law "On military service and military duty" stipulates for obligatory teaching of elementary knowledge about defense and for teaching the fundamentals of military service at schools and professional colleges. The law states that only additional educational programs on military training are voluntary. The amendment to the law adopted by Duma deputies makes clear that the clause concerning the law "On education" must be abolished and a new one referring to the law on military service must be introduced.
What is more, in the first reading the deputies adopted an amendment on periodical training in the framework of military education of students. It is expected that periodic military training will be conducted not for those who are leaving school, but for students in their penultimate year of studies. This will allow school leavers to devote more time to their finals.
Thus, Russian education is to be once again militarized as was during the Soviet era. In response to the harsh criticism of the project by several of the Duma factions, RF presidential spokesperson Alexander Kotenkov said that schools needed the compulsory military education. He added that the law might be adopted on condition that before the second reading in the Duma the clause on compulsory periodical military training must be removed from the law.
338 deputies voted for adoption of the law, 42 against it, with nobody abstaining. Now it is the turn of the Federation Council and the RF president to consider the document.
Chairman of the Duma Science and Education Committee, Yabloko deputy Alexander Shishlov says that with the approval the law of compulsory military education at schools, the Duma majority is pushing the society toward militarization.
Alexander Shishlov strongly objects to the law developed by the military. The deputy asks: "What do we want to have: militarization or high-tech society based on educational economics?" The Yabloko deputy insists that students and their parents must still have an alternative. "What the law "On education" says in this respect absolutely agrees with the RF Constitution, the legislation and common sense. There is no need to change the wording."
Alexander Shishlov suggests that if the RF Defense Ministry has spare money it would be wiser to spend it on realization of the military reform and on transition to a contract-based army. If the ministry does not need the money it should send it to schools for educational spending.
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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October 15 2003, 10:30 AM
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2003. Page 10
Leave Soviet-Era Training in Soviet Era.
Moscow Times
Editorial
Centrist and leftist factions in the State Duma seem to be determined to re-introduce so-called preliminary military training to Russian schools.
Last Friday, the Duma voted 338 to 42 in a first reading to revive this compulsory Soviet-era training for students in their final year of school. The bill was introduced by the Duma defense committee, which is chaired by General Andrei Nikolayev of People's Deputy, a pro-Kremlin faction.
Other pro-Kremlin centrists all but had to support the bill, especially after President Putin told teachers that such training "is not bad, it's necessary and useful'' -- comments that no doubt brought joy to the Defense Ministry, which continues to rely on teenage conscripts to fill the ranks of its armed forces.
It is also clear why the Communists and the Liberal Democratic Party voted for the bill: They long for the gigantic Soviet war machine. What is not clear, however, is if such training would enhance Russia's security.
Arguably, the Soviet armed forces benefited from the fact that every graduate knew or was supposed to know how to disassemble and assemble a Kalashnikov in less than a minute and duck for cover if stranded in open ground during a nuclear explosion.
After all, the Soviet military planners were preparing for an all-out war with NATO, envisioning both large-scale ground battles and nuclear strikes.
Post-Soviet Russia no longer faces the specter of a global war with the West, and its armed forces should be prepared to ward off different and more real threats, such as local conflicts and incursions by non-state actors.
Such warfare requires a lean but professional fighting force that can be deployed rapidly and, if necessary, reinforced by regularly trained reservists. It should be equipped with high-precision, all-weather weaponry and communications systems.
Only such a force and not a mass of Kalashnikov-toting teenage conscripts would allow Russia to deter and interdict the existing threats to its security with minimal loss of life and maximum efficiency.
Those teenagers who wish to become professional soldiers have plenty of military academies to choose from, whereas the others would be better off attending the survival course that replaced military training in schools.
Even if some commanders still see NATO as the gravest threat, teaching hundreds of thousands of teenagers to march and fire a Kalashnikov is not the answer. After all, virtually every male in Iraq knows how to handle a Kalashnikov, but neither the volunteers nor the Soviet-styled Iraqi armed forces proved able to stop the technologically superior and professional U.S.-led force.
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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October 22 2003, 3:33 PM
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2003. Page 3
Homeless Officers March on Moscow.
By Maria Danilova
Special to The Moscow Times
Marchers from the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Officers' Union walking in double file through Odintsovo on Tuesday. Igor Tabakov / MT
ODINTSOVO, Moscow Region -- In an attempt to attract public and government attention to the plight of homeless officers, about 50 military and law enforcement officers prepared to end their 400-kilometer march from Smolensk to Moscow by holding a rally in the Moscow region town of Odintsovo on Tuesday.
In the morning cold and rain, several dozen officers, escorted by a single police car and greeted by around 100 mostly elderly citizens, marched at Odintsovo sports stadium to the sounds of a military band. They carried placards that read, "I served long and hard, and I have nothing to show for it."
The march kicked off Oct. 8 in the World War II "Hero City" of Smolensk, 400 kilometers east of Moscow.
It reached Odintsovo after passing through a series of towns "where blood was shed by soldiers defending their motherland," said Andrei Oleynik, a member of the Moscow Region Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Officers' Trade Union, which helped organize the event. The marchers covered more than 20 kilometers a day and slept mostly in tents.
The officers are due to enter Moscow on Friday, and plan to lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and at the war memorial on Poklonnaya Gora before joining a three-day forum on officers' housing problems.
But Oleynik said the administration of Moscow's southern district, responsible for Poklonnaya Gora, has banned the participants from commemorating war heroes, while the marchers are still waiting for authorization to lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The forum's organizers expect State Duma deputies, presidential administration officials and delegates from legislatures and administrations of at least 60 Russian regions to attend.
Those marching represent around 174,000 officers' families, who, according to official statistics, are without a permanent home. The officers' trade union says the figure is around double official estimates.
One of the homeless officers marching is Sergei Pochernin, 39, a retired air force major who is now living in Moscow in a friend's garage.
"I served in the military, defending my motherland for 16 years," he said. "When I retired from the military in 1997, I returned the garrison apartment in Ulan-Ude in which I was living to the state. But I didn't get any housing as the law prescribes."
Pochernin said he and his wife then moved to Moscow, "because you can only find a job in the capital." He spent the next few years working as a real estate agent, and was forced to rent a flat because the state failed to provide him with a place to live. "We went through some hard times -- we had no registration, no permanent housing, and my wife left me for another Muscovite," Pochernin said bitterly.
In August Pochernin lost all his money and documents in a robbery and has been living in the garage ever since. "There is no one who I could turn to. That's what we are trying to convey with our march," he said.
Vladimir Vakhaniya, the head of the officers' trade union, said, "All too often this procedure [of waiting for housing] drags on for seven years or more."
A ceremony has been held in the central German town of Kassel, marking the 60th anniversary of an allied bombing raid that claimed more than 10,000 lives in a single night.
Dresden - Bodies are piled up for burning in the streets of Dresden after the 1945 firebombing. Many refugees died in the firestorm, after fleeing to Dresden to escape the fast-advancing Soviet forces. One man recorded in his diary in March: "Russian commandos are still busy burning charcoal corpses on huge pyres in the middle of town."
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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November 12 2003, 8:59 AM
A woman checking out a new Kalashnikov rifle on display at the International Exhibition of Special Police and Military Technology, or Interpolitekh-2003. The weeklong exhibition at the All-Russia Exhibition Center near the VDNKh metro station opened Tuesday. Igor Tabakov / MT
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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November 13 2003, 11:53 AM
13:04 2003-11-13
Russian Prime Minister on military-industrial sector's development.
The establishment of large integrated structures inside this country's military-industrial sector is an essential pre-condition of long-term sectoral development, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told a regular Cabinet session today. Among other things, this session examined the implementation of the federal target program for overhauling the military-industrial sector over the 2002-2006 period.
The establishment of large integrated structures is needed to concentrate production facilities and R&D divisions for the sake of accomplishing sectoral objectives, Kasyanov informed those present. Essential concentration is the defense industry's future, also constituting its salvation, the Prime Minister stressed.
At the same time, sectoral-reform measures are being implemented rather slowly, Kasyanov went on to say. Four large integrated structures were created over the last two years; meanwhile we intended to set up more than 40 such entities in line with the entire program. We are obviously unable to attain the program's goals on time, Kasyanov noted.
The program mostly aims to overhaul the military-industrial sector, which can and must accomplish military-development objectives, which were formulated by the President of the Russian Federation, also implementing army modernization programs and elevating our Armed Forces to an entirely new qualitative level, Kasyanov stressed.
We are witnessing positive movement, with national economic development and greater budgetary revenues making it possible to repay all debts being owed to sectoral enterprises in line with the state defense order; moreover, the volume of sectoral orders continues to increase by one-third each year, the Prime Minister told his audience.
In his words, this made it possible to improve sectoral development. The defense industry is getting additional investment, i.e. state investment, for the most part; meanwhile ample private investment opportunities exist, Kasyanov noted in conclusion.
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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November 18 2003, 9:41 AM
Putin thinks army should prepare for future threats.
RosBusinessConsulting. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003, 12:27 PM Moscow Time
The Armed Forces of Russia should be ready to ward off threats of the future but not to wage wars of the last century, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared at a conference of high-ranking officers of the Defense Ministry of Russia today. According to him, in order to cope with this task, the strategy and tactics of the army should be more flexible. The Armed Forces should accept everything modern and advanced, Putin underlined. The President of Russia added that the Defense Ministry should meet the deadline and form an army whose personnel will consist of volunteers by 50 percent in 2007. Consequently, this will allow a reduction in the term of military service for draftees to one year, beginning 2008.
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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November 18 2003, 9:45 AM
12:07 2003-11-18
Russian arms exporter to attend international exhibition in France.
Rosoboronexport's federal state-run integral enterprise is to attend the 13th MILIPOL PARIS - 2003 international domestic security exhibition, highlighting Russia's impressive export potential in the field of special systems and weaponry, as well as its intention to promote more actively such products to foreign markets and to enhance the international community's efforts for coping with international terrorism.
This was disclosed to RIA Novosti by a Rosoboronexport spokesperson here today before the exhibition opened in Le Bourget near Paris.
Those going to see our display will, doubtless, be interested in various products offered by Russia's Federal Intelligence Service (FSB), i.e. X-Ray television networks, tiny mikes and radio networks for transmitting TV signals, digital bugging equipment, as well as different explosive-device destroyers for anti-terrorist operations, RIA Novosti's source noted.
In his words, the potential of a super-light mobile and remote-controlled robot complex, which fits inside two cases, will be displayed abroad for the first time ever. This robot complex's audio and video systems are used to reconnoitre various facilities and territories, for locating and destroying homemade explosive devices, the Rosoboronexport spokesperson explained.
The Russian display features yet another innovation, i.e. technical systems for scanning mobile-phone numbers; these systems automatically intercept and register SMS messages and phone conversations.
Those visiting our display will admire firearms, special and hunting weapons being turned out by Russia's Izh-Mash concern, which ranks among the oldest national gun factories. Among other things, such weapons are used during combat operations, special operations and for maintaining law and order.
New modified versions of the world-famous Kalashnikov assault rifle, i.e. the AK-101, the AK-102, the AK-103 and the AK-104, two models of the Dragunov (SVD) sniper rifle, the Bison-2 submachine gun, as well as all kinds of hunting and sporting weapons, will also be displayed in Le Bourget.
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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November 19 2003, 1:53 PM
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003. Page 3
Putin Says Military Unready to Face Threats.
Moscow Times
By Lyuba Pronina
While President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday urged the military to be ready to face "tomorrow's threats," Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Russian forces are not sufficiently combat-ready and lack up-to-date hardware.
"The army has to be ready, if you please, to fend off tomorrow's threats and not the last century's wars," Putin said at a three-day meeting of the military's top brass that opened Tuesday in Moscow.
"The army's combat capability, strategy and tactics have to be flexible, receptive to everything that is new and advanced -- and have to be capable of changes and self-development," Interfax quoted Putin as saying.
Addressing the annual military conference, which pulled together some 500 top officers, Putin said they had to be more demanding in selecting professional service personnel and creating incentives for them.
"By the end of 2007, contract soldiers should make up almost half the military," Putin said, reiterating a policy promise. "That will also help us to reduce the draft term to one year."
According to published plans, the military plans to enlist 150,000 volunteers to man "high-readiness units" by the end of 2007.
Ivanov said that the number of servicemen had fallen by 30,000 this year, down to 1.13 million, Interfax reported.
"The most complicated structural changes of the Russian armed forces have been carried out and their quantity is close to being optimal," he said. "[Now we have] a real opportunity to focus on combat training and increasing combat readiness."
Putin praised the military for doubling the number of military exercises held this year and said the military's budget for 2004 would be increased. The draft defense budget now stands at 411 billion rubles ($13.5 million).
But Ivanov criticized the military's training record, saying the air force and navy were not 100 percent combat-ready, and accused top commanders of doing nothing to improve the situation.
Ivanov cited figures showing air force pilots flew just 12 to 44 hours a year, several times less than the regulation 160 to 180 hours. He said that pilot error was to blame for seven out of the eight aviation accidents this year, in which a total of 12 servicemen died.
The crashes included the first involving the Tu-160 bomber and MiG-31 interceptor aircraft.
Military equipment also came under fire, as Ivanov said less than 20 percent of weapons were up-to-date. "We must admit that we have failed to prevent our weapons arsenals from growing old," he said, insisting that only a gradual rearmament of high-readiness units was possible on the defense budget.
While Putin praised improved morale in the military, Ivanov said that a total of 337 servicemen had been killed in combat, or died in accidents, this year. About 35 percent of noncombat deaths in the military were suicides, he said.
Ivan Safranchuk, director of the Moscow office of the Washington-based Center for Defense Information, said that no big announcements were expected from the conference, since most funding and deployment issues were usually resolved behind the scenes.
He also noted that neither Putin, nor a recently released Defense Ministry report claiming the right to carry out preventive strikes against threats from abroad, had identified exactly what the likely threats were.
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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November 20 2003, 10:29 AM
11:53 2003-11-20
Mikhail Kalashnikov to speak at sub-machine guns exhibition in Netherlands.
The automatic weapons exhibition named "Kalashnikov - Weapon Without Borders" opens on Thursday in the old Dutch town of Delft, in the armed forces museum of the Netherlands.
The museum's keeper Mathieu Willemsen told RIA Novosti that 50 Kalashnikov assault rifles, from the first AK-47 model to the latest AK-74 modification will be exhibited.
The exhibition will last till May 2004 and will reflect the history of the creation of this kind of efficient small arms, which until recently was produced in dozens of countries.
According to various estimates, 70-100 million pieces of Kalashnikov assault rifles have been produced throughout the world since the 1950s. They have been depicted on the national emblems of several countries and ensured faultless firing in any climatic conditions. As distinct from western automatic rifles, simple Kalashnikov assault rifles could fire even after they were in water and dirt for months. There are well-known cases when the US soldiers used the trophy AK-47 instead of requisite weapons in Vietnam and Korea.
The idea to organize the exhibition was advanced by a Dutch weapons collector, a "fan of Kalashnikov," who collected several dozen of them. He handed over his collection to the museum and spoke about other collectors of this famous Soviet weapon.
A part of the exposition was presented by a small arms plant in the town of Sul, western Germany which manufactured them in the Cold War era. The patterns of the US, British and French sub-machine guns with which AK-47 competed for many years throughout the world will also be shown at the exhibition.
The designer of the assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov will speak at the opening ceremony.
Re: Russian Army, Military History, Battles and the Soviet Army.
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November 20 2003, 10:35 AM
Russian soldier is sick and hungry.
Pravda.Ru
11/19/2003 18:37
In Russia, the rights of soldiers serving their first year are constantly violated v they experience malnutrition and bad medical treatment, Human Rights Watch NGO stated in its report published on November 15.
"An average Russian soldier is sick and hungry", says Rachel Denber, interim executive director for Human Rights Watch department for Europe and Central Asia. "However, Russian legal system does not have means of solving this problem. Moreover, it does not see this problem at all".
On November 17, the UN Committee for economic, social and cultural rights examined if Russia observes the international pact which includes the right for feeding and high level of health care.
The issue of malnutrition in the Russian Army is covered in the 40-page document: "Sick Army: the Russian Army Malnutrition and Lack of Health Care Problems".
Feeding the men called up for military service is below the norms set by the Army itself which say that soldiers are supposed to have meat and green vegetables. First year soldiers receive food of low quality which are often spoiled or contain parasites.
The problem of young soldiers being intimidated can be seen at the soldiers' canteen: soldiers serving more than one year deprive the freshmen of the best food and make them eat in a hurry, not letting to feed themselves.
Being intimidated, young soldiers do not go to the doctor because of minor illnesses because it can cause conflicts with older soldiers. There are cases when young soldiers were beaten and harassed after going to the doctor. In some cases young soldiers' appeal for medical assistance is rejected by their commanders and even health care workers.
Malnutrition and lack of care about young soldiers' health often cause tragedies. In 2001 19-year-old soldier from Novokuznetsk Vyacheslav Turov after serving 3.5 months died of complications from two side lung inflammation. Shortly before his death the young soldier wrote his parents that he lost 7 kilograms of his weight because of malnutrition in several weeks. Malnutrition was called one of the causes of his death in the medical statement.
In military out-patients departments and even in the Army hospitals younger oldies are often harassed by the older ones. A case of young soldier suicide has been registered: the soldier was harassed for the whole night.
Because of all this, Human Rights Watch offers to establish the position of the person authorized for the human rights violation in the Russian Army. This was the initiative of Anna Heistat, director of the NGO Moscow office.
She said the report cited above cannot be called scientific because the number of the interviewed soldiers is small in comparison with the Russian Army scale. "We interviewed several hundred solders who were demobilized from 50 military units because of health problems. We understand that the number of the cases we have in our database does not allow us to define the exact percentage of them." She said Human Rights Watch researched this problem from 1999 to 2002.
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November 20 2003, 1:40 PM
A LOT OF PEOPLE ASK ME HOW I SLEEP - AK-47 Designer Mikhail Kalashnikov.
Detroit Free Press ^ | November 19, 2003 | Mark McDonald
IZHEVSK, Russia -- The first snow of the season was pelting his country cottage -- too cold and wet for hunting -- so the dapper little general had retreated to the warmth of his kitchen. There was a wheel of Camembert on the table, some dark bread and sliced pears, and a bottle of Armenian brandy. He swirled some of the brandy in a snifter and tried to explain about all the blood and tears of the past half-century.
"A lot of people ask me how I sleep, because of all the people who've been killed with my guns," said Mikhail Kalashnikov, 84, designer of the renowned AK47 assault rifle.
His light, inexpensive, virtually indestructible guns -- "they're like my children," he said recently -- long have been the weapons of choice for armies from Vietnam to China and from Angola to Cuba. They've also been used by terrorists, freedom fighters, guerrillas and gangsters.
The Kalashnikov has been the primary weapon -- often for both sides -- in most of the 40-odd wars of the past decade. Military historians say there are 100 million AKs in the world today.
"But it's not the designer's fault or the weapon's fault when terrible things happen; it's the politicians'," said Kalashnikov, a former major general. "It's because the politicians are unable to reach peaceful agreements. I must say I sleep quite soundly."
But what does he think about the ruthless Russian mafiosi who also use his AKs? What about the Chechen terrorists, the Taliban, the drug-addled boy-soldiers of Liberia and Sierra Leone?
"I'd much rather have invented a machine to make life easier for farmers and peasants -- something like a lawn mower," he said.
During the Vietnam War, many U.S. soldiers admired the enemy's lighter guns. They almost never jammed, even in wet, muddy or sandy conditions. They were easier to carry, clean and shoot.
"The AK is in some way 'the equalizer,' a tag attached to various firearms in the Wild West," said Max Boot, author of "The Savage Wars of Peace."
For all the gun's global success, the Russian military thinks it's finally found a new assault rifle for the 21st Century. It's called the AN94, nicknamed the Nikonov, after its designer.
"There's less recoil, so it's much more accurate," said Maxim Pyadushkin, a Russian military expert. "The Kalashnikov era is about to be over."
But the Russian military has been field-testing the Nikonov, and the reviews from paratroopers and commandos have been decidedly mixed. Also, since the Russian army is largely broke and can't afford 300,000 new guns, the Kalashnikov could well be around for another generation.
Concern for hedgehogs Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov is a snub-nosed pistol of a gentleman, with hair so silver it looks nickel-plated. Six decades of test firings have left him half-deaf, but he's got a ready smile, almost boyish, and a handshake that's just right.
The long-widowed general keeps a modest apartment on Soviet Street in downtown Izhevsk, a drab industrial city in central Russia, and he has a tidy lakeside cottage just outside of town.
His latest inventions include a new kind of hidden lock for his tool shed, a simple but deadly contraption for killing moles in his garden, a collapsible canvas boat, a portable grill he takes on fishing trips and a new shelter for the hedgehogs.
"I really worry about the hedgehogs in the winter," he said earnestly.
Izhevsk has long been the center of Russian small-arms making.
Kalashnikov still heads the team of small-arms designers at the Izhmash weapons complex, though the government-owned factory makes few military weapons these days. The plant is trying to finance itself by making hunting rifles, burglar alarms and a tinny $3,000 car called the Oda.
Very few AK47s actually were made. The original gun -- the name is an abbreviation of Automatic Kalashnikov 1947 -- was designed that year and went into production in '49. It was soon tweaked and became the AKM. The M stands for modernized.
There have been subsequent modifications; the current AK100 series can carry grenade launchers and night sights. Also, in a nod to real commerce and realpolitik, the AK101 has been designed to fire the 5.56mm NATO cartridge. So, East meets West.
Kalashnikov clothes for kids Kalashnikov's relations with Izhmash managers have become strained. They refuse to make a hunting rifle he's designed, and they're unhappy about his family's demands for compensation.
The company owns the patent on the Kalashnikov designs, and its designer has never received a single ruble in royalties.
"People say to me, 'Aren't you angry that you're not a millionaire? In the West, you'd be rich,' " said the former major general.
"But why do people always render things in terms of dollars? I was decorated by our leaders. And what other designer has a monument to him? Who has a museum built in his name while he's still alive? Aren't these things of value, too?"
Finally, though, there's some real money in his bank account: His grandson, a budding MBA, recently struck a deal to put the Kalashnikov name on a new line of everyday products.
The first items: a German-made pocketknife and a Swiss-made military-style watch. On the drawing boards: an umbrella, clothes for children and hunters, and a vodka.
"AK 47, the very best they is. When you absolutely positively got to kill every muthafucka in the room, accept no substitute....."
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December 1 2003, 1:06 PM
Russian wonder machine.
Pravda.Ru
12/01/2003 12:30
Armored military vehicle able to swim and use the parachute has been constructed in Russia.
Tests of new military machine model began recently near Russian city of Volgograd. It is the only multi-functional armored vehicle in Russia called "Rakushka". It was constructed by Volgograde Machine-Building company specialists. Representative of state enterprise "Rosoboronexport" Yuri Yasko said in an interview to RIA Novosti news agency that the armored vehicle was designated for parachute troops, but it is definitely going to be used by the Marines and ground forces as well. The vehicle is a renovated version of BMD-3 machine currently used by Russian military. It is used for transporting military personnel, weapons, fuel and wounded soldiers.
The vehicle is able to swim and land from the flying plane with the parachute or with the help of its own engine, reported a representative of Rosoboronexport company.
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December 1 2003, 1:13 PM
Russia: From Village Boy to Soldier, Martyr and, Many Say, Saint.
The New York Times ^ | November 21, 2003 | SETH MYDANS
KURILOVO, Russia — Shoulders back, chest out, the young soldier stands as if on parade in his camouflage fatigues — his boots polished, his rifle at his shoulder, a halo around his head.
His face is the blank mask of a man for whom duty is life. It is not easy being a soldier, or a saint.
Portraits of this young man, Yevgeny Rodionov, are spreading around Russia — sometimes in uniform, sometimes in a robe, sometimes armed, sometimes holding a cross, but always with his halo.
He is Russia's new unofficial saint, a casualty of the war in Chechnya who has been canonized not by the Russian Orthodox Church but by a groundswell of popular adoration.
The portraits are religious icons, venerated in homes and churches where Private Rodionov has become the focus of a minor cult that seems to fill a nationalist hunger for popular heroes.
In one icon he is painted to look like a medieval Russian knight. In another he is included, in full uniform, in a group portrait of the last czar and his family, under the gaze of Jesus.
Church officials say all of this breaks religious law. Sainthood is not a popularity contest, and icons are not campaign posters. The process of canonization, the officials say, is long and arduous and can only be carried out by the church.
But it does happen from time to time that a symbolic figure emerges to capture the passions of a moment and becomes a sort of folk saint — sometimes the first step toward official sainthood.
In pamphlets, songs and poems, in sermons and on Web sites, Private Rodionov's story has become a parable of religious devotion and Russian nationalism. The young soldier, it is said, was killed by Muslim rebels seven years ago because he refused to renounce his religion or remove the small silver cross he kept around his neck.
It is the story his mother says she was told by the rebels who killed him and who later led her, for a ransom of $4,000, to the place they had buried him. When she exhumed his body late one night, she said, the cross was there among his bones, glinting in the light of flashlights, stained with small drops of blood.
"Nineteen-year-old Yevgeny Rodionov went through unthinkable suffering," reads an encomium on one nationalist Web site, "but he did not renounce the Orthodox faith but confirmed it with his martyr's death.
"He proved that now, after so many decades of raging atheism, after so many years of unrestrained nihilism, Russia is capable, as in earlier times, of giving birth to a martyr for Christ, which means it is unconquerable."
As his story has spread, pilgrims have begun appearing in this small village just west of Moscow, where his mother, Lyubov, 51, tends his grave on an icy hillside beside an old whitewashed church.
Some military veterans have laid their medals by his graveside in a gesture of homage. People in distress have left handwritten notes asking for his intercession.
In a church near St. Petersburg, his full-length image stands at the altar beside icons of the Virgin Mary, the Archangel Michael, Jesus and Nicholas II, the last of the czars, who was canonized three years ago.
Aleksandr Makeyev, a paratroop officer who heads a foundation to assist soldiers, said he had seen soldiers kneeling in prayer before an image of Private Rodionov. "The kids in Chechnya, they feel they've been abandoned by the state and abandoned by their commanders," he told the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets.
"They don't know who to appeal to for help, but they understand that Zhenya is one of them," he said, using Private Rodionov's nickname. "You can say he is the first soldier-saint."
Among the photographs of her son that Mrs. Rodionov spreads on her kitchen table are laminated cards that she says some soldiers carry with them for luck. They bear his image along with a prayer:
"Thy martyr, Yevgeny, O Lord, in his sufferings has received an incorruptible crown from thee, our God, for having thy strength he has brought down his torturers, has defeated the powerless insolence of demons. Through his prayers save our souls."
Although he has not been formally canonized, Private Rodionov's mother and other believers say his icons sometimes emit rivulets of holy perfume, as some extremely sacred Orthodox icons are said to do.
Indeed, Mrs. Rodionov said, her own icon of her son drips perfume. "When that happens and I am planning a trip, I postpone it," she said. "The icon gives me signs."
Mrs. Rodionov said she was able to find her son's body and learn how he died during a lull in the war when rebel soldiers were demanding huge sums of money to return live prisoners or the bodies of men they had killed.
According to the accounts of his captors, she said, he and three other soldiers were seized in 1996 while manning a checkpoint and were held in a cellar for 100 days before they were executed.
Private Rodionov was killed, she said, when he refused the rebels' demand that he remove his cross and forswear his religion.
A poem called "The Cross," composed in his honor, paints a scene of laughing heathens who beheaded the young soldier when he defied them.
"Pure mountains in the distance, slopes covered in blooms of blue," the poem reads. "Refusing to renounce Christ, the soldier of Russia fell. And his head rolled, blood flowed from the saber, and the red grass whispered a quiet prayer in its wake."
Private Rodionov was proud to wear his military uniform and to do his duty for his country, his mother said.
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December 11 2003, 1:43 PM
Americans Recognize the Russian Sanctity.
Pravda.Ru
Sergey Stefanov
12/09/2003 16:12
American press writes about victims of the Chechen war and tells about real Russian heroes.
On November 21, The New York Times published an article by the newspaper observer Seth Maidens dedicated to Russian soldier Yeugeny Rodionov. Chechen guerrillas tormented the Russian soldier to death during the Chechen war. The publication says that portraits of the young soldier are circulated about Russia. In the pictures, the young soldier stands with his shoulders straightened; the uniform is as perfect as if dressed for a parade, his boots shine and a halo is shining around his head. The face of Yeugeny Rodionov has the look of a man who respects his duty above all. It is not easy to be a soldier and a saint, The New York Times says. In some pictures the soldier is dressed in the regular uniform, but in others he stands in vestments with the cross in the hands. There is always a halo around his head.
The image of the Russian soldier is depicted in one of the churches close to St.Petersburg, together with the icons of the Blessed Virgin, Archangel Michael, Jesus and Nicolas II, the last Russian tsar who was canonized three years ago. The American newspaper says the soldier is a new unofficial saint in Russia, a victim of the Chechnya war canonized by the people's worshipping. A publication of this kind is typical of the Russian patriotic press, not an American newspaper at all.
The publication certainly contains trite statements that are traditional for western mass media such as "Russian nationalism, nationalist attitudes, Moslem rebels (about Chechens)". However, let us omit these hackneyed phrases in this particular case because in general the narration on this important subject is respectful indeed. The publication contains a number of quotations and real facts and no wheeze that is traditional for foreign publication on the issue. This is the reason why the translation of The New York Times publication soon appeared on Russia's Orthodox websites.
The American author supplies his narration with the words of the soldier's mother, of a paratrooper officer and the Russian Church high authority. On the reverse side of the pictures with the image of the Russian soldier circulated about the country there is a prayer. The words of the prayer are also published in the article. Many soldiers in this country carry pictures of the martyr with the words of the prayer and hope to remain alive in action.
This is good that thanks to the truthful publication in the US press average Americans may have a clear notion of the events that are happening in Russia. Although the tragic atmosphere of the Chechen war that has been raging on the Russian territory for several years is not quite understandable for Americans, the publication does reveal the actual state of things in the Chechen republic.
Chechen guerrillas killed Yeugeny Rodionov in the Chechen settlement of Bamut on May 23, 1996, on the day when the Orthodox Russia celebrates the Ascension Day. On that very day the Russian soldier turned 19.
Yeugeny's mother was on her way to the settlement where the son was to be executed, just seven kilometers away from the place. The death is even more tragic because Russian troops occupied the settlement of Bamut the next day after Yeugeny was executed.
This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on Dec 11, 2003 1:44 PM
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December 15 2003, 11:49 AM
Russia calls on the Cossacks to ride again.
Telegraph ^ | 14/12/2003
As a wave of terror attacks sweeps the country, Russia's warrior caste, the Cossacks, are reviving their role as guardians of the south, reports Tom Parfitt in Moscow
Eyes ablaze, Oleg Tishenko runs a finger down the pitted blade of a 19th-century sabre.
"We are ready to fulfil our historic duty," he says, making a slash through the air. "We have never been afraid of anyone. It is genetically impossible for a Cossack to experience fear. We must protect the borders of the motherland."
Here on Russia's fringe in the Caucasus, a rebirth is taking place. Under threat from Chechen terrorists, Russia has called on its "untamed horsemen" - the Cossacks - to resurrect their historic role as defenders of its southern frontier.
Once members of the most feared fighting force in the world, the Cossacks' very survival was threatened after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Many sided with the White Army and were driven into exile. Suppressed in the Soviet era, they quietly began a revival in the early 1990s.
Now, worried by the rising number of terrorist strikes near Chechnya, President Vladimir Putin is backing a new law that will formalise the Cossacks' security role.
Last week, the interior ministry drafted more than 3,000 Cossacks to maintain security during parliamentary elections in Stavropol, which borders Chechnya. It followed the suicide bombing of a train in the region, in which 44 people were killed, two days before the poll. A second explosion in Moscow on Tuesday left six dead.
The armed Cossacks, these days riding in Lada cars with blacked-out windows rather than on white chargers, patrolled streets, polling booths and railway stations. For many, their presence was a welcome boost to Russia's hapless police force, the "militsiya" - although some ethnic minority groups were nervous of the roaming units.
There are more than 600,000 registered Cossacks in Russia, many descendants of the mustachioed warriors of the Steppes who lived for centuries in semi-autonomous clans between the Black and Caspian seas. They have preserved a fierce pride in their fighting prowess and strong Orthodox faith.
About 20,000 serve in the armed forces, but thousands more are members of loosely defined defence units and volunteer patrols. "What we need is official status," said Mr Tishenko, 38, a sotnik (lieutenant) who lives at Novopavlovsk, a small town 900 miles south of Moscow. "That would bring us funding, pensions and support for our families."
The government is backing his calls. Boris Gryzlov, the interior minister, announced last month that new legislation to strengthen the Cossacks' security role would be pushed through the State Duma by autumn next year. "The potential of Cossacks who have always served Russia faithfully must be fully used by the state," he said.
Mr Tishenko's sabre, or shashka, is a museum piece, but the town's Cossack headquarters is geared up for active service. The Cossack community is setting up a security firm and patrols its land on horseback.
Chechnya, from where militants launch terrorist attacks on the rest of Russia, is just a few miles down the road. "The authorities need more vigilance to catch the Chechen infiltrators," said Mr Tishenko. "We can provide that."
Further north in Mineralniye Vodi, ataman (chieftain) Oleg Gubenko greets visitors at a desk surrounded by Orthodox icons and a portrait of Tsar Nicholas I. Mr Gubenko, a descendant of the legendary Zaporozhian Cossacks who wrote a mocking letter to the Turkish Sultan in the 17th century calling him "a swine's snout and a mare's backside", was one of a few elite troops drafted into a new Cossack battalion in the Russian Army in 1996.
The battalion lasted only a few months after a fierce but controversial campaign in Chechnya. "That was a high point for us," said Mr Gubenko, 36. He dismissed suggestions that creating purely Cossack units could inflame tensions among the patchwork of Russia's Caucasian nations, many of them Muslims.
"Chechens, Dagestanis, Ingush, Cherkessians - we've lived with them all and absorbed their traditions. We respect the mountain peoples and they respect us."
Others remain sceptical that the Cossacks can suppress the fondness for pogroms and drunken rampages that led Napoleon to call them "a disgrace to the human species". During the first international Cossack congress in Novocherkassk earlier this year, for example, one angry ataman branded immigrants in southern Russia "weeds and locusts", saying it was necessary "to jump in and scare them a bit".
Yet at the Cossack Cadet School in Stavropol, new recruits are taught to be patriotic, not racist. Founded last year, the school has 600 pupils - almost 200 of them girls - aged 11 to 17.
Under glowering portraits of Russia's famous generals, the pupils, all Cossacks, learn the history of their ancestors.
"We have a tradition of protecting the motherland," said Aleksei Milaslavskiy, 16. "Whatever the country asks of us, we must do it."
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January 21 2004, 10:29 AM
Russian Army: reform has finished, reforming has started.
Pravda.Ru
Yegor Belous
01/19/2004 17:45
According to some experts, after the Presidential elections Sergey Ivanov is likely to be appointed Deputy Prime Minister in charge of military, law enforcement authorities and special services.
"The period of fundamental reforming Russian Army and its structural reconstruction has been completed. Time came for ordinary military training, work and regimentation", Russian Minister of Defense Igor Ivanov said at the meeting with the commanders of Siberian Military District. Ivanov dwelt on the task of establishing more close coordination between all the components of the national defense system, RIA Novosti information agency reports.
"According to the President"s decree, for this purpose the Ministry of Defense is authorized to supervise (via its General Staff) the development of the Army and its military units, plan their use and control the use of military force", the Minister said. According to Sergey Ivanov, the number of Russian troops has reached the level of the defense self-sufficiency which is equal to the amount about one million people.
In addition, fundamental changes are taking place in the system of the Army recruiting, Sergey Ivanov said. "We started active practicing contract principle of recruiting soldiers and officers".
As the example the Minister mentioned that this year the practical experiment on recruiting soldiers and sergeants to Airborne Division 76 on the contract basis. "From now on, Russia has efficient military unit on constant alertness and working on contract basis", Russian Minister of Defense said.
The friend of the President appointed the Minister of Defense was able to conduct Army reform quickly - officially it finished last year and resulted in one more reducing the number of troops up to 1.2 million people, introducing the contract system of recruiting soldiers and sergeants and new structural changes for the military command. According to Ivanov, the "reform" has been completed, but he said about the start of the new period of "regimentation", that is more radical Army reforming: conducting modernization of weapons and military equipment, further improving the structure of Army command, preparing new Army regulations etc. This all is of critical importance for the Army. The merit of Ivanov is the ability not only to accept obligations, but also to fulfill them under the conditions of the lack of finance the Russian Army is experiencing.
According to some experts, after the Presidential elections Sergey Ivanov is likely to be appointed Deputy Prime Minister in charge of military, law enforcement authorities and special services. Ivanov is going to chair the meeting of the leaders of Siberian Federal District (not Siberian Military District) in the city of Omsk, and probably this will be the start of the Defense Minister adjusting to his future appointment. As a rule, such meetings are chaired by at least the President Plenipotentiary Representative, or even by the Prime Minister or the President himself.
Ivanov expresses philosophical attitude to the rumors of his possible promotion. At the recent meeting with mass media on the eve of Press Day the question about the possibility of promotion was asked to Ivanov. The Minister replied that he is "the kind of person who got used to completing everything he undertakes", and that he "would like to see real results of his work". He is going to stay in the position of the Minister of Defense "at least until 2008". Answering the provocative question if he is going to be President Putin"s successor (a certain foreteller allegedly made the prognosis that the person by name Ivanov will be the new President of Russia), the Minister of Defense said with a smile that "according to the theory of probability, this will happen one day".
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January 26 2004, 10:17 AM
Soviet Army fought UFOs.
anomalia.narod.ru
Alexander Dremin
01/23/2004 14:47
Soviet military encountered many UFOs, maybe for this reason in the end of the 60s a secret laboratory of researching "flying objects" was created in the USSR.
UFO researchers often blame the military of hiding the cases of alien rockets and disseminating false information of UFO. Army officers are not interested in the disputes about alien civilizations, they are interested in knowing what impact UFO can impose to military equipment and personnel.
1947. Antiaircraft guns of Transcaucasian Military District fired on the flying cigar-shaped object which came from the side of the Turkish border. The object"s flying altitude was below 4,000 meters, and the guns were capable of reaching a target at the altitudes up to 12,000 meters, but that time the fire made no harm to the "cigar". Then the cigar increased its speed and flew away over the mountains.
This incident could cause much trouble, because earlier the border guards and military ships monitoring service missed this target. Then the military was unable to trace this flying object over the country"s territory. The Border District command ignored and ordered the monitors not to disclose the information that the object reached a speed up to 2000 kilometers per hour.
Similar case took place in 1984 in Turkestan Military District. Near the city of Astrakhan air-defense system marked the ball-shaped object flying at the altitude of 2000 meters along the Caspian seashore in the direction of the state border. The object did not respond to the inquiry made by the military on the radio. Two fighter-planes took off, but they were unable to bring the object down. After being under fire, the object descended up to 100 meters, and at this low altitude the planes were unable to continue firing. Despite being fired at, the object was having a regular speed. The ball passed over several military units, which allowed to make its photo. Near the city of Krasnoyarsk the military tried to bring the object down with the helicopter. However, it quickly increased its altitude so that the helicopter could not reach it. After firing all its supply of shells, the helicopter landed, and the ball abruptly flew in the direction of the sea and disappeared from the radar screens.
In the same area the similar scenario case happened later. The object having the shape of cylinder demonstrated its invulnerability. Such a demonstration could be the purpose of its flight, because this UFO was having a speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
One can blame the military of inhuman actions on bringing down flying objects. But what can they do if the object was moving in the direction of the state border and they had the order to destroy such objects?
In 1985 near the town of Krasnovodsk the radar station under the command of Captain Valuev registered the disc-shaped object in size of 1,000 meters! The object was immovable, and some time later a small disc in size of 5 meters flew out of it and then landed on Krasnovodskaya spit. Patrol boats rushed to that area, but when they reached the distance of 100 meters from the object, it took off and flew one kilometer away. This happened five times. Then the object flew up at a huge speed, reached the bigger disc, which finally flew away spaceward.
In the end of the 60s a secret laboratory of researching "flying objects" was created in the USSR. Among the laboratory"s tasks was researching anti-gravitation, but the research results were made secret. Its testing area was near the town of Kapustin Yar on purpose. In the end of June of 1971 the military could see over this area a black cigar-shaped flying object floating under the clouds at the altitude of 800 meters. The object was 25 meters long and had about 3 meters in diameter. It had neither stabilizers nor wings nor engines and was moving at the speed of 150 kilometers per hour producing no noise.
In 1978 ÖÍÄÑ Soviet Ministry of Defense accepted Network MO program. Special military unit in the town of Mytishi was in charge of collecting data, and newly established "space troops" were designated to fight possible threat from space.
In the beginning of August 1987 five soldiers of Leningrad Military District went to the North of Karelia region on a special mission. They were required to guard the object of unknown origin. It was found on the territory of another military unit near the town of Vyborg. The item was 14 meters long, 4 meters wide, 2.5 meters high. The object had neither doors no hatches, and all attempts to open its hull were unsuccessful. The military tried to break off some object parts, but were only able to take some rods from its stern. In the end of September the object disappeared from the hangar without leaving a trace.
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January 30 2004, 12:59 PM
"Secret Russian weapons" still terrify Americans.
Vlasti.net
01/29/2004 21:45
These missiles terrify Americans, and US lobbyists do their best to force Russia to destroy these weapons.
SS-18 Missile (Satan).
Having Satan missile, Russia may not be afraid of the US withdrawal from the Anti-Missile Treaty and anti-missile systems.
This missile has Multiple Independently - Targetable Reentry Vehicle and is still invulnerable for anti-missile systems. SS-18 missile bears 16 platforms, one of them contains false targets system. After reaching high orbit, all missile heads become hidden in the cloud of false targets and therefore invulnerable for radars.
The missile heads are armored with the use of extremely dense and heavy metal Uranium-239. Such an armory cannot be burnt by laser in foreseeable future.
UP-100N Missile.
Originally this missile complex had good technical and tactical capacities, yet there were some drawbacks in it. Big teams of designers started working on its improvement in 1977, and in 1979 many its systems were refined.
The new missile had more reliable engine, operating control system and more powerful military equipping. The flight distance became longer. Operating the missile became easier along with improving its protecting system from nuclear explosion. The missile is remarkable for its simple design and high degree of its systems reliability.
Topol M Complex.
In 1995 first information appeared about new Topol-M missile complex and its adding to the Russian armory arsenal. It underwent testing at that time.
The first four launchings were of success, and this allowed Russian Ministry of Defense to speed up checking the complex military capacities. The Ministry accepted the complex for the Missile Strategic Troops on December 25, 1997.
Taman Missile Division in Samara region received the first two intercontinental Topol-M shaft complexes (SS-X27 by the NATO classification).
Heavy Missile with Laser Pointing.
S-25-0 missile is 3307 millimeters long and weights 381 kilograms. Its charge weights 150 kilograms and is equipped with a radio fuse exploding the charge at the height from 5 to 20 meters depending on the preliminary fuse set-up. Up to 10 thousand fragments were created by the missile explosion.
Air MA-31 Target Pointing System.
MA-31 is capable of reaching the target within 130 kilometers. Its cruising altitude ranges is from 100 up to 15,000 meters. The flight route is inserted in the system computer. In the march sector the missile can reach the speed of 750 meters per second. The system is equipped with a combined direct-flow air rocket engine.
X-55 Cruise Rocket.
It is capable to hit stationary targets with high degree of precision. TU-95MC bomber can carry up to six X-55 missiles. Supersonic TU-160 can carry 12 long-range missiles with extra tanks. After the USSR collapse most of such missiles remained outside Russia, in Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Yakhont (Ruby) Supersonic Missile - one of the best in the world.
The main advantage of the missiles of this class is supersonic cruising speed making the missile invulnerable for air-defense. The missile has navigation system and self-pointing head and is capable to hit with its 200-300 kilogram war-head modern military ship of cruiser class at the distance up to 300 kilometers. Several such missiles can destroy aircraft carrier.Í 300 ÉË. ÞÁÕÞÌÍßÅÆ.
Burya (Storm) Cruise Missile.
This missile was designed according the aircraft scheme with triangular wing and thin jet profile. The missile body is cylinder-shaped and narrowed from the front and behind, the missile is equipped with direct-flow air rocket (SPVRD) RD-012 engine.
Granite Sea Based Cruise Missile.
To solve Russian Navy"s critical problem of fighting aircraft carriers, commanders of Soviet and Russian fleet used anti-ship cruise missiles. The methods for fighting aircraft carriers are being developed and trained by special naval operations of Russian Northern and Pacific Fleets.
X-35 Missile.
Penetrating splinter, high explosive incendiary part of the missile allows to hit above-water ships having tonnage up to 500 tons. Military effectiveness of the missile is increased by flying at extremely low altitudes (3-5 meters depending on the wave height). This makes the interception of the rocket by means of ship anti-missile devices more difficult. When launched, the missile carrier does not enter the zone of air-defense of the ship under attack. It is launched from the altitude from 200 up to 5000 meters.
R-77 Missile.
This is a modified missile of the "Air-to-Air" class. Contemporary Russian MiG-31M fighter planes have this missile.
X-29T Missile.
X-29T missile is designated for hitting visually seen ground and above-water targets such as reinforced concrete covers, stationary railway and highway bridges, industrial constructions, depots, ships.
Club Missile-Torpedo.
Club system is produced by Novator designing bureau in the city of Ekaterinburg. It is installed in submarines for hitting ships. It can pass the distance up to 300 kilometers and launched from stationary torpedo device having 0.533 meters in diameter. The cruising altitude is 20 meters above the sea level. By developing this complex, Russian designers founded a counterbalance to contemporary foreign missile complexes, such as Asrok, Milas and Otomat.
Tochka (Dot) Missile.
This SS-21 intermediate-range ballistic missile is capable of bearing nuclear warhead. It can pass average distances and bears 125 kilograms of explosives.
R-33 Missile.
This missile is designated for intercepting and hitting flying devices of various types, including low altitude cruise missiles, at the distances over 100 kilometers, in the daytime and at night, under various weather conditions, at big range of targets altitude and speed.
R-27 Missile.
R-27 intermediate range ballistic missiles are designated for intercepting and destroying aircrafts of all types and cruise missiles at long and average distances.
X-59 Ovod-ë Missile.
X-59M missile is designated for hitting small ground and above-sea targets (in parking areas and sea ports) of known location, which were visually discovered by plane operator. The missile is known as AS-18 "Kazoo" in the West.
Mosquito Missile.
This recently developed Russian missile is invisible for enemy air-defense devices and designated for hitting ships. The missile has extremely high precision degree, it annihilates itself in case of deviating from the target. This is the most modern anti-ship weapon.
Vikhr (Hurricane) Complex.
This complex is capable of effective destroying both the ground targets and flying objects having speed up to 800 kilometers per hour. High supersonic speed of the missile contributes to invulnerability of the attacking helicopter carrying it and allows to hit several targets at one attempt. The missile passes the distance of 4 kilometers in 9 seconds. The US most powerful helicopter anti-tank FGN-114K Hellfire rocket passes this distance in 15 seconds and has no supersonic speed.
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February 5 2004, 2:02 PM
14:19 2004-02-04
Russia shows modernized T-72 and world's best T-90s tanks in India.
The 3rd international land and naval systems exhibition Defexpo India 2004 opened in Delhi (India) on Wednesday. Russia shows there a fire control system with which it participates in the tender for the modernization of the T-72 tank, the main combat tank of the Indian army. A representative of the press service of the federal state unitary enterprise Rosoboronexport said this to RIA Novosti.
"The fire power of the tank in many respects depends on the fire control system based on the day and night multichannel heat vision sight, while the former gunner sight is being used in the modernized machine as a duplication sight," a representative of the enterprise said.
At the present time, Rosobornexport takes part in the tender for the modernization of T-72M1 tanks, with which the Indian land forces are equipped. Hundreds of such tanks were manufactured by license in the Avadi-based plant.
In addition, Russia shows its modern T-90S tank, which is the best in its class and, certainly will attract great attention of specialists," stressed a Rosobornexport representative.
Experts believe that the technological base of the T-72M1 combat tanks production and that of T-90 tanks are practically identical which makes it possible to begin the modernization of T-72M1 tanks without additional means to be attracted.
"This circumstance is an unconditional advantage of the Russian proposal since all other proposals for the modernization of the Indian tanks will require investments to re-equip the technological line for the production of armoured machines in Avadi, a Rosoboronexport spokesman pointed out.
He also said that if India chooses the Russian modernization variant this will allow to increase the degree of unification of the tank park and create a single system of preparing the crews, troops servicing and equipment repairs.
A BRITISH-based company is selling MP3 players which can be attached to an assault rifle.
The "AK-MP3" player is built into the ammunition clip of a Kalashnikov and can be swapped with the real magazine.
The device is being advertised on the internet by a Buckinghamshire-based company set up by a group of Russian businessmen who sell audio books.
It comes with enough storage space to hold 3000 audio books or 9000 songs.
Former Russian rock star Andrey Koltakov, a partner in the dotcom company offering the AK-MP3 for sale, said: "This is our bit for world peace - hopefully, from now on many militants and terrorists will use their AK-47s to listen to music and audio books."
The accessory costs $480 or $965 with hundreds of audio books loaded on to it.
Those marketing it say the stainless steel body makes it "uniquely suitable for outdoors".
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February 23 2004, 12:16 PM
17:50 2004-02-21
Russian army numbers 1.132 million at beginning of 2004.
On January 1, 2004 Russia had a total of 1.132 million soldiers. The Defense Ministry press service told Rosbalt that the number 'corresponded to the optimal level of defense and permits talk of completing more complicated and large scale operations in the army and navy.' In 2004 the army is beginning its transition toward using more contract soldiers. 15.7 thousand contract soldiers will be selected this year at a cost of USD 343 million. By 2008, 147 thousand army soldiers will be volunteers.
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April 30 2004, 12:28 PM
RUSSIA DEVELOPS NEW S-300 MISSILE.
IMRA ^ | April 28, 2004 | MENL
MOSCOW [MENL] -- Russia has developed an anti-missile interceptor for marketing to Middle East clients.
Officials said Russia's defense industry has sought to develop a new interceptor for an advanced S-300 anti-aircraft system. The interceptor would allow the S-300 to provide missile as well as air defense.
The development program is meant to market the new system to users of the S-300. Greece has procured the S-300 while Iran and Syria have expressed interest in purchasing the long-range anti-aircraft system.
Air Marshal Vladimir Mikhailov, commander of the Russian Air Force, said Moscow has been developing a new missile to add missile defense capabilities for the S-300. He said Russian engineers are developing what he termed an extended-range interceptor in the S-300 marketed to militaries in the Middle East and Asia.
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May 3 2004, 2:25 PM
Nationalistic conflicts in Russian Army.
Pravda.Ru
04/29/2004 19:41
Military unit located in city Samara is in the midst of a scandal: two soldiers could not tolerate their being harassed by the fellow-soldiers from Caucasian republics Ingushetia and Dagestan, and complained to the Office of Military Public Prosecutor.
They complained at being beaten and extorted.
Soldiers from the republics of North Caucasus region established a sort of a friendly association of people from same area in the military unit. They beat Russians and representatives of other nations and demanded money, the harassment applied not only to soldiers, but also to junior commanders and even to some officers.
Here are some quotes from soldier Stanislav Andreev"s claim,
"Some representatives of Dagestan and Ingush diasporas which constitutes about 50 percent of the entire unit personnel, constantly humiliate my and other soldier"s human dignity. The officers are prejudiced about Russian soldiers, they harass Russians if they commit minor wrongdoings. Meanwhile, the officers favor Dagestanians and Ingushs and do not punish them for wrongdoings. Dagestanians and Ingushs disrespect officers and curse at them. The diasporas soldiers listen to anti-Russian songs of Chechen singer Mussaraev who glorifies terrorists.
Soldier Andreev wrote that the Russian soldiers were used as servants and Dagestanians threatened to rape them and cursed them and their parents.
Russians leaving the barracks were ordered to bring some money, those who did not bring money were beaten.
In December 2003 several Ingush and Dagestanian soldiers tried to beat deputy regiment commander mayor Leonov.
According to the Gazeta, Samara Office of Military Public Prosecutor started investigation.
This is not the first case of nationalistic conflicts in Russian Army. In August 2001, 72 soldiers left their regiment premises in the same Samara Military Garrison. The incident was caused by Dagestanins" harassing soldiers of other nationalities. Investigation was conducted, several criminals were sentenced from one to several years of imprisonment.
In April 2003, 14 soldiers left their garrison in Veliky Novgorod. A day later, they came to the Office of Public Prosecutor. They said they were not deserting, but protesting against their being harassed. The command confirmed that their Dagestanian fellow-soldiers tried to use them as servants.
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May 7 2004, 1:55 PM
Russia develops new Indestructible, Revolving, Guided rocket.
Pravda.Ru
05/06/2004 13:29
Federal State unitary establishment "construction bureau of mechanical engineering" developed a revolving, guided, highly maneuvering rocket.
The new rocket contains a body with a special combat module, jet engine and a rear stabilizer attached to the body. Its consoles are located on the angle to the longitudinal axis of the body.
Elements of revolting speed stabilization of the rocket are attached all the way around the long axis of the body.
What's considered to be novel in this newly designed rocket is that the elements of revolting speed stabilization are made in the form of destabilizers, consoles of which are located on the angle to the longitudinal axis of the rocket's body.
These destabilizing consoles have an asymmetrical profile due to the slants in front and rear edges of consoles. The slants in the rear end of consoles' edges are absolutely proportionate in correlation with the destabilizing consoles.
Due to its high maneuvering capability, the new rocket can easily escape any anti-missile radar system of a potential enemy.
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BLACK EAGLE.
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May 10 2004, 1:54 PM
It was originally planned to install a 152 mm gun that is being developed for a future Russian MBT. However, since this tank is not going to be fielded with the Russian Army, it carries a 125 mm 2A46M-series gun.
HMMM...I hope slavic states can buy the real version with the bigger gun!
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July 14 2004, 12:34 PM
RUSSIAN EXPO ARMS-2004 SURPRISES EVERYONE
NIZHNY TAGIL - MOSCOW (RIA Novosti's military analyst Victor LITOVKIN)
The RUSSIAN EXPO ARMS-2004 international exhibition of weapons, combat hardware and ammunition has ended in Nizhny Tagil the other day, offering many surprises, just like its organizers had promised. Most importantly, this exhibition, which had always been referred to as an international display over the last five years, has acquired this status only now.
The first defense-industry exhibition was organized in Nizhny Tagil (the Urals region) in 1999, involving no one else but CIS enterprises, which supply accessories for Russian combat hardware. Multi-role processing centers, which now operate at regional defense factories, were featured at the 2004 arms expo in Nizhny Tagil by such leading companies as FEHLMANN and SCHEEBERGER of Switzerland, France's HURON, WEILER and WENZEL of Germany, Sweden's SEKO TOOLS, Japan's MITSUBISHI and many others.
Contrary to Cold War stereotypes, Western countries are helping Russia produce additional weaponry; this became a real sensation at RUSSIAN EXPO ARMS-2004. However, few people noticed that sensation. Quite possibly, Cold War stereotypes are now becoming history; frankly speaking, cooperation between Russia's military-industrial sector and Western defense industries no longer surprises anyone.
Israel caused quite a stir in Nizhny Tagil, displaying its small firearms in that legendary city and riveting the public eye. (The world-famous Kalashnikov assault rifle was developed in Nizhny Tagil - Ed.) It seems that the Israeli display attracted more visitors, including gunsmiths, than any other exhibits.
Designers working with the famous Uralvagonavod factory in Nizhny Tagil offered their unique concept for upgrading those sturdy T-72 main battle tanks. 20,000 of these tanks were produced since the early 1970s; the T-72 is the most popular main battle tank in the world. India alone had received nearly 2,000 T-72s, with the Russian army still wielding approximately the same number of such hard-hitting tanks. The revamped T-72M1 tank demonstrated at the RUSSIAN EXPO ARMS-2004 features a new fire-control system, which is stabilized along two planes, as well as a new gun, which can be replaced, without taking the turret off, a new 1,200-h.p engine and other state-of-the-art weapons and auxiliary systems. All this enhances its combat efficiency by almost 100 percent. The T-72M1's potential matches that of the new T-90 main battle tank. In the meantime tank-modernization costs make up for just 25 percent of the new tank's price.
The Russians have also overhauled their 152 Acacia self-propelled gun, as well as the 152-mm Msta-S self-propelled gun, considerably enhancing their combat efficiency all the same. Both weapons were shown off in Nizhny Tagil by the Yekaterinburg-based Uraltransmash production association. Talking to RIA Novosti's military analyst, Uraltransmash general designer Yury Butrin noted that both howitzers featured new-generation fire-control equipment, which consisted of computers and automatic "blind-sighting" systems, as well as a unique positioning system, which was linked with satellite-navigation networks, i.e. Russia's GLONASS and GPS of the United States. These howitzers can hit their targets in the real-time mode, receiving all essential data from Pchela (Bee) and other remote-piloted aircraft.
Unlike their foreign hand-loaded equivalents, the Msta and the Acacia boast automatic loaders, as well as air conditioners for enhanced crew comfort. (By the way, TV footage of the Iraqi war showed such hand-loaded howitzers - Ed.)
The Uralvagonzavod enterprise displayed its combat tank-support vehicle at RUSSIAN EXPO ARMS-2004, with everyone flocking to admire it. Many foreign military attaches, who are accredited in Moscow, were really delighted to mention it, while chatting with RIA Novosti's military analyst. They flew over to Nizhny Tagil in order to learn more about new Russian weapons; meanwhile all of the combat tank-support vehicle's components attracted their attention.
Experts know perfectly well that any well-advertised tank remains highly vulnerable. It can be disabled by mines and rocket-launcher operators hiding in the bushes. The thing is that the tank affords only limited visibility to its commander, gun layer and mechanic-driver. In a bid to cope with such threats, Uralvagonzvod experts have come up with special equipment boasting numerous optical, thermal-imaging and other data-exchange channels, as well as panoramic sights, for all-round visibility. They can watch the battlefield round the clock, penetrating smoke-screens, too.
In other words, the enemy is unable to spot this combat tank-support vehicle, whose crew has enemy positions in its sights; moreover, this vehicle can fire through smoke-screens. The vehicle's rapid-fire 30-mm gun's two barrels can be fired in tandem or separately. Add to this four Ataka (Attack) supersonic anti-tank laser-guided missiles, a large-caliber anti-aircraft machine-gun under the turret and some other weapons systems. The combat tank-support vehicle will enhance the combat potential of Russia's T-72M1, T-90S and T-80U main battle tanks several times over; the same can be said about the US Army's M1A1 Abrams main battle tank or the Israeli Merkava tank.
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August 16 2004, 10:44 AM
RESEARCH WORK ON SUPER AIR DEFENSE SYSTEM COMPLETED.
MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - Representatives of the Russian defense and industrial complex said that the well-known American-made PATRIOT system, designed to destroy dynamic targets as well as intercontinental ballistic missiles, may be left behind by the new Russian air defense system forever, reports Vremya Novostei.
Research work on the Samoderzhets project (single air defense missile system of interspecific use), based on groundwork of all defense and industry complex research institutes dealing with air defense and missile defense has been completed. Samoderzhets will include the well-known features of S-300VM and S-400 systems. The new Russian system is likely to become a basis of a non-strategic theater missile defense system.
According to Vremya Novostei's source in the Russian defense and industry complex, the appearance of Samoderzhets will bring to the treasury, though not directly, big money - the government is likely to allow selling S-400 systems abroad. Asked whether the appearance of this system is a new turn of an arms race, the source said: "Vice versa, as it's no sense trying to catch up with Samoderzhets
12 August 2004 -- Russian Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin says the government will increase defense spending by 40 percent in 2005.
ITAR-TASS reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting of the country's financial and law enforcement leaders today that Russia is facing increasingly complicated issues of defense that necessitate the rise in spending.
The planned increase is estimated at about $2.4 billion. Speaking at the same meeting, Kudrin said part of the money will go to increasing compensation for Russian soldiers.
Kudrin said new cash payments would compensate the troops for the loss of free public transport privileges and allow raises for soldiers serving in hardship conditions.
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August 19 2004, 2:46 PM
Up-to-date S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to defend Moscow's air space.
Pravda.Ru
08/19/2004 11:36
The system is capable of hitting a 56 km distant target.
Up-to-date anti-aircraft weaponry is attracted to defend the air space of Moscow and the center of Russia. "S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems are almost completed. State tests are underway, and I think we will receive one system in the nearest future, probably next year," Colonel-General Yury Solovyov told Interfax on Wednesday.
"In addition, we have developed our S-300PM anti-aircraft emplacements - they are prepared to operate on ballistic trajectories," the commander of special-purpose troops said.
Test fires have been performed on the Alushuk range ground on such trajectories. The Russian missile proved to be less detectable for radars as opposed to other analogues. "Imagine a missile two meters long, 220 mm in diameter. The missile flies at the speed of 800 meters per second. The effective surface to repulse the missile is 0.01 square meters. The missile flies 60 km up and starts attacking the target from this height," Yury Solovyov explained.
"Scientific institutes and the Almaz-Antey concern are currently developing the missile capable of operating in near space," the colonel said. Solovyov reminded the special-purpose troops command pursues the objective to set up the leading part of the air and space defense.
According to Solovyov, the unit defending Moscow has performed test fires this year. "All targets have been destroyed, including ballistic targets and cruise missiles," Solovyov said. The colonel added targets had been hit at distances between 500 meters and 56 kilometers. The military official also pointed out several problems the special-purpose troops experienced. The colonel-general pointed out the need of capital repairs for the military hardware and the lack of fuel to train pilots.
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August 30 2004, 11:17 AM
Russian Armed Forces to obtain new unique rocket complex.
Pravda.Ru
08/30/2004 11:56
The new complex became the embodiment of advanced technical principles and ideas.
State tests of the first tactical rocket complex Iskander have been completed, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov told President Putin. "The complex is to be purchased in 2005. Land forces will finally be equipped with modern complexes of the tactical rocket arms," the minister said.
The draft budget 2005, Ivanov said, stipulates 471 billion rubles for the funding of the Defense Ministry. Taking into consideration certain programs, federal targeted programs linked with social payments and the construction of military objects, the defense funding totals 573 billion rubles. The defense minister pointed out that it would help execute the key strategic goal. In 2005 the spending to maintain the Russian Armed Forces will make up 60 percent, 40 percent will be spent to develop the forces - from 573 billion rubles, Mayak radio station reports.
The rocket complex Oka used to be the predecessor of the new tactical rocket complex Iskander. Oka was the unique complex, which had no analogues in the world, although its fate proved to be rather doleful.
In December of 1987 Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan signed a treaty between the USSR and the USA about the elimination of medium and small-range missiles. Experts differed in their opinions as far as the estimation of the document is concerned. The treaty ceased the nuclear arms race and lessened the US advanced deployment threat against the Soviet Union. However, due to certain mistakes made by the Soviet government, the document imposed restrictions upon vital defense systems. The Oka rocket complex was among them: over 200 rockets and 102 launchers were destroyed in 1989.
The new complex called Iskander possessed expanded tactical and technical properties. The new complex became the embodiment of advanced technical principles and ideas. The complex is capable of hitting small-sized targets, including fire arms, anti-aircraft emplacements, air bases and planes, command posts, etc. The complex consists of a rocket, a self-propelled rocket launcher, a loading machine, mobile hardware units, training equipment.
A big part of Iskander's body was constructed with the use of Stealth technology. It has small dispersion surface, which considerably reduces the probability of enemy's attack. The 'invisible effect' is produced with the help of constructive peculiarities, the special finishing of the rocket and the detachment of obtrusive parts after the launching.
The complex has a non-ballistic trajectory. In addition, it is hard to predict it. A rocket maneuvers immediately after it has been launched and before it reaches the target. An intercepting rocket would have to bear the double or triple overload, which makes it extremely hard for the enemy to destroy the rocket complex.
Two rockets are placed on the launching system. The time difference between the launches of the two missiles is only one minute. The launcher carries a full set of equipment for rocket launches. According to experts' estimates, the tactical rocket complex surpasses foreign analogues.
Tactical and technical characteristics of the rocket complex Iskander:
Fire distance: minimum - 50 km, maximum - 280 km;
Mass: the starting mass of one rocket - 3,800 kg, the mass of the battle part - 480 kg, the mass of the launcher with rockets - 42,300 kg.
Chassis: high maneuverability wheels.
The number of rockets: 2 rockets on the launcher, 2 rockets on the transport and loading machine.
Temperature range for launching missiles: from +50 to -50 degrees centigrade.
Operational period: ten years.
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September 21 2004, 4:26 PM
Russia setting up arms database.
Interfax. Tuesday, Sep. 21, 2004, 4:47 PM Moscow Time
MOSCOW. Sept 21 (Interfax) - Russia is building up a unified database of weapons and ammunition that are kept at depots of all army, law enforcement, and security agencies, said Chairman of the Federation Council defense and security committee Viktor Ozerov.
"As one of the urgent measures to confront terrorism, a unified databank of weapons and ammunition stored at the depots of the Defense Ministry and other security and law enforcement agencies will be set up. As far as I know, this work has already been launched," Ozerov said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday
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October 19 2004, 1:48 PM
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
A Drive to Turn a Soldier Into a Saint.
By Oliver Bullough
Reuters
KURILOVO, Moscow Region -- As Lyubov Rodionova flicks through her pictures, all showing the same young man in uniform, it becomes obvious these are not just family snaps.
In one picture, his rifle is over his shoulder, in another it is in his hand, in a third he looks straight ahead with just a glimpse of a soldier's blue and white T-shirt -- but all have the same golden halo around his head.
This is her son Yevgeny. The 19-year-old was murdered in Chechnya in 1996, but his legend lives on, and many Russians are pressing the Russian Orthodox Church to canonize him as a saint, martyred in a holy war against Islam.
"Not only did Yevgeny not betray his faith, he also refused to betray his army. He refused to sell out his friends," said Rodionova, who lives alone in this town outside Moscow.
He was kidnapped and held in a cellar for months. Rodionova said his captors had told her they gave him the choice of adopting Islam and joining them, or death.
He refused to relinquish his Christian faith and was beheaded and buried in an unmarked grave.
Yevgeny is one of thousands of soldiers killed in Chechnya, but his bravery and religious faith under pressure has inspired many Russians tired of the war.
At least 26 churches from Siberia to the Ukrainian border now have an icon of the handsome, dark-haired young man, who was a conscript in the border guards before his death.
Several marchers held his icon aloft in a rally against terror near Red Square on Sept. 7, shortly after the Beslan school tragedy.
"Yevgeny is famous. He is a bright example. Maybe it is because of his youth, and he reminds people of David and Goliath," said Orthodox priest Father Dmitry, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate's department for the armed forces.
"This was a Christian death," he said.
He said the church had not yet decided to go ahead with canonization.
Father Dmitry said the war against the kind of Islamic extremists who seized the Beslan school was religious.
"If we do not fight, then they will take us, and that will be the end of Eastern Christianity," he said.
Other organizations have adopted Yevgeny. He has his own web site, www.rodionoff.ru, and is praised as a role model by the Russian branch of the Boy Scouts.
For Father Dmitry, the public love for this soldier shows Russians' remarkable return to the religion of their fathers after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which demolished thousands of churches and encouraged atheism.
He pointed to recently published figures showing the number of monks and nuns had risen 26 times in the last decade.
For Rodionova -- who often calls herself simply "Yevgeny Rodionov's mom" -- people's faith in her son shows a more disturbing side of Russia, reflecting public amazement that a soldier treated so badly by his army should have held firm.
Conscripts are routinely beaten, and border guards like Yevgeny receive only 100 rubles ($3.30) per month.
During the early years of the Chechen war, thousands of conscripts were slaughtered in battles against seasoned rebel forces. Activist groups say officers frequently sold weapons to the rebels and even rented out their troops as labor.
Rodionova said that when Yevgeny was kidnapped, his officers told her he had deserted. After she went to Chechnya to look for him, they refused to help or pay a ransom to secure his release. She was paid the equivalent of $170 in compensation for his death.
She hunted for her son for nine months, narrowly avoiding death in places where soldiers feared to go, eventually learning how he had died and identifying her decapitated son through a cross he always wore.
"His officers sold him out, the government sold him out. But he, he never sold anyone out. That is why people respect him," she said, blinking back tears and wrapping her shawl more tightly around her shoulders.
Since his death, she has devoted her life to helping conscripts in Chechnya, and has made 28 trips to take them food. She packed boxes for another trip when interviewed.
She has met many rebel leaders and was beaten by Shamil Basayev -- the warlord who claimed responsibility for the Beslan seizure -- but refused to lay all the blame on them for the death of her only child.
"If you ask me who I hate more, then I will say I don't know. Those are not Allah's warriors. They are animals. But I blame the officers and the government just as much."
And although she said she would not oppose it, her son's canonization was not important to her.
"What do I care what the church says? Can it make him walk back though that door? Can it bring me grandsons? In Chechnya, the boys love their soldier-saint, and that is enough for me."
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February 10 2005, 12:20 PM
Thursday, February 10, 2005. Page 7.
Russia Says It's Ready to Arm Saudi Arabia.
MoscowTimes.Ru
By Lyuba Pronina
Moscow is preparing its first major defense contract with Saudi Arabia, the world's largest arms buyer that has traditionally spent its petrodollars on U.S.-made weapons.
The deal is part of a strategy aimed at diversifying Russia's arms buyers away from China and India, Sergei Chemezov, general director of state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport, told reporters Wednesday.
Russia also signed an arms contract with Morocco last month, he said, the first since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Chemezov refused to give any details, but said that Russia is stepping up negotiations with Middle Eastern countries for jointly developing air defense systems on the basis of the domestically produced S-300, Buk and Tor-M1 systems.
"If a contract with Saudi Arabia is signed, it will be a landmark event in Russian arms exporting," said Marat Kenzhetayev, an expert with the Center for Arms Control.
From 1991 to 2002, Saudi Arabia imported $93 billion worth of weapons, Kenzhetayev said, while Morocco imported $1 billion.
In that same period of time, Riyadh signed $40 billion worth of arms contracts, of which $28 billion flowed to the United States and not a penny went to Russia, he said.
After U.S.-Saudi relations dampened following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the situation now seems to be swinging in Russia's favor, Kenzhetayev said.
While Moscow already sells arms to Middle Eastern countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Iran, Kuwait and Algeria, a deal with the Saudis could push its neighbors Jordan and Oman to sign Russian contracts as well, Kenzhetayev said.
For Moscow, which sells arms to 59 countries, finding new customers is important as it tries to diversify away from major clients China and India, which account for 80 percent of Russian arms sales.
"We have reached the ceiling of $5 billion to $6 billion in annual arms sales abroad," Chemezov said. "We have to change something drastically."
Last year, Rosoboronexport, which mediates over 90 percent of the country's arms deals, delivered $5.1 billion worth of arms out of $5.8 billion exported by Russia as a whole.
Rosoboronexport has orders of $12 billion through 2007, but Chemezov said that this year Rosoboronexport can expect to make $1 billion less in revenues.
"The reason? Our companies cannot produce more modern weapons. [The industry] is in need of investment either from private companies or from the state," he said. "Today we sell weapons that were designed in the late 1970s and early 1980s."
Rosoboronexport plans to boost control over defense production by placing its directors on the boards of arms makers and buying stakes, Chemezov said.
Chemezov said that all sales are strictly in line with international agreements and do not violate any United Nations sanctions.
"However, if some country, including the United States, makes its own decision [on sanctions], pardon us, we are not obliged to do as America says," Chemezov said.
Last month, Israel and the United States expressed concern about the possible sale of SA-18 surface-to-air missiles to Syria.
Asked whether any such contract was discussed during Syrian President Bashar Assad's recent visit or is planned, Chemezov said: "No."
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Vaya con Dios!
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