Russia's Strategic Nuclear Forces added 38 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to their tables of equipment this year, including 22 submarine-based missiles, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday at an expanded session of the Defense Ministry's Board.The percentage of upgraded armaments in the Armed Forces has thus reached 56%, he said. The Strategic Missile Troops now have three new regiments operating Yars missile complexes.
By the end of December, the Navy will have three strategic nuclear-powered submarines of the Borei class. The first of them, the Yuri Dolgoruky, has already come on full-scale combat duty.
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I'd like to attract your attention to the relevant today's article of a Russian weapons and army expert of the opposition news and analysis website, http://www.ej.ru, Alexander Golts: http://ej.ru/?a=note&id=26736
ReplyDeleteFor your convenience I made a quick Google translation of that article (below). The main point is that Putin's numbers of everything new: ICBMs, Nuke submarines, AA missile regiments, etc. are faked. Ministry of Defense in internal however still open reports give 3-4 times smaller numbers, say 1 sub instead of 4 this year.
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A. Golts. Computers will not help here.
Remember the old Soviet anecdote about the automation of labor? Huge computers carry out complex calculations and then the print-out goes to the control panel, from which the duty shift phones to the foreman. And that, in turn, gives a kick to a worker who drags a bag of cement to the construction site ... I have remembered all this because of the last Friday's expanded board of the Ministry of Defense with the participation of the Supreme Commander Vladimir Putin.
Happy Minister Sergei Shoigu, not concealing pride, demonstrated his main achievement - National Center for Defense Management, built, as they say, in 333 days and nights on the site of the Main Command of the Ground Forces. They also say that Mr Shoigu held several rehearsals of the event, relentlessly chasing commanders, who were to make presentations, as well as painstakingly gluing labels in Russian on foreign labels on phones and computers. Cyclopean scale facilities are impressive - giant halls that can hide and shelter, if necessary, at the same time the Security Council and the General Staff, as well as other federal authorities related to defense. Hundreds (if not thousands) of monitors on which operators on the duty day and night shifts produce innumerable data on the status of all, without exception, units and formations of the Armed Forces. Most of all I was impressed that the center staff, using the real-time video channels, will observe how the construction of is the most important objects goes on. That is to watch how some guys drag to somewhere bricks and cement bags ... A joke thus has turned into reality.
It is clear that such a comprehensive and absolute control, as well as the appropriate level of control require appropriate resources. WhatVladimir Putin was said by the fresh-appointed Head of the Control Center of Defense Management, Lieutenant-General Mikhail Mizentsev. According to him, the heart of hardware and software system is a system of unified, geographically distributed, overlapping powerful data centers. "Their total computing power exceed the same data processing system of the Pentagon three times, and the volume of stored data - 19 times," - said Lieutenant General Mikhail Mizentsev.
In short, Pentagon staff just bite their elbows with envy. And it's great need for such a powerful collection center was brilliantly proved in the same day. Addressing the commanders, Putin assured them that "our security we will defend consistently and firmly." For some time before that, the Supreme Commander participated in the events of a single day of acceptance of military products. And then began the amazing things. Putin cheerfully told about the successes scored by in military production. In particular, the Strategic Missile Forces was transferred as much as three regiments missile systems "Yars". However, within an hour, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov at the ministerial board told that the troops were supplied with only five intercontinental ballistic missiles!
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The funny thing is that Putin was demonstrated a video report of the military minister (also a new word, as it has replaced the traditional oral report of the Minister) saying about 16 ICBMs. Even from 16 missiles one can hardly form three regiments. But this discrepancy pales in comparison to the fact that these weapons of the Deputy Minister three times differ from those listed in the official report of the Ministry of Defence. We can assume that Borisov reports about the true state of affairs, and the authors of Putin's speech, together with officials of the Ministry of Defense had automatically considered implementation of the year ago plan (in December 2013 Shoigu promised to form in the 2014 one Regiment and two battalions of "Yars", which is approximately 16 missiles).
ReplyDeleteDo you think this is the only unfortunate incident but decisive mismatch of data? Take the other priority programs - deployment of air defense systems, announced the latest. Developers of C-400 regularly tell us that it is able to capture both cruise and ballistic missiles. One problem, "Almaz-Antey" can not even begin mass production. A year ago, Sergei Shoigu said that in 2014 they will put on combat duty 2 defense regiments. Putin apparently was reported on the task, and he in turn cheerfully told that the troops received 19 units of air defense. However the report of the Defense Ministry shows that only 7 units delivered S-400 that is less than half the size.
Same story about the surface ships: for Putin - 15, according to Borisov - 6. And on submarines. Putin assured that the armed forces were delivered 4 pieces, and the report of the Ministry of Defense implies two submarines, while Borisov said on one submarine.
From all this phantasmagoria with figures should be at least two conclusions. First, the Defense Ministry manipulates the data in the most impudent manner, and any of their figure can not be trusted. Note, we are talking about the most important programs for Putin - on building nuclear missile capability (only yesterday he compared this potential with teeth and claws of the Russian bear), as well as the Russian version of the missile defense system. And it is in these programs the mess reigns: Deputy Defense Minister for Armaments reported data several times different from those that appear in the speech of the president and the official report of the Ministry of Defense.
The second conclusion: even the possession of supercomputers, which, I remind you, as much as three times more powerful than the Pentagon computers does not guarantee a staff of sloppiness. In which one Colonel trashes to synchronize with another colonel the figures, taken from the ceiling, which they inject into these most advanced supercomputers. I suspect that in order to restore order in the reported data from the National Center for the Defense of the Russian Federation they should proceed to a constant video surveillance of the colonels who produce these figures.. Exactly in the same manner as they are now watching the hard workers who drag cement bags to somewhere...
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