In the USSR, defense spending was only 5% of the country's total budget. Under the leadership of Serdyukov and Shoigu, these expenditures increased from 10 to 30% of the total budget of the Russian Federation. It turns out that modern Russia spent much more on defense as a percentage than during the Cold War. And what is the result? Everything as it was, so for the most part remained Soviet. And where the money went is unclear.
This is a plain lie by using a bogus metric. It might have been a lower portion of the total government budget under the USSR than it is under Russia. But in the USSR, under communism, the government was the whole economy. Not the case today. Modern Russia spends much less of the total GDP on defense than the USSR. Russia is spending less % of the GDP during the conflict with Ukraine than the USSR were in peacetime in the 1980s. And before the conflict with Ukraine started the military budget was half of what it was today.
There is an acute shortage of optical reconnaissance satellites. Since 2016, Russia has launched only one Resource-P 4, all the others were radar or communication satellites. In fact, the Russian Federation currently has only one spy satellite in orbit with relatively good optics, while the need is at least 10 satellites, and ideally all 100, with optics of 0.3-0.7 meters per pixel, so that we can reach the world's top three in terms of their number, after the United States and China.
You have to develop electronics, test them, develop system boards, test them, and develop satellites, and test them. The Soviet high resolution satellites were all film satellites. They did not have high resolution digital reconnaissance satellites. Of course it takes time to develop a whole sector from scratch.
By 2022, Russia has come up without mass production of Lancet, Krasnopol and UMPK. This flaw ultimately cost us dearly.
Shit always happens. At least Russia had the Lancet and Krasnopol. And production was increased. Pray tell me how well the US equivalents of the Switchblade drone and the Excalibur round are doing? Not worth a damn, jammed to hell, and available in tiny amounts. I agree with the situation with regards to the UMPK. However it's not like you can blame Shoigu for this when it was the military itself which didn't want it. The Ministry of Defense just takes care of getting to the military the systems they request and need.
So far, not a single new serial long-range radar detection aircraft (DLR) has been built, which our Russia is in dire need of. Yes, the A-100 Premier was created, but, firstly, in a single copy, and secondly, it has not yet been tested. Modernization of the Soviet-made A-50 is only a half-measure, and there are only 6-7 of them, and the need for AWACS aircraft is at least several dozen.
In the US only a dozen original AWACS aircraft are left. And they are all also decades old modernized aircraft. The newer Boeing E-7 Wedgetail is considered to be a bit of a disaster and you have people in Congress trying to axe it. It is just the latest E-2D Hawekeye which seems to be doing well.
For 12 years, the VKS has not received a single new tanker aircraft, while our main geopolitical opponent, the United States, has managed to acquire hundreds of flying tankers during the same period, and this allows it to demonstrate the strength of its Air Force to the whole world.
Well that's the thing. Russia doesn't need as many tankers. For one the aircraft have higher internal fuel capacity, and for another they don't do expeditionary operations as much.
For 12 years, the VKS has not received a single serial suspended sighting container, and this is despite the fact that almost everyone in the world has such optics. As a result, the possibilities of reconnaissance and destruction of ground targets were critically small. Even Malaysia has purchased PPK for the Su-30s in service. And for example, the new American F-35 fighter from the factory is equipped with a PPK, with an overview of ground targets at a range of a good hundred kilometers.
The Su-34 also comes with a sighting system from the factory. It is the Su-30SM and Su-35 which lack such systems.
As for the claim the F-35 can optically spot ground targets a hundred kilometers away, that is just plain bullshit.
Over the past 12 years, Russia has not been able to launch mass production of a new armored personnel carrier to replace the old BTR-80 and 82.
They developed the Bumerang vehicle then the military decided it needed to be redesigned because the soldiers needed to carry more equipment with them. It is as simple as that. They changed the specifications. The internal size of the vehicle had to increase. The whole vehicle got bigger.
The predecessor of the new minister failed to replace the BMP-1 and BMP-2. Yes, the BMP-3 was purchased, but in limited quantities, and the upgraded versions of the "Manul" and "Dragoon"were not launched in the series. Also, the BMP based on "Armata" and "Kurganets-25" did not go into the series. As a result, due to the lack of protected infantry fighting vehicles and APCs, it is necessary to cover the tanks with steel sheets and deliver the troops on horseback.
It is well known that the Kurganets didn't start production because the plant's CEO siphoned the money that was supposed to be used to buy the tooling for the production line. He was jailed for this. There also seem to be issues with engine lifetime right now.
The Manul is just a stopgap developed on the BMP-3 platform that was recently developed because of the delays with the Kurganets. It hasn't been available as a program for that long.
Air defense systems and fighter aircraft lack the latest radars with AFAR technology.
The fighter aircraft are doing fine with the radars they have. It is the air defense systems which have issues. And it's not like first generation AESA radars were any good either. AESA is now in its third generation. But the Russians are still behind on the second generation.
There is a delay in the Su-57 program. There are no planes with a second-stage engine. There are no Su-57s in combat units, they are transferred only to aviation centers.
It takes like a decade, ten years, to develop a whole new engine. Twice that amount, twenty years, to develop new materials. Do these people think engines fall from the sky or something?
When the PAK FA program was started the necessary materials technology for a 5th generation engine did not exist in Russia. So they developed a new engine with the best materials technology they had. This is the AL-41. It is basically on par with something like the F414 technology wise. The AL-51 is being developed with materials technology which did not exist back then.
Russia does not have an analog of the false target AMD-160 MALD.
The Russians have been using cruise missiles to act as decoys. As for the radar signature change yes I haven't heard of Russia having that yet.
Front-line aviation lacks a sufficient number of cruise missiles.
No shit. And yet no one fires as many of them as Russia has been doing.
The Airborne Forces do not have protected vehicles. BTR-D and BMD are not able to protect against mines and sometimes break through from snipers 7. 62x51.
The latest BMD-4M and its derived vehicles have protection against such rounds. But they also weigh like twice as much. Which means they aren't as air transportable as the older vehicles.
Modernization of strategic aviation has failed. The Tu-95MSM and Tu-22M3M projects were disrupted, and only two aircraft were upgraded over the years. The situation is exactly the same with the IL-76MDM.
It doesn't help when you don't upgrade your bombers for decades, then decide to upgrade all of them simultaneously, except their engines aren't manufactured anymore, etc. They had to restart engine production. And this time with modern production methods. They basically reverse engineered the engines from their paper blueprints. And right now they are messing up by making Tupolev make civilian airliners instead of just bombers. As for the Il-76MDM it was just lackluster and replaced with Il-76MD-90A upgrade.
So far, much-needed hangars for aviation have not been built, and most of the airfields are located along the border, similar to 1941.
I have to agree that the present situation with regards to the airfields is stupid.